Friday, October 19, 2007

Flunking out

I admit it: I am not a reading challenge kind of gal.

Inspired by Robin Brande's Quitter's Editon of the Friday list, I am officially bowing out of the challenge. Since August, I've read literally dozens of books, but only two of them have been from my challenge list. That's probably a bit of an indicator right there. It all comes down to the fact that I'm tired of eyeing my TBR pile with a mixture of guilt and resentment.

That sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Of course it's not all *that* bad. I know nobody here is going to string me up by my toenails if I don't get through my list. But I've discovered that reading is perhaps the one corner of my life where I really like to be impulsive and fly by the seat of my pants, and that's how I want to do it.

Even so, I'm glad I tried the challenge, particularly because Becky's choice of These Happy Golden Years inadvertantly nudged me into embarking on my Little House audio marathon, which I've LOVED. And I can finally say that I've read The Borrowers, which is a good thing for a girl who sells children's books.

I do still intend to read the 2.8 books I haven't gotten to yet -- namely, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 84 Charing Cross Road, and The Neverending Story. Someday, that is.

I kinda feel like a poo, though, because just yesterday Heather T posted a nice review of one of the books from my list. Drat. Ah, well. I'm glad she read The Giver, she's glad she read The Giver -- everybody's happy, right? Right.

Carry on, challengers!

6 comments:

Suey said...

I sorta feel like I'm flunking out too, but I'm not giving up quite yet. It's just been a crazy month I guess.

raidergirl3 said...

Don't be so hard on yourself. It's for fun, and you've read two already. Relax and read what you want. If you end up reading books from this challenge that you didn't pick, or after you've 'quit' I think it should still count.

Chris said...

I'm flunking too, although I have all the books just waiting to be read and I really want to read them. I just might not do it within the challenge.

Robin Brande said...

Sarah, you know you have my blessing on this. Reading is supposed to be fun, relaxing, a diversion. It's so easy to make that--and everything else--a chore. We need to give ourselves a break and go back to finding the joy in it!

Heather said...

I am SUPER glad. I just read Gathering Blue and today I started The Messenger. This is what I like about htis challenge.

Margo. said...

Hi Sarah, I'm the same. I'm flunking out too. :(

Each time I have picked up a book in the challenge, I've put it down as I feel like I'm forcing myself to read it. I recently went back to work in September, so I'm not reading as much as I used to either.

I feel really guilty about it, but I do plan to read all the books eventually. But I just won't get it done by December. I thought I could do it, but I'm not a fast reader and by joining this I just put a lot of pressure on myself to read, and have lost the fun factor in reading....

Sorry guys...