Reading Challenge Update and TBR Angst…

Morning All,

It’s a little after 8:30 am, the house is quiet and I am awake… situation normal. I can’t deal with silence, it allows too much room for thought, so I’ve resumed listening to Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind. I’ve read it before so its an easy audiobook to listen to with half an ear.

If you’re a regular to Alan’s vlog you may know that I set myself the goal of reading 52 books I already own. Since I set myself the challenge, we have purchased a bunch of bookcases and set up one of our downstairs bedrooms as a sort of library/study area. I assigned one shelf as a TBR (to-be-read) bookcase, so I could easily find the books I owned which I hadn’t read yet. So, this morning, I came downstairs, put on some coffee and went through to my library to scan in all the books I’ve bought recently but haven’t added to my Want To Read shelf on Goodreads. I thought it might be interesting to some of you to see what some of my upcoming books are; if it does not then feel free to scroll on past.

  • Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
  • Neverwhere (Illustrated Edition) by Neil Gaiman
  • Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown
  • The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution by Deborah E Harkness
  • The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
  • Psychovertical by Andy Kirkpatrick
  • Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (recommended by Rach)
  • Wicked Plants: The A-Z of Plants that Kill, Maim, Intoxicate and Otherwise Offend by Amy Stewart
  • Disney in Shadow by Ridley Pearson
  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
  • Cold Wars: Climbing the Fine Line Between Risk and Reality by Andy Kirkpatrick
  • On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky
  • The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M Valente
  • American Afterlife: Encounters in the Customs of Mourning by Kate Sweeney
  • The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time Book 2)
  • The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester
  • The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestin
  • A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J Maas
  • The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
  • Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
  • Legend: The Notorious True Story of the Kray Twins by John George Pearson
  • The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse
  • Secret Science: A Century of Poison Warfare and Human Experiments by Ulf Schmidt
  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  • Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff
  • Inside Alcatraz: My Time on the Rock by Jim Quillen
  • The Muse by Jessie Burton
  • Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell
  • Madness in Civilisation: A Cultural History of Insanity from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull
  • Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial by Rabia Chaudry
  • Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
  • Morbid Curiosities: Collections of the Uncommon and Bizzare by Paul Gambino
  • Reality is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli
  • Rejected Princesses: Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Heretics and Hellions by Jason Porath
  • Living Like A Vampire by Jacky Dahlhaus
  • American Gods (Illustrated Edition) by Neil Gaiman
  • Sherlock: The Essential Arthur Conan Doyle Adventures Volume 1 by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter
  • Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
  • As Old As Time by Liz Braswell
  • Caraval by Stephanie Garber
  • Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win The Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterley
  • Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  • Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah
  • The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrere
  • Daughter of A Burning City by Amanda Foody (Fairyloot Book)
  • Dark Asylum by E.S Thomson (Jem Flockhart Book 2)
  • The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo (Fairyloot Book)
  • La Belle Sauvage by Phillip Pullman
  • Everless by Sara Holland (Fairyloot Book)
  • Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart (Fairyloot Book)
  • The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (Fairyloot Book)
  • Misogynation: The True Scale of Sexism by Laura Bates
  • State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury (Fairyloot Book)
  • Civilisations: How Do We Look by Mary Beard
  • Civilisations: First Contact by David Olusoga
  • Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs by Jason Porath
  • Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley
  • The Blood by E.S Thomson (Jem Flockhart Book 3)
  • Beyond a Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake (Fairyloot Book)
  • The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth
  • Death in 10 Minutes: Kitty Marion: Activist, Arsonist, Suffragette by Fern Riddell
  • All That Remains: A Life in Death by Sue Black
  • Onyx and Ivory by Mindee Arnett (Fairyloot Book)
  • Furyborn by Claire Legrand (Fairyloot Book)
  • Legendary by Stephanie Garber
  • Why Mummy Swears by Gill Sims
  • Suicide Club by Rachel Heng
  • Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton (Fairyloot Book)

All in all I have 71 books on my TBR bookcase. There’s a part of me where it’s actually making me anxious about the number of books I own and haven’t read. When I get a bit anxious about it Alan tells me that it’s not like books go bad or rot or anything, they’ll be there until I’m ready for them. I do, however, get choice paralysis when I go looking for something I want to read. The books in the list above which are highlighted in bold are the books I still have to read for this year’s challenge. I still have a way to go this year. Whatever is still on my Want To Read shelf at the turn of the year will probably form the 2019 challenge list.

As of this morning, I have read 35 books this year. Not all of those books were on my challenge list, there were some new purchases which I couldn’t wait to dive into. It’s a respectable enough number and I’m not overly concerned about the books I still have to read this year, I do most of my reading when the weather turns and the nights draw in. I also have a week-long holiday in the Lake District to look forward to, this will probably mean reading a good 4 or 5 books. I might go and pick out 4 to take with me, on the assumption that I’ll have a 5th book on the go.

Anyway, I’d better go and get ready, the Sky engineer will be here shortly so I need to finish getting the house in order.