Help! I need an injection of something…
So it’s been a couple of weeks – I was away on vacation and then I had my final project due for my class, but now I’m back at it. Still been reading though. Buuttttttttt…I feel like my progress has stagnated. And it’s my own fault.
I’ve read nine books since my last post. This may seem like a good number, but my reading has gone soooo sloooowly. I normally read a lot more on vacation – some of that was due to schoolwork and work work I had to do, but a lot of it was that the books I was reading (that I had been very excited to read) were not as interesting as I was expecting. The Amazon First Reads I was trying to cross off my list were a mixed bag, but it was the short story I enjoyed and the full length book that was awful. Plus I read one book for a bookclub and one for a Goodreads challenge, so those didn’t decrease my TBR. Looking ahead, I am currently reading a book I had listened to the audio of for a bookclub, I have another book club book to read, and I’ve got two more Goodreads challenge books on my list. In short, my progress and motivation are wanting.
I need to get out of this “adding books slump”. Or rather, I need to make more progress on my “owned TBR” list if I also want to read additional books. AND I need to restrain myself more with adding books, or I feel like I will never get through all of my owned TBR.
Ticking books off my owned TBR, even DNFing them, gives me energy to keep going. I have to force myself back into that so I want to keep doing it. Otherwise, it will be too easy to just give it all up. I must stop prioritizing “other” books instead of the ones on my list.
I did have one win to share: I had saved a book I really wanted to read so I could have it for vacation. And. It. Was. Terrible. This was a book I’d paid money for, a book about Jane Austen and time travel. I mean, how could it go wrong? It went so, so wrong. On the minus side, I did try really hard to like it, but on the plus, I DNFd at 50%. And I felt good about it, because I was able to move onto the next James S.A. Corey on my list, which was fantastic! I didn’t regret giving it up at all (other than my disappointment that it wasn’t a better book).
Week 14-17 Update
Here are this week’s updated numbers:
And these are the books I read:
The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki – Magical Realism: Worth It
Rating after 50 pages: 4 stars
Final rating: 4 stars
The Women of Arlington Hall by Jane Healey – Historical FIction: Not Worth It
Rating after 50 pages: 3 stars
Final rating: 2 stars
The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman – Short Story: Worth It
Rating after 50 pages: 4 stars
Final rating: 4 stars
The Bookstore Wedding by Alice Hoffman – Short Story: Not Worth It
Rating after 50 pages: 4 stars
Final rating: 3 stars
The House of Lost Secrets by Anstey Harris – Fiction: Worth It
Rating after 50 pages: 4 stars
Final rating: 4 stars
The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes – Historical Mystery: Not Worth It
Rating after 50 pages: 3 stars
Final rating: 2 stars
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende – Fantasy: Worth It (for nostalgia)
Rating after 50 pages: 3 stars
Final rating: 3 stars
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey – Science Fiction: Worth It!
Rating after 50 pages: 4 stars
Final rating: 5 stars
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones – Horror: Worth It (if you are interested in the history and lore of indigenous peoples and don’t mind an unsatisfying conclusion)
Rating after 50 pages: 4 stars
Final rating: 3 stars
And until next week, happy reading!