In 2016 I participated in the PopSugar Reading Challenge. In 2017 I participated in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading for Growth and Reading for Fun Challenges. And in 2018 I completed another PopSugar Reading Challenge. I loved that the challenges expanded and directed my reading, rather than it being completely haphazard. But in the last few months of 2018, the categories started to feel restrictive and constraining, rather than liberating or fun. And I’ve noticed that I have started to accumulate more and more books that I don’t seem to get to.
So, for my 2019 reading challenge, I’m participating in The Unread Shelf Project, a challenge to read books that I already own before turning to Amazon to purchase new books or to Libby to borrow more books. I’m not saying that I’ll not do either, because that is not realistic. But before turning to these other sources, I’ll start with the books already on my Kindle and on my own shelves.
To start the challenge, I thought I ought to count up how many total books I already own, that I haven’t yet read. Between books on Kindle, Audible, and physical books, I own 375 books that I haven’t yet read. 375! That number is astonishing. I know that I will not get through all of them this year, but my goal is to reduce it by at least 75. My goal is to have 300 or less unread books in my possession when 2020 begins. It’s a big goal, but one that I think that I can achieve.