Twelve days into January and I still can’t believe we already started a new year. I mean already! I feel like 2014 flew by way to fast. Anyways, with a new year comes new New Year’s resolutions. And with new New Year’s resolutions comes blog posts about… well, New Year’s resolutions. But the point is I’ve been visiting a ton of blogs (because that’s one of my New Year’s resolutions) and a lot of people are resolving to read an insane amount of books in this year. Insane! Well, at least to me because well, one of my New Year resolutions is to read 50 books. Yeah, just 50. Not 100. Not 200. Not 300. Just 50. Because seriously guys. How do you do it?!?
Why only 50 books for me? Because I don’t have to the time to read anymore. 🙁 I’m a pretty fast reader, at least compared to some of my classmates, which then again isn’t saying that much since a lot of them aren’t reading for leisure anymore, so it’s not like it takes me forever to finish a book (a good one at least). I just have so much school work and SAT prep and I’m changing my blog name and you get the idea. Besides trying to hide behind a wall of excuses, the whole point is that I don’t read as often as I used to. I can maybe, maybe, get through one book a week. There’s 52 weeks in a year, hence the 50 books a year…
A few years ago I would read around two hours every day. Every. Single. Day. Now, it’s like ha! Who has the time for that? Because as much as I love to read, and trust me, I really do love reading, sleeping is just so much more important. (Well, unless I start a book and it’s really good, then reading wins). So for me, I usually only have time to read on the weekends and even then, my procrastinating, easily distracted self, might not be in the mood for it (which is whole different discussion by itself, for later). I guess another problem I have is that I stopped making the time to read. In the past, sometimes if homework isn’t too much of a pain, I’ll would read. Nowadays, I might watch TV (or YouTube) instead. Or maybe blogging. Or stalking someone on Twitter… For some reason, I feel like I read more books before I started blogging because blogging is a huge time eater, which, again, is a discussion for some other time.
So how often do you read?
Where do you find the time to do so?
When I’m really in the mood to read, I can read 2-3 hours at a time. I’m not a fast reader though, so with a smaller book this might get me about 60% of it finished but larger books it’s not nearly as impressive. However, since about June last year, I’ve been a lot less interested in reading and the largest amount of books I’ve finished in a month has been about six. Pretty sad in comparison to Nov/Dec 2012 when I read about 20 books. My goal each year since then has been 40-50 books. This year I think I set it to 50 only because I usually reach that amount even when I’m not really trying. I’m a huge mood reader and I don’t really dedicate time to forcing myself to read. I just read when I want to. This isn’t a hobby I want to ruin by making myself over do it, you know?
PS: This is the first time I’ve seen the blog name change, I love it!
I’ve read a lot this year already, which isn’t like me. Same as you, I planned to read roughly one book per week, which was also my goal last year, because I have other things going on like work, blogging, socialising etc. Somehow though, I’ve done pretty well so far (possibly procrastinating from exams!). Also, I’ll go through TV binges, so I’ll watch TV shows for 2 weeks instead of reading, then I’ll get bored and switch, at the minute I’m in a reading frenzy! Long may it last. I’ll probably read a minimum of half an hour or an hour before I go to sleep every night, most of the time. Anything else I manage is a bonus/taken out of my free time.
Not often enough. At home, rarely do I find some free time to myself. But I read (audio) on the drive to work – and will continue doing that when I return to work from maternity leave. I also read on my lunch break at work. So, away from home almost daily, at home… maybe weekly.
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I read A LOT. I did however decrease my goal this year to 100, but it’s still A LOT. I think I read so much because I’m a pretty fast reader, I hardly watch TV, and I have a long commute. I’m still a student though. So I know my reading does go in and out of phases. Like if I’m super stressed or have a ton of exams, I won’t read for weeks. Most of my free time though is spent reading.
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My goal is 55 books this year, that’s about one book a week. I usually read one book a week, so I am thinking that’s doable. I used to be able to easily reach the 100 books in a year, but nowadays I am happy when I get 1 hour of reading in each day.
I try to read every day, even if it’s just 30 mins before bed. Since the new term started I’ve felt a lot less guilty about reading for pleasure, which is really nice! Although I’m currently doing an internship and lectures don’t start until next month, so that might change then…
My goal is 52 books this year 🙂 I managed 135 last year, but about 30 of those were graphic novels.
I read most days but I’m not great at reading for more than an hour or so at a time, even if I have nothing else to do, so I tend to read in short bursts when Elsa is napping or just before bed. Some days I’m too busy or tired to read at all so I don’t. I have set my goal at 100 books this year and I’ve read 13 so far. Some of those were graphic novels/manga though and a couple were children’s books so you can see how I’ve got through so many. Normally I’d probably get through around 6-8 books per month, reading for an hour or so a day. I am a fast reader but with some types of books I do like to take my time!