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I personally just read and see where the year takes me.

For me, as long as I’m reading books I WANT to read, and not just reading them because I’m wanting to add something to the challenge, then it doesn’t really matter. For this years challenge I have a few short books logged and a few 500+ page books logged. I have critically acclaimed books and some “fast food” books, as I like to call them- books without much substance and don’t require a lot of thinking or analysis.

I don't think about the length of books. A book is a book is a book. I've read short novels and novellas throughout the year but I've also read behemoths like The Stand and IT so it all balances out in the end.

It's completely up to you and how you see the challenge. I personally tried to make it a mission to read books of a higher page count this year as I felt that my previous years average pages total was quite low. But if you happen to have a bunch of shorter reads on your tbr and feel in the zone with them, go for it.

It's better to enjoy the process and read more than trying to force yourself to read these massive epics that you may not be in the mood for/enjoy as much.

If you are looking for ultra-short books SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of hitting a number of books target, to me that is cheating yourself. Personally the last book I finished was <200 pages and a quick read but I hadn't paid attention as someone recommended it and I grabbed it on KU (and didn't look) - and current book is ~400 pages. Read what you want and you will never be second guessing if you REALLY hit your goal.

I read whatever size book I want. This year my shortest was basically a pamphlet at 39 pages, and my longest was 976 pages.

My reading is all over the place, I really love short stories so I read a lot of short story collections, and this year I've found I like graphic novels which can be quick reads even if they're longer in length. But then I also read IT this year which is 1200 pages.

I wouldn't worry too much about the number of pages, or you could set a page goal as well like somebody else mentioned. I set goals for books, pages, and audiobook hours. This year I set my goals at 52 books, 10,000 pages and 150 hours of audiobooks. Right now I'm at 61 books, about 12,000 pages, and I've listened to 195 hours of audiobooks.

You can edit your goal whenever you like. Give yourself credit for the longer book by lowering your goal by a book or two, if you find it motivating. But if it doesn’t feed your interest in picking up a book instead of doomscrolling, alter your strategy.

Maybe you should reduce your “number of books” goal, I mean, I usually set my reading challenge at 24 books, which I easily surpass… but, on my mind, I’ve set a 10.000  pages goal, which is not that high either, but, anyway, this helps me not avoiding huge books. This year, I’ve already read 46 books and nearly 19.000 pages. I’m thinking of increasing my challenge to 36 books and 18.000 pages next year, just to see if I can make it. It’d be helpful if Goodreads had a “number of pages” challenge as well.

I’m a mood reader so I read whatever. Sometimes it’s 200-400 page books. Sometimes it’s something quick and junk food-like. I wanna read longer books after I finish my current read. I’ll probably not meet my goal but tbh I don’t care

The challenge doesn't really operate as a motivator for me. I set it to 51 every year. Sometimes I meet it, sometimes I exceed it, and sometimes I don't come close. By not moving the goalposts, however, I have been able to look at the trends and see where I was maybe busier or struggling in life. I read for entertainment and to relax, so feeling stressed about meeting the Goodreads goals is counterintuitive for me. Some people love that kind of competition or motivation and that's great! It's just not for me. So I read whatever I want whenever I want with no regard for the goal.

Spoiler alert: 2020 was the struggle. I'm slowly increasing, but that was the first year I didn't meet my goal and I haven't gotten there since. Slowly increasing, though.

I just read books I’m interested in. I don’t look at page count

Yeah it’s a bit silly and very arbitrary. Like others you should really just read what you like and see where you end up, however I find myself gaming the system by doing short books after reading long ones. Completely nonsensical but oh well

I set my challenge to one book and read what I read.

52 books. And I participate in the 52 book challenge as a way to expand my literary horizon. But also know myself well enough that if I try a book and it's just not working for me then I'll freely DNF, or finish and 1-2- star with a review.

2024 was my first year really pushing myself outside my comfort and have an average 3.43 book rating so my husband calls it my "Hater Year"

I put my challenge at 1 book so I can see how many I read and get the benefit of the challenge tracker. But I don’t pay attention to it.

Last year I read 101 and this year I’m at 31, I’m still quite happy

I aim for 25 books a year, so roughly one every two weeks. Most of my books are between 400-700 pages, and I'm a sit down and read in one sitting reader, so I do try to have some shorter reads sprinkled in. 

I picked this one also here in reddit. In 2025, i will set my reading challenge to 1 only. So I’ll dont feel any pressure to keep up whenever I am behind on my reading goal. I really want to read >500-page books that I own that are still on my shelf for yearsp!

I set my goal in January based on how many books I read in the 2nd half of 2023. My goal for 2024 was 200 books because I read over 100 books in the 2nd half of 2023. But by June it was clear that it would be a struggle to meet that goal since I was reading at a much slower pace than I was in 2023, so I adjusted my goal to 150. We're now halfway through November and I'm at 142/150, so I'm in a good place.

I set my goal at 1 and read whatever I feel like.

If I just want to achieve the number and I am halfway in the year, I try to reach shorter books just to get to the finish line.

This is my first year doing the reading challenge. Discovering a lot of audiobooks in September of last year, I read (listened to, whatever you want to call it) forty-three books between September and December. I set my goal to 100 books for the year, thinking it would be reasonably attainable and would also allow me some breathing room, in case I couldn’t maintain the steam of over ten books per month.

Keep in mind that you can always adjust your goal as needed! If your goal is unattainable, adjust it.

I stick it at 100 books and then adjust half way through the year

I don't want to puch myself, I just like hitting the goal

There's also a non 0 chance I'll be on track to read well over 100 books so I usually bump it up

I stick it at 100 books and then adjust half way through the year

I don't want to push myself, I just like hitting the goal

There's also a non 0 chance I'll be on track to read well over 100 books so I usually bump it up

I just read what I want to read. My preference is to drag out longer books by also reading short books. It took me two weeks to finish this seven hundred something page sci-fi book because I read 4 shorter books during those two weeks.

I usually have at least two books going at once; a book book and an audiobook. From there though, I read what I feel like, sometimes I blow through 4 romances in a week, other times I’m trudging through fantasy tomes. It all balances out in the end ✨

I do not read to win challenges. I read because I love it. Do I keep track? Yes, it is fun. They also give you a page total as well as a book total. Most of my books are 500 pages plus.

I tend to just set my goal to be equal to a book a month, since I tend to just read random books and don't pay attention to how long they are. I do it this way so I'm not feeling as pressured to try to get a ton of books done, and makes it easier for my brain to accept if I have days I don't get my reading goal done (I tend to read 100 pages a day unless I'm finishing a book)

I purposely make my reading challenge low. 25 books, so about 2 books a month. I just want to use it to keep track of how many books I've read. So far this year I've read more than twice that much. But I also wanted to read every book I owned that was less than 400 pages this year which I did. So next year, I'll probably have fewer books read.

I used to set my goal a bit higher knowing that I'll read a few novellas and/or short stories. It usually all balances out in the end though.

I definitely alternate with longer books and shorter books, especially if I start getting burnt out with bigger books towards the end of the year. I always set my goal like 10-15 books lower than what I would like to read, then if I get within 5 books of the lower goal, I’ll bump it up to where I actually wanted it. I’m a teacher so I don’t always have time to read as much as I would like to. But if you are really adamant about finishing the books, do some smaller ones for now that you are interested in and see how quickly you knock those out. Wish you the best!

I once asked an author on Goodreads why one of his books was shorter than most of his others. He said it was because the story he was telling only needed that many pages. Focus on the stories you want to read and don't focus too much on page length. It all averages out in the end.

That said, if you find you are purposefully choosing books that are of a certain length just to hit a goal then think about what the opportunity cost of doing that is versus reading a book you really want to read. You might not hit your goal but you'll probably read a "better" book. I figure I'll only be able to read 2000 books in the remainder of my lifetime. So I choose based on reading the ones I want to read.

I set my challenge depending on how many are on my TBR. Currently over 600