hosted by Should Be Reading
This week’s musing asks…
Do you have a reading goal for the year, such as __ books? Why or why not?
Yes, definitely. I use the goodreads personal challenge. Right now, my goal is 75 books. Last year, I ended up reading 55 with an original goal of 50, but I thought I would try and push myself harder this year. I’ve increased the number from 70 to 75 and my progress tells me I may end up increasing it again, possibly to 100.
I think it’s a great way to push myself. I never want a goal so high that I’m doomed to fail, nor a goal so high that I end up reading to finish instead of reading to comprehend and enjoy. I try to make it less about the number of books I end up reading, but more about the number of books I can successfully read and enjoy. I read fast, which is the only reason I think I may be able to hit triple digits this year.
Because reading is important to me, I love having the ability to track my progress and share with my friends.
Last week, Monday was a super busy day, but I’ll go ahead and answer a week late.
Last weeks’ question was:
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
It depends. If I can figure out what the word means through context and understand the meaning of it just enough to continue reading, then I won’t stop. If not, I usually either write it down and look it up when I get to a good stopping point or I’ll just stop and look it up. This doesn’t happen to me often in fiction, because the context is always there to help me out, but the nonfiction I read can sometimes trip me up (partially because I read psychology essays from Freud or books about science or philosophy). When it comes to trying to understand a new subject, I don’t want to just get the gist of it. I want to truly grasp the concepts being discussed, so I’m much more inclined to keep a dictionary close by. I think it’s a great way to learn new words!