Monday, December 12, 2011

Jenn's 2011 TBR Challenge

Check in on Jenn's progress
The year has yet to come to a close, but I can tell you, I'm not going to be completing my 2011 TBR Challenge from Adam at Roof Beam Reader. Oddly, enough, this is the challenge I thought would be easy, and my personal challenge of reading 60 books, which I didn't think I'd make, I'll have more than met by the end of the  year.

This challenge has taught me a few things about myself, however.  First and foremost, I don't like having a reading list. It's one thing to have agreed to review books for the industry, but having to select certain books from my To Be Read pile makes reading seem more like work than enjoyment.

I also think my selections were a little lofty, perhaps too many things I felt I 'should' be reading and not enough things I'm dying to read.  Plus my tastes are waining back to YA ...and the majority of the books on my challenge list were not.

All things considered, it will probably surprise you to learn that I plan on participating again in this years 2012 TBR Challenge from Adam at Roof Beam Reader.  However, I'm going to take what I've learned and plan accordingly...

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1 comment:

Roof Beam Reader said...

I can definitely understand how working from a list might feel more like a job than like fun - that's kind of what happened to me during the first year (2010) - but I finished well-ahead of schedule last year because I picked a lot of lighter reads.

This year, I'm more into the challenge and excited about it (because I learned from the last year), but I wasn't as careful in book selection - which left me reading a lot that I wanted to read, but not many that I was "dying" to read.

For 2012 - I picked a lot tough books and a lot of long books - which will make the challenge difficult, BUT I picked a lot of books that I've really been aching to read for a long time. I'm thinking that will make all the difference in the world - and will finally, in the third year, mean a list that is both challenging and exciting at the same time.

I think it helps to be careful with selection, but also to remind yourself throughout the year why you joined this challenge and picked these books ("Hey, this isn't work... these are books I've been waiting to read for a long time.. I can't wait to finally get to the next one!")

Good luck in 2012!