Reading for the rest of 2011

Published on by Margaret

I joined several challenges earlier in the year and that has angled my reading towards certain books rather than just reading whatever appeals to me at the time. My idea was to reduce the number of my t0-be-read books and it has, although I still have plenty more.

But the time has come after nearly 6 months of doing this when I want to break out. I’m feeling confined by reading to challenges and want to just pick up a book and read it regardless. I’ve got two books borrowed from friends to read and even though they say there’s no rush I feel I should read them as soon as I can and then there are two books from LibraryThing’s Early reviewers still to read and they’re beginning to make me feel as though I ought to read them and that then feels like a deadline, plus I’m in a local book group and there’s the next book for the end of June to read and I haven’t started it yet.

Occasionally I receive books from authors/publishers which also makes me feel under an obligation to read them in preference to other books and although I only accept books I think I’ll like sometimes I’d rather read something else.

So, I’m easing off from challenges for a while at least, although as the Crime Fiction Alphabet has only 5 more weeks to run I’ll carry on with that. And I’ll read the book group choices – the next one is The Bell by Iris Murdoch (a book I have read before and enjoyed). But apart from that if I see books in the bookshops/libraries/on book blogs, etc and they appeal I’ll read them. Maybe they’ll fit in the challenges and maybe they won’t …

8 thoughts on “Reading for the rest of 2011”

  1. I know what you mean, I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by my reading groups. They’re all online & there’s no real pressure for me to keep up but I do enjoy the books, especially when it’s an opportunity to take something off the tbr shelves. Currently I’m reading Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell with one group (this is a reread so I already owned it), Cousin Bette by Balzac with another (from the tbr shelves which is why I joined the Balzac group), War & Peace with Team Tolstoy at dovegreyreader’s blog (another book I owned & it’s only 100pp a month) & Undine by Friedrich La Motte Fouque (free download to my e-reader) with another group. I’m enjoying all of them but I’m trying to fit in the new Elly Griffiths – for something completely different – & I haven’t even started it yet. I’m also listening to an audio book in the car. I think that’s it! I think it’s a good idea to take a break from challenges etc if you’re feeling obliged to read certain books rather than others.

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  2. That’s wherre I am, too. I’ve decided that I am not going to sign up for any challenges next year. I don’t wan t to take the pleasure out of reading.

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  3. Margaret – Sometimes it really is nice to just read because one wants to read, not because a particular book is for a challenge. Too many challenges can turn reading into feeling as though it’s an obligation rather than a treat.

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  4. I haven’t joined any challenges this year (and only joined about one last!) – they aren’t really my thing as there are always so many good books to read, and one can always find out so many tempting suggestions from reading blog reviews (and the dwindling number of newspaper reviews). I have enjoyed reading reviews by people participating in challenges, or not – which is the main thing I suppose!

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  5. I know what you mean exactly. I did not join challenges this year as I didn’t want to feel like I had homework, i.e., assignments to finish by a certain date. Reading is a pleasure, a distraction, a virtual vacation if one is enjoying what one reads. It should not feel like an assignment.
    However, I informally joined the global book challenge last year, without signing up. Only I knew. But I fulfilled the medium level requirements. And was I glad. I expanded my reading choices, and enjoyed so many new authors and books — and learned a lot, too. I wouldn’t have done this otherwise, would have stuck primarily to U.S. authors, Donna Leon and a few others.
    So, this year I’m again informally doing the global challenge, reading some vintage/classic books, paying attention to Ireland, Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, South America in my reading, always looking for a new, interesting book.
    I also read the Dagger nominees last year and will do so again this year, or most of them.
    It’s all good. If I don’t like a book, I don’t finish it. So, I’m enjoying this halfway method. Readers’ websites and blog posts about international crime fiction are very exciting.
    And I’m interspersing

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  6. I never join challenges because my interests are too eclectic for that. My only pressure is to read ARCs ASAP but I only enter contests for books I’m pretty sure I’m going to like. In between I might read from my TBR shelves or grab something at the library that appeals to me.

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  7. Very sensible to read what YOU want and not what you feel you should read. I have also joined far too many challenges this year, but right now I don´t bother about them at all and I´ll only do so again when/if I feel like it.

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  8. Hello Margaret,

    I only joined the one challenge this year ‘What’s In A Name’, basically because I only need to read 6 books and the categories are so varied, that I have plenty of reading choices for each of them.

    I like to read for pleasure, which to me means, what I want, when I want.

    I know that if I am requested to read and review a specific book by an author or publisher, then that has to take priority, but that’s okay, because I know that the rest of my reading is free choice.

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