Like a lot of people, I am someone who read vigorously as a child that is trying to get back into the habit again. I see a lot of push to set reading goals. There are a lot of reasons why it would be a good idea; by setting a clear and specific target to hit, it's easier and more motivating to take steps towards that goal. It's a strategy that can work with a wide variety of things, from fitness to education. However, after some consideration, I have decided NOT to do this when it comes to reading. My particular taste in books leans slightly towards reflective fiction- novel that contain themes connected to the author's opinion on the world while still providing a good story. (At least, that's what my storygraph says. Of course, I still enjoy nonfiction articles, especially about technology/health and medicine, and even an occiasional tropey YA read when I don't have the energy for a more challenging piece. Nevertheless, I find the highest enjoyment from books you have to digest. So, what does my particular reading taste have to do with anything? Well, it caused an issue when I tried to set reading goals for myself. I told myself that I wanted to finish 12 books in a year, or one per month. Not a high bar, but my eagerness to reach it proved to be problematic. I caught myself choosing shorter, easier reads to lazily reach my end goal. The few times I picked books that aligned with my interest in thought-provoking novels, I would try to rush through it; ending up with little recollection over it's contents— ultimately something I was unsatisfied with. A lot of people, including me, can sometimes find it difficut to sit down an read for an extended period of time, and usually that behaviour is attributed to an abundance of information being readily available and easiely digestable in the modern era. The paradox is that reading has been suggested to combat the effect of a declining attention span. This is where I feel that taking the time to enjoy and think about what you read is important, as diverting that focus to track pages, minutes, or number of books can be counterproductive. Again, this is just my opinion, so if setting these goals or tracking these statistics is beneficial for you, go for it. I simply find it is reductive towards the specific benefits I want to get out of reading. I still like to keep track of the books I read either on GoodReads or Storygraph, but now it's less for goals and more for remembering my favorite reads and potentially revisiting them when I'm older and can maybe see a different interpretation of a story. (It's also helpful when someone asks you for recommendations). I do want to read more, but I'm trying to find better ways of acheiving that goal— for example, I joined a campus book club that I'll start attending next year. That's pretty much all I wanted to write here. There will probably be a lot more of these kinds of posts as I explore what I want to do with so much free time now that Summer is kicking into full gear. I'm not sure how to conclude this post... maybe that's another way reading more will come in handy.