Earlier this year I pledged to 'do' TBR20, the reading challenge created by Eva Stalker and taken up by many book bloggers. The aim is to pick 20 books that you own but have not read, and pledge not to buy any more books until you've read those 20. Seems like a good idea right? We all have a lot of books we haven't read. I know I do. So I thought it would be a good idea for me. Well...
I put together my 20 books. I was full of hope. I read a few. But then I realised I didn't want to read many of the others. A few more yes, but some of them - no thanks. There was a reason they had been sitting on my shelf, unread, for so long. I just didn't have the interest/desire to actually read them. Some were unsolicited review copies that had appeared, so I think those are fair enough, seeing as I didn't choose them in the first place.
The thing is, if I want to read a book, I will. If it's still on the shelf, it either means it is a long term goal (like The Madwoman in the Attic and The Second Sex), or I'm just not that bothered about it. The latter happens quite a lot, and a lot of those books ended up in TBR20.
So, a couple of week ago, I got fed up and took myself to Waterstones. I bought three history books (I'm on a non-fiction kick at the moment), and devoured them all within a week and a half. Two weren't as good as I had hoped, but it didn't matter - I had still bought and read books that I really wanted to read, just for me. Not for a challenge, not for a review deadline or the expectations of a publisher or anyone else - for me. And that is something that is supposed to be at the heart of this blog. So I've decided I will only do reading challenges if they really suit me, or if I come up with them myself. TBR20 is off, a book clear out is imminent, and reading purely for myself is in. And I'm all the happier for it.