#read poc

Last year, I had three reading goals for myself.

To read 50 books. (Check! I read 61.)

To complete the 2015 Read Harder Challenge. (Check!)

To read a lot more writing by persons of color. (Check! Went from a depressing 6 books authored by POCs in 2014 to an improved though admittedly not great 22 in 2015.)

This year, my goal is to read 55 books and to not do any other goals. I need a break. In 2014, my focus was to read mostly women and read 40 books. I did both! With aplomb. Now reading women is a good habit I’ve picked up because of that challenge. And now I hope that having completed Read Harder and more POC authored books, that those will become good habits as well. I think a lot more about keeping my reading list diverse, so I think I’m off to a good start.

But, confession time: having three reading challenges stressed me out, which is not the point of reading for fun. It’s supposed to be a challenge, yes I know that. But on top of those challenges I’m also in a book club, and other than the numerical goal, what my book club reads didn’t always align with my other reading goals. And frankly, I have a lot of books piling up that I want to read that I put aside in pursuit of my goals, which is okay, but I still want to read them, and I have them on my shelves. So this year for me is going to be a balance of getting through the piles of books I have at home and on my Nook while making sure it’s not a blindingly white and/or male list of books. I know I won’t have trouble doing that though. I’m still going to read The Magicians series this year, (Finally.) and I’m also looking forward to getting to N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. So my challenge is no challenge, just balance.