2025 Reading Challenge discussion

I'll admit that I'm a reader of all sorts of things. I like reading fiction books on my Kindle (since I can read it at night or on the go), biographies, business books, cookbooks, and even graphic novels.

This year, I've made my reading goal 110 books, but considering that some of the books that I've read have been graphic novels or volumes of 5-6 issues of a comic at a time, I've already hit 20% of my goal. Sometimes I feel like counting these comic issues of 20-30 pages (or even volumes at 120+) are almost...cheating. But at the same time, I do enjoy reading them, they have amazing and complex stories involved, and it's not the only thing I read.

Do you count graphic novels in your reading challenge totals? Do you think it's "cheating" if people do?

Yes, I do. I also count novellas and short stories if they are published as stand-alones - which happens a lot since there are ebooks.

And why should they not count? Just because they have pictures in it? They have pages - pretty many in some kinds - they tell stories, that's what a book does. Pictures or no pictures.

I admit though that a graphic novel of some two ore three hundred pages is a lot faster to read than a book with ony text in it. So when I made up my to read list for 2017 and saw that there would be lots of graphic novel, novellas and short stories on it I upped the goal. Plus with graphic novels I usually go for omnibus editions if available, not the single issues.

But I wondered the same thing, not about graphic novels, but audio books. Then I talked a bit to a collegue of mine who is blind and listens to audio books a lot and then I dismissed that notion of audio books not being "real" books. And now I totally love it to listen to audio books while on my way to work or doing some exercises.

Marisa wrote: "Do you count graphic novels in your reading challenge totals?"

Absolutely.

"Do you think it's "cheating" if people do?"

Absolutely not. =)

I always add graphic novels to my collection. I use them as short "breaks" in between novels lots of the time and I think you're almost cheating yourself if you don't count them.

Personally, I don't count individual comics, but I count volumes. It's not cheating to count them, though! Anything that Goodreads counts as a book is a book. :)

I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said here - I count volumes when I read them, but I wouldn't really count comics or issues on their own.

One thing you could do if you're worried about how it affects your goal though, that I know I've seen other people do here, is to basically have two goals, and add them together. Set one for volumes if you feel you're gonna be reading a lot of em, and one for everything else. OK, fair enough, it's not perfect because you've got more to juggle, but it would definitely make your challenge a fair bit more challenging! :)

I definitely count graphic novels and collected volumes. Actually, if it's something I can rate on Goodreads, I count it, though individual issues not so much. I think last year I only counted one! But I didn't include it in any of my challenges, just my "total books read" count, which was more than double what I set out for anyway.

I also count teaching company lecture series, which are engrossing, take as long (or longer) to consume as a book, and are all included on Goodreads.

I don't count individual comics but I definitely count the volumes (ie. Saga #6 I wouldn't count, but I would count Saga, Vol. 6)
Last year I got through most of the Walking Dead backlog so completely get why it feels a little like cheating!
This year I made a goal to re-read my collection of Sweet Valley books, the very first series Sweet Valley Kids are about 70 pages each, so like you I'm ahead of my reading challenge ;)

I guess I'll be the lone naysayer. I don't count comics, graphic novels, or collected volumes towards my goal (40 books). I also don't count short stories or novelettes. I will count novellas on occasion, depending on the length and how it was published.

I've got nothing against comics or graphic novels, and if anyone else wants to count them I've got no objection. I read all the Walking Dead series last year along with some other graphic novels, and I'll read more this year, but I won't count them toward my total.

I decided this year to count graphic novels & short books after several years of not doing so. I decided to do so because who cares if I do? My reading goal is for me and really it's simply to keep track of how many things I've read. I also track my page count (both number of pages read & page count average) and I'm starting to feel that page count is a more accurate tally of how much I read.

I would, but I don't read them very often unless the prompt calls for them. Last year was the first time that I really started including more graphic novels, and a part of that was due to time constraints. With that said, it's still something you're reading, so I don't see a problem with including them.

I don't count them, except for special ones. It doesn't feel right to me. I'm not usually picky about what I count as books, but I hardly ever count any of the comics or graphic novels I read. I don't think anyone has a say on what is cheating, though. If you wanna count them, count them! (:

I seldom read graphic novels but I do read comics and, like the consensus here, I count volumes as books. I have been working on the Complete Peanuts, a 26 volume edition of all the Peanuts comics and I count them, since they are about 300 pages a volume. And I agree with Cassandra, if goodreads says its a book, I count it as a book.

Thanks a lot for this thread. I used to count graphic novels but now I'll count also a volume of comics as a book.
I would like that books and comics/graphic novels could be separated in the reading challenge.

Even though Goodreads counts them, I do think it should be separated out somehow. At the very least, setting your goal higher should be what you do if you know you'll be reading them.

I'm talking single issues, not volumes.