Greg B > Status Update

I made the same decision last year, after falling into a reading slump near the end and struggling to reach my ordinarily-attainable goal. Which was stupid, because reading shouldn't be stressful or a chore or, like you said, a "treadmill mentality." That said, I still ended up setting a goal of 1 book, partly so I could pretend I had met my goal on the first of the year and could then read whatever I wanted through the rest of 2014, but also because, as annoying as the challenge is, it's nice to have an easily-accessed page where you can view all the books you read that year. I later set my goal higher, when I had a pretty good feeling of how many more I would get to before 2015, but even that may have been a mistake. Like you, I read mostly short and light novels this year (though not for the same reasons), and next year I want to spend some time on the stuff I neglected, so I think I'll just set it at 1 again and read what I want.

That's a really good idea. I like having everything I've read for the year on one page, so I will more than likely do that. The goal hasn't been an issue in previous years (hell, I did the 100 book challenge two years ago), but a combination of real-life and writing my first novel put me behind and then that "treadmill" took over. I realized that it's really ridiculous that I have books I WANT to read, could read, but pass up for shorter books because I won't hit 52 books for the year if I spend the rest of December reading Gravity's Rainbow or The Tunnel. Literally no one in the world would care if I don't hit that goal, but it still controls me. How stupid is that?

Also I plan on (hopefully) writing 2+ more novels next year and another horror collection w/a friend, so any goal would have to be diminished to begin with.

I understand exactly what you are saying and I have to guard against trying to fall into that pattern of choosing light weight books to complete a goal. I have long lists of books that I want to read and most recently have tried to whittle that down which has kept me reading lots of books this year. I started out with a much smaller goal and just kept increasing it as I got closer. I do like to alternate with some lighter books in between more substantial reads. I would like it if we could make the goal in a different way as I would like to read more non fiction that I do now and that will be my goal even if it isn't written.