It’s Crunch Time

So says Goodreads, I'm behind—again—in my reading challenge. Last year, reluctantly acknowledging, I cheated. Yes, I did. I challenged myself to read 100 books, but after forecasting I wasn't hitting anywhere near that number, I lowered the challenge to a realistic integer—like 35. And not to worry, I forecasted this months ahead of crawling to the finish line... even if I didn't get around to correcting the discrepancy until just prior to climbing above a pile of books, holding up a finger talking about, "I made it!"

So this year, learning from last year, I set my reading challenge at 50 books. The idea behind this was 1) it's a challenge... which 2) encourages me not to slack off on the reading, and 3) I like nice regular whole numbers. (i.e., 25 wouldn't have been a challenge, and 75 may have gotten me to correcting things again).

At any rate, so here I now am in crunch time, hoping on reads like the last two I just read; easy, fun breezy reads, which parting away from the text here for a sec, please know, I do not like losing. Never did. And I already know, "well, who does," except what I'm spelling out here is, I really, really don't like losing. I don't get emotional or anything, but I'd rather pull out of contests, or won't get in it to begin with, if I suspect I'm up against stiff competition.

But what am I going to do is the question here? Does anyone realize I must read 15 books to meet the reading challenge I've set this year? Fifteen! So far, three books I have a good head start into; Fobbit by David Abrams, Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee, and Love in a Carry-On Bag by Sadeqa Johnson. Except all three, according to this mood that's been lolling around me for a while, tells me I'll be reading these books just about a page and a half a day for the rest of the month. They are all interesting, of various algorithms albeit, but the pacing and my mood aren't syncing up.

I do have two large-font, hundred page puppies awaiting, which should yield some help for a winning advantage. But still, I'll be short ten books if I don't soon come up with a reading strategy. That's what's really bugging me, and trust me, cause I already know this too. There's a whole lot more I could be over here biting my nails about, except this is a book blog, and not a major life melt-down seminar. 

The point is, I want to meet this goal fair, and very square. I'm sure authors who've written these books will appreciate it, not to mention, I have another challenge hanging over my shoulders.

While it may be fine if I don't meet my reading challenge, it will not be fine with that 90% success rate I've also touted for spotting books I can rave about.

...And oh, in the continuance of speaking on possible failure, I haven't forgotten. I was supposed to have read the Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, but clearly this flat out and unequivocally, is one challenge that's well past the deadline unmet.

Please stay tuned for the melodrama unfolding. At least my Top Ten 2012 Favorite Books are fairly well scoped out.