2020 is the third year in a row that I have made the goal to complete a reading challenge based on prompts. It is also the third year in a row that I have failed to complete the entire prompt set. 

While I was in college, I didn’t read as much as I wanted to. Once I graduated, I decided to try and complete these different reading challenges to help encourage my reading habits. While these were good intentions, they did not pan out as well as I wanted them to. 

After reflecting on the reasons as to why that happened, I believe it comes down to the fact that I tend to be more of a spontaneous reader than one who always plans it out. I’m more likely to read books I randomly find on the shelf of the library rather than ones I place on hold to check out later. Not only that, but the books that I tend to choose for these reading challenges tend not to be ones I’m already interested in. Instead, they are ones I specifically find to fit the category in question. 

While I do plan to try and read some of the books from the 2020 reading challenge, for 2021, I decided to choose a challenge that allowed me the chance to customize it.

From the blog Gregory Road, I discovered the 2021 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge. Not only does the challenge allow people to select how many books they want to read, but it also allows them to choose which categories they want to choose books for. 

I decided to do the Baker’s Dozen challenge (13 books) because this gives me more flexibility when it comes to when I read the books I chose. Rather than sticking with scheduled books each week or every other week, I just have to work with them about once or twice a month. 

Hopefully, I can read all of the books I have planned while also discovering some spontaneous choices. 

To see the books that I chose for this year’s challenge, click on this link.