books

Reading Intentions

For the last couple of years, I’ve been in a serious reading slump – combined with the guilt, I suppose, that every time I picked up a book to read for fun, there was a little voice in my head saying I should be studying (I’m doing part-time distance learning, Feb-Sept 2020 was my foundation year, Oct 2020-May 2021 was my first level 1, 60 credit module, and I’m just now coming to the end of my second level 1 60 credit module). In 2021 I read 14 books, in 2020 I read 12. Compare that to the 70-80 I used to read and it’s been quite the drop!

This year, I knew I wanted to read more. I’d also discovered booktok, bookstagram and the rest of the online book community at the end of last year and people sharing their love for reading definitely inspired me. I rejigged my TBR (it had gotten a little stale), dusted off my library card, downloaded Libby, set myself a goal of 25 books… and dived in!

I’ve already read 24 books. I’ve increased my reading goal for the year to 50, and tracking still says I’m like 8 books ahead of schedule, so may need to increase it again. And yet… my TBR hasn’t moved. I haven’t read a single book off it. If anything, it’s grown. If I’d read 24 books off my TBR, that would have cleared one of the two piles of books on my coffee table.

And so I’m setting myself some firm goals/intentions for my reading for the rest of this year:
1) Finish the books that are on Libby and don’t check any more out – unless they’re the next in a series I’m reading
2) Finish the pile of books I have checked out of the library and don’t check any more out – unless they’re the next in a series I’m reading
3) Spend the second half of the year focusing on my TBR – both physical and electronic. My physical TBR is one bookcase, another shelf and 4 or 5 piles of books on the floor/tables. There’s also almost 3000 books on my Kindle and my Goodreads ‘to read’ shelf has over 2000 on it.

Wish me luck?
books

2022 Adjusted Goals

I am still trying to read far too many books. I’ve got it down to 17 on the currently reading pile, 10 actively reading and 3 that I’m focused on. I blame having the ADHD brain but sometimes, like now, I get really frustrated with myself. Especially when I’ve just gone and downloaded a whole bunch of freebie kindle books, placed holds on like 10 books through Libby, another 6 or 8 physical library reservations AND checked 5 books out of the library this morning.

I had a goal for this year. I was going to tackle my physical TBR. We are three months into the year and do you know how many I’ve cleared off that pile? Not a single one. I got distracted with trying out the books everyone says I should be reading, with getting ARCs to read and review, with worrying about what I thought I ought to be reading to write about here. And what happened? It took the shine off. I wasn’t reading what I loved to read.

So I’m readjusting back to where I was. Sort of. I want to keep finding and reading new things, because that’s exciting. I’ve found new things I’ve loved, and new things I haven’t.
I have a whole thinkypost being drafted about fantasy books and why I don’t like the genre, and I’ve stumbled across a video on TikTok of books that serve as an introduction to things that aren’t Tolkien, Eddings, Pratchett, Feist, etc which are the main contributor to what’s now on hold/reserved.
But I really want to keep working through my TBR before it topples over and kills me in the middle of the night.

With that in mind, I want to get down to where I’m actively reading about 8 books:
One Kindle
One Kindle Unlimited
One Libby – Telford
One Libby – Honiton
One physical library fiction
One physical library non-fiction
One physical TBR
(I live in Telford, betrothed lives in Honiton, I’m a member of both libraries)

I will check in again in another couple of months to see how I’m getting on… wish me luck?!

books

An exploration of my TBR

I am so glad to have finished reading Jane Eyre, you have no idea. I have finished the whole unit of work on the book and now I’m looking at a multi-disciplinary (Classical Studies, Art History, English Literature & Creative Writing) unit on ‘what makes a Classic’ and I’m very excited that we’re looking at Homer.

Then I’ve got two mini-essays of 600 words to write on both Twelfth Night and Jane Eyre – these are due on Thursday and I’ve taken Monday & Tuesday off work in case I need them to finish the essays. That will be the end of the English Literature block and you will hear me breathe a huge sigh of relief. I love to read (obviously) but not to analyze and generally, the novels looked at in these courses are not my style. Give me horror, sci-fi, urban fantasy, and chick-lit any day of the week.

After spending two weeks reading Jane Eyre, I’m looking forward to picking up books of my own choosing again. I’m currently reading Life Support by Tess Gerritsen and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. As well as way too many others – see here for the full list! (I have ADHD, I can’t read just one book!)

Next up to read are Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, and The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

There are so many books on my TBR that I’m super excited to read as well – a lot of these are re-reads just because I got into a reading slump and figured re-reading books I know I love might help kick-start and reignite my love for reading (spoiler alert – it worked!)
Patricia Briggs – Moon Called
Stephen Fry – Mythos
Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian
Chloe Neill – Some Girls Bite
Madeline Miller – Song Of Achilles
Gail Carriger – Soulless
Mary Beard – SPQR
Jim Butcher – Storm Front
Jonathan Sims – Thirteen Storeys
Jaimie Admans – The Wishing Tree Beside The Shore

It’s also worth noting that my physical TBR is three piles, a shelf and two bookcases – there are also like 2000 books on my Goodreads ‘Want To Read’ and about 3000 books on my Kindle so I’m going to need a couple of lifetimes to get through them all and it is awesome