Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Saturday, November 26, 2016

DONE - 75 books read

I am DONE!  I have read 75 books - which was my challenge for this year.  I had 73 categories to put books in, plus I read two extra books of my choice.  (and I am working on #76 right now).

This was a big challenge for me.  It is the most books I have ever read in a year.  I tried to pick a lot of books around the 300 page or less sizes to help me make it, but I did read quite a few 500 plus books as well.  Pretty proud of my accomplishment.

I have already picked my categories for next year's challenge, and I am looking forward to starting those in January.  I chose a few harder - and bigger - books for next year, and quite a few more "classics".  I let myself off easy this year, so we will see how it goes.  Next year I picked 75 true categories, but there are a few categories I have not filled yet (and won't until the year begins), so that gives me a little wiggle room to pick a few books later on.

I think this year, I only changed one book out of the 73 categories.  Meaning - a book I had picked late in 2015 that I thought I would like, got into it, and just could not make myself read it for any reason.  Not bad considering I never know what I am getting into.

I am so glad I started this type of reading two years ago.  After being in a rut for a very long time, and just walking around the book store/library with no direction, it gave me a way to read books I would have never chosen on my own.  There are so many amazing books out there that I would never have given a second look to if I had not added them to a category in the challenge.

If you are in a reading rut, I challenge you to give this a try.  You don't have to read 75 books.  You don't even have to read 50.  You could look at the different reading challenges that are out there, and pick one that is right for you - whether it is 10 books or 1000.  Make your own challenge by taking a few different categories from different reading lists.  That is why I did for the 2017 challenge.  (there are not many out there to read 75 books or more).  It gave me a little control but still had me reading outside of my comfort zone.  A perfect combination.

The most important thing you take away from all of this is to read.  Don't let reading ever leave your life.  So many young people say "why do we need libraries?  Libraries are obsolete".  We must fight to make sure that is NEVER made true.  The time we stop reading and books stop being important is the time where life has truly taken a dark turn.

Get out there and read.  Learn!  Knowledge is power.

No comments:

Post a Comment