The Controversy over Annual Reading Goals

Sure thing!  Like I said, I haven't watched them so can't vouch for any personally, but they look very similar to what I saw before. Watch one or two and more suggestions will probably pop up.

I never set a goal of a number of books read. I do keep track of what I read though because I enjoy going back to look at titles, and seeing if I even remember reading them. 

I will fly through a book if it's a good one. I'm not reading anything terribly "meaty" that I need to slow down and ponder what I'm reading.  

Hi Becki, I just told my dad about this thread and he is an active reader and he said he knows people who cram read and he doesn’t. He is on his first book in months and has read at least 20 books this year. He totally sided with you. My father’s education level is a FCPA so a Fellow CPA. Not unlike you.

I'm also in the don't set goals for reading camp. I read mostly at bedtime to unwind and unplug from Social Media. I have too many hobbies and don't want pressure to try to meet goals, that takes the fun out of it. I read almost exclusively on the Kindle app on my ipad and I do like how the app, thru Good reads I think, tracks days and weeks read and how many books you finish in a year. Lately I've been on a reading streak and noticed I had read for 150-ish days in a row. I felt a bit of pressure to keep up the streak until one night I stayed up past midnight ( Rare for me). I was sad for a day or two, but now I'm back up to 15 plus days. I don't actively read each night to keep the streak going, but I might subconsciously read a few pages some evenings when I'd rather just ignore the book I'm reading.

Your statement about feverishly reading at the end of the year to meet a goal reminded me of my travel/road warrior days, Several co-workers and I would take an annual Days after Christmas trip to the cheapest place we could find just to make concierge key or exec platinum status- the benefits for the entire following year were worth the cost and annoyance of it all. Yes, we were crazy point/miles/status addicts. Thank goodness those days are behind me!

I did try having a set TBR for the month but it didn't work for me, I prefer to just go with random picks.

My take on the “do audiobooks count as reading?” argument is that if you were blind you’d either be listening to audiobooks or having someone read to you and of course that counts. Oral history and storytelling are ancient traditions, and aren’t audiobooks the modern equivalent of that?

I set a goal at Goodreads and sometimes I meet and sometimes I don't.
I try to read at least one book a week. My worst habit is not giving up on a book if I hate it. Especially if I paid for it I feel I need to read it.
I set a goal for this upcoming year to move on from a book if I dislike it.

I don't really do a TBR list either. My library's website allows us to keep lists and I do have one started there of "books to read". Which is separate from the ones I put on hold immediately. Problem is that I almost never go back and look at that "books to read" list because I always have quite a few on hold, and quite a few on my Kindle or in book form. 

Also, I've discovered that even when I put something on hold I'll change my mind about it after I get it, or even sometimes before it's available. So every once in awhile I'll go through my hold list (which is basically a type of TBR list) and delete half of them. And sometimes I'll go to the "books to read" list and delete the whole thing.  

jeremysgirl - Start with this one first. It's from an earlier post, but it's definitely exceptional and worth checking out so I wanted to highlight it for you.

I think reading can become just as social media influencer “producer - driven” as anything else. ALOT of the book tok influencer stuff can feel overwhelming to me and reading for the numbers, not the love of a good book. So I tend to limit my exposure to that stuff. I do use Goodreads and have done the reading challenge for several years, but I use it like some others who have posted, to encourage my reading habit, vs to try to read a million books. I set a very realistic # and have gone over it the past several years. For me the goal is just like other annual goals to be intentional about something I value. In this case reading. I know it is such a gift to my mental health when I make time to read. I do audio books, physical and read on my iPad. I like all of the options and my husband and I have been listening to books together on roadtrips and love the shared experience!

And my target # of books gives me the freedom to have heavy reading and light reading months (some months are just 1-2 books).

I use the TBR function but I also look at what is available at the library online, etc. I also tend to move across genres pretty often so I jump around my TBR list (which has almost 500 books on it - LOL).

In 2023 I set a goal to read 15 books and I met it. I also wasn’t working until closer to the end of the year and when I went back to work my time for reading was dramatically cut down. This year I set a goal of 12 books and by about May I knew I wasn’t going to hit my goal. I don’t live and die by the goal, if I hit it, I hit it. If I really wanted to I guess I could count every book I read to my son every day which is at least 5 or 10. But that’s not in the spirit of the goal.

I’m also the type to completely enjoy a book and not race through it but then completely forget all about it once I’m finished. It’s like when I am in the book reading it I’m part of the world but once I finish it I’m done and everything leaves my brain. It is a big reason I’m not in any book clubs because I wouldn’t remember a lot of details to discuss the book later.

I started making an annual reading goal in Goodreads about 3 years ago (probably after a thread here). I think my goal has been 40 each year. The first year I didn't reach it but last year I did and this year I will. I know many people here read way more than that but I chose a goal that was doable for me. I don't put a lot of pressure on myself to reach it, but it's there to remind me to read/listen to books. I listen to mostly audiobooks and this thread has made me think that for next year I will make a separate goal for books that I actually read. I want to read more at night but always find myself just scrolling on my phone or watching something mindless.