When I was an undergraduate, I majored in English and minored in Anthropology. As you can imagine, extensive reading was required in order to actively engage myself in my courses. By the time I graduated, my favorite hobby (reading) had turned into a semi-tortuous ordeal that only ended in stress and confusion. It wasn't until I got a kindle in early 2011 (a year and a half after graduating) that I really began to start loving reading and writing again.
In the past few years, I've started setting reading challenges for myself. For 2012, my challenge was to read 50 books. They could be any kind of book -- fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult novels, etc. The goal was just to read 50 of them. I wanted to get back in the habit of reading extensively, especially since I knew then that I was planning on applying to graduate school late this year.
I'm pleased to say I met my goal on November 19th, a full six weeks or so ahead of schedule. I finished the year with a total of 56 books read. And while I do feel some sort of pride in having set a goal and meeting it, I feel that I won't set such a quantity-only focused goal again.
The problem was that I often found myself choosing shorter or easier works in order to make sure that I would achieve my goal. While I don't consider this cheating, I do consider it taking the easy way out. I also fear that I didn't allow myself enough reflection time after reading to really process the information. The books were consumed but not digested. As a result, I don't feel I got as much out of each book as I could have had I applied the proper attention to each.
In the future, I plan on continuing my reading goals. But being mindful of what I'm reading is just as important (more so, actually) as the actual amount.
