In Favor of the One Night Stand (with reading lists)

I am not one to make the traditional to do list, listing what I hope to accomplish in a day. My to do lists are usually more specialized than that: ideas for my blog, books I want to read that month, reading goals, and shopping and gift lists. My favorite kind of list to make are book lists, I've discovered. Whether it be listing the books I am going to read for a particular challenge or keeping track of what I have been reading. I haven't been as fastidious about keeping my reading lists up to date this year, which is a bit unusual for me. Truth is, I've been letting a lot of things slide this year. Some of my excuses are good and others not so much. Perhaps one of my goals this coming year should be to get back on track.

The coming of the new year gets many of us thinking about setting new goals, perhaps even resolutions. The number of reading challenges out there today as compared to when I began blogging nearly three and a half years ago is astronomical. My first year and a half of blogging, I jumped on the challenge band wagon and stayed quite faithful to my lists. It wasn't so hard. I had set my mind to the task and kept my focus. The second and third years proved less successful. My head just wasn't in the game, so to speak. I was less focused and, as a result, was easily distracted.

I love the idea of reading challenges. They foster community and provide new opportunities to expand one's horizons. They also encouraged me get to some of those TBR books that had been sitting on my shelf awhile, at least initially. The excitement surrounding our beloved reading challenges is not only contagious but can also be inspiring. Sure challenges have their downside; we all know what they are. Many of the challenges this past year took that into consideration and were flexible as a result. Can't commit to reading one book a month for the challenge, pick a level with a lower commitment requirement! You don't want to commit to a list of books? You don't have to! Pick your books as you go. Such options proved to be a saving grace in quite a few cases. I missed the lists though. I made reading lists for a few, but not all. It just wasn't the same. Instead of feeling that accomplishment of checking a book off my list, I was erasing it and substituting in the book I read instead. While that still counted as progress, I felt like I was cheating a bit. I realize that's my own little hang up and completely irrational, but there you have it. Fortunately my finishing ANY challenges has become a worthy objective, and so, at this point, I've shed any guilt I might have been feeling.

I made the decision about half way through 2009 that I would try to go challenge free this coming year. I cannot even begin to tell you how difficult it has been not signing up for the many challenges that catch my eye. Reading your blog posts, so full of enthusiasm, makes me want to jump back on the band wagon. I want to share in that! No one would hold it against me if I changed my mind and decided to to take part in a few reading challenges this year. Most, if not all, of you would understand.

After much internal debate and hashing it out with anyone who would listen, I decided on a compromise. I will be participating in two challenges this next year. Both are ones I am already a part of. One is a year long challenge that began the middle of the year, the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge hosted by Beth Fish (and yes, I know I wrote my wrap up post already, but the short story collection came out this fall and now I have to read that in case I missed a story--and what if another book comes out in the series before the deadline?). The other challenge is the War Through the Generations Challenge. This year we focused on World War II (WWII) and this next year will focus on the Vietnam War. While I could look at each war as individual challenges, I prefer to think of the War Through the Generations Challenge as one continuing challenge, with several parts. I am still reading to complete the WWII part of the challenge and haven't had time to think about the books I want to read in relation to the Vietnam War just yet. Be on the look out for my official sign-up post sometime soon.

Because one of my favorite activities to do when it comes to the reading challenges is to make book lists, I asked myself why can't I still do that? No, really. Why couldn't I make lists of books I would want to read for the the reading challenges that interest me even if I am not participating in them? I get to have part of the fun without the commitment. Call it a one night stand, if you will.

The real challenge for me will be to hold myself to the one night stand rules. No guilt. No feeling of obligation. Not falling into that ol' relationship thinking. You see, I get easily attached to my book lists. I may say I am not committing, but will my heart feel otherwise? Will I think about the challenge after I make my lists every night, wishing I could just spend more time with them, nurturing them to see where the relationships go? You can imagine my concern. Unlike the traditional one night stand, I will, of course, read the books on my list at some point in the future. And maybe that will have to be my consolation. Oh, fellow book lovers, this will be a true test of will power, won't it?

Starting in January, I will be highlighting several of the challenges I would have participated in but won't be because of my self-imposed-almost-ban, sharing my reading wish list (made up mostly of books I own but have yet to read) with you. It'll help with my list making fix at the very least. Maybe you will offer your own recommendations or convince me to read a book from my lists sooner than later. It could be fun. Or it could be dreadfully boring for everyone but me.

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