So it seems every forum and many blogs participate in various reading challenges. Including me. Yet we all like different types of challenges. Some like short challenges ,others long. Easy, or hard, specific or generic.
For me I prefer longer challenges both on book volume and in time to complete. I hate feeling rushed to complete a lot of reading. Quarter or year longs are great!
I don't like overly specific challenges. The a-z main character challenges or a book from every state, etc, especially if there is a deadline is not my thing. And the more detailed the requirement, the less likely I am to participate.
"The worse are the random yet specific challenges such as: read 8 books this month. Complete 1 book from each of these catagories.
1- Book of poetry
2-A book with a purple flower on the cover
3- a main character with black hair and green eyes
4- A main character who flies a plane
5-A book that takes place between 500AD and 800AD
6-Read a sci-fi novel with at least 2 alien races
7-Read a book with a princess
8-read a book that takes place in Russia"
With things link this it strikes out in two areas. One I might not enjoy the genre's the choices limit me to and two I will end up spending as much time tracking books down as I do reading them! That is not fun to me.
Another thing that some people love or hate are readathons. For me I can really get into these. Even more than challenges these can be a great push for reading. Deweys is my favorite. It is an envigorating push. Lots of participation and encouragements plus fun challenges! Hosts and other users are very interactive for this challenge. I actually like the length of this readathon since it really pushes me to read. The weeklong readathongs, while less pressured, let me relax a bit too much for the challenges. But they are sometimes nice too.
For me the most crucial part to a good readathon is the interaction and encouragement. When people are commenting and tweeting encouragement, checking on your progress, etc, it really pushes me to try harder!
So what are your thoughts on reading challenges? Any favorites or ones you participate in?
What about readathons? Again, any favorites or ones you participate in?
Feel free to leave links!
I've only participated in a read-a-thon once, but I'd like to do it again. It was fun! I agree that the interaction can be a great push!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I read so quickly that read-a-thons don't make sense for me, especially ones that have trivial requirements like your examples--I agree that I can't imagine participating in something where I have to spend time searching for something on a book cover for example! I do enjoy reading posts from bloggers like "10 Fantasy Series I Can't Believe I Haven't Started Yet" since I like reading fantasy and am always looking for good suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about the random or over-specific challenges. It's hard enough for me just to read all the things I want to read. I've never done a readathon, because I already feel like I read a lot. Forcing myself to read for a weekend would take the fun out of it for me. Plus most readathons seem to be more about posting than reading anyway, which seems distracting.
ReplyDeleteI've never participated in a read-a-thon. I can see how it could be motivating, but at the same time I think it would be stressful. I like the longer, open genre/type challenges as well like the GoodReads Challenge. I want to read what I want and when I want.
ReplyDeleteTerri M., the Director
Second Run Reviews