Read My Own Books 2018 - January Check-In

Well, I'm off to a pretty good start but I think that's because I've forced myself to start sorting through the stacks of books everywhere and have been discovering books that I had forgotten I'd bought. Not a good thing as I've also come to the realization that I have about 700 physical books waiting to be read and I'm not even going to think about the hundreds of titles on my Kindle. I think I may change my rules slightly and adjust the number of books I have to read before I can a buy a new one. I got off to a good start with my TBR challenge but I'm sad I didn't read a single library book this month. Some of the books I've read this month I wouldn't even contemplate buying now but obviously a few years ago my reading habits were quite different! Bold means TBR, red means a review copy, and purple indicates a Kindle read.

Books Read In January

1. Never After - Rebecca Lickiss | Own, Paperback, TBR
2. Eccentric Circles - Rebecca Lickiss | Own, Paperback, TBR
3. Moonlocket - Peter Bunzl | Own, Paperback, TBR
4. Tangleweed & Brine - Deirdre Sullivan | Own, Hardcover, TBR
5. Servant of The Underworld - Aliette de Bodard | Own, Paperback, TBR
6. The Wish List - Gabi Stevens | Own, Paperback, TBR
7. Close To Home - Cara Harper | Kindle, Review Copy
8. Infinite Days - Rebecca Maizel | Own, Hardcover, TBR
9. The Cliff House - Amanda Jennings | Kindle, Review Copy
10. The Things We Learn When We're Dead - Charlie Laidlaw | Paperback, Review Copy
11. The Polar Bears Explorer's Club - Alex Bell | Own, Paperback, TBR
12. Dark Game - Rachel Lynch | Kindle, Review Copy
13. Force Of Nature - Jane Harper | Paperback, Review Copy
14. Deep Down Dead - Steph Broadribb | Kindle
15. White Cat - Holly Black | Own, Paperback, TBR
16. Red Glove - Holly Black | Own, Paperback, TBR
17. Wraith - Phaedra Weldon | Own, Paperback, TBR
18. Pleasure Unbound - Larissa Ione | Own, Paperback, TBR
19. A Scream In Soho - John G Brandon | Own, Paperback, TBR
20. Mind Games - Carolyn Crane | Own, Paperback, TBR
21. The Tree Shepherd's Daughter - Gillian Shepherd | Own, Paperback, TBR
22. Circle Of Five - Dolores Riccio | Own, Paperback, TBR
23. Another Faust - Daniel & Dina Nayeri | Own, Paperback, TBR 
24. Land Of Neverendings - Kate Saunders | Own, Hardcover, TBR
25. The Girl Who Saved Christmas - Matt Haig | Own, Paperback, TBR

January In Numbers 

Total Books Read - 25
TBR Challenge - 19
Own - 21
Kindle - 4
Review Copy - 5

Read My Own Books 2018

After taking part in the #ShelfLove challenge last year and doing reasonably well I wanted to do it again this year but alas, it's not running. I've decided to do my own TBR challenge so I can set the rules and I'm only accountable to myself, and obviously the readers of this blog!

I lost track of my #ShelfLove numbers towards the end of the year but I think I managed around 110 of my own books. Ill health and a broken-down computer didn't really help in my blogging/reading endeavours but nevertheless I'm doing this challenge, come hell or high water...

So, the rules. Simple but hopefully easy enough to stick to!

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month
• For every 10 books read I can buy 1 new book
• For every 20 books donated to the library/charity store, I can buy 1 new book
• I can request/download no more than 5 Netgalley/Edelweiss titles a month
• I must write reviews in a more timely fashion ie. not 6 months later...

I'll post a list at the end of each month with my RMOB titles to keep better track than last year, and also reset my TBR Challenge page to list all books read. Nothing remains except to say wish me luck!

Bout of Books 21

Well, I'm not starting 2018 in the organized way I would like. I completely forgot about signing up for Bout of Books 21 so I'm doing it now, partly into day 1 of reading!

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week-long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 8th and runs through Sunday, January 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 21 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog." - From the Bout of Books team.

I've just started a new book so will count that as the 1st book of the challenge and I'll be posting on Instagram mostly, with short updates on here (when I remember...)

Progress

Monday

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Tuesday

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Wednesday

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Thursday

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Friday

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Saturday

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Sunday

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#ShelfLove - October Check-In

Didn't I just write one of these updates? If anybody knows what happened to September please do let me know... October, R.I.P., spooky reads, horror movies - my favorite things in one month! I've hit my R.I.P. reading target already so anything I read in October is going to be both a bonus and from the TBR pile. Still no surgery news but I do have an appointment with my orthopaedic surgeon on October 19th so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I read 32 books in September. And how many were from my TBR pile?  Not as many as I hoped. My #ShelfLove total increased by 17 this month, taking me up to 118 books from the TBR pile so far this year. Over the next 3 months I have to read 62 books from my TBR pile which is probably not a realistic target.

I'm almost done with my Goodreads challenge though. I'm currently at 92% with only 20 more books to read to hit my target. I'm deliberating over whether to leave it as is or to change it slightly by increasing the total up to 275. What to do...

Here are the facts and figures for September's reading and Shelf Love.

Aims

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
• For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
• For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books

 Progress

Ill Wind - Rachel Caine (reread)

Heat Stroke - Rachel Caine (reread)

Knife - R J Anderson (reread)

The Boy With The Cuckoo-Clock Heart - Mathias Malzieu (reread)

Masque Of The Red Death - Bethany Griffiths (reread)

Velveteen - Daniel Marks

Prom Nights From Hell - Meg Cabot

Cuckoo Song - Frances Hardinge (reread)

Karen Memory - Elizabeth Bear

Golden Girl - Sarah Zettel

Inside The Worm - Robert Swindells (reread)

Don't Look Now & Other Stories - Daphne du Maurier

The Fall Of The House Of Usher & Other Stories - Edgar Allan Poe

Fox - Jim Crumley

The Word For World Is Forest - Ursula K. Le Guin (reread)

The City Of Dreams & Nightmare - Ian Whates

The Dresskeeper - Mary Naylus

TBR SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHT

September Reading By Numbers

Read - 32

Own - 19

Kindle - 6

Library - 7

 

TBR Challenge - 17

Review  - 4

Re-read - 6

 

 #ShelfLove Target - 118/180

Wishlist - 2652
TBR (Vaguely more accurate) - 1546 (It went up again...)

 

Goodreads Challenge Update

Such Small Hands - Andrés Barba

Her father died instantly, her mother in the hospital. She has learned to say this flatly and without emotion, the way she says her name (Marina), her doll's name (also Marina) and her age (seven). Her parents were killed in a car crash and now she lives in the orphanage with the other little girls. But Marina is not like the other little girls.

In the curious, hyperreal, feverishly serious world of childhood, Marina and the girls play games of desire and warfare. The daily rituals of playtime, lunchtime, and bedtime are charged with a horror; horror is licked by the dark flames of love. When Marina introduces the girls to Marina the Doll, she sets in motion a chain of events from which there can be no release.

With shades of Daphne du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro and Mariana Enríquez, Such Small Hands is a beautifully controlled tour-de-force, a bedtime story to keep readers awake.

I first heard about Such Small Hands when a Spanish friend sent me a copy of 'Las manos pequeñas' a few years ago thinking my university Spanish would still be fluent enough to read this little gem. Unfortunately it wasn't, and I've been waiting for an English translation ever since. I think it's probably just as well I read it in English as I think I would have missed a lot of the subtleness of this novel, the quietness which adds to its general air of menace.

Apparently inspired by a real-life incident in a Brazilian orphanage where the other children killed a girl and then proceeded to play with her body for a week, Such Small Hands is not at all gruesome and starts with an actual doll. Marina, the child from the car crash, names this doll Marina too, and starts her descent into something that's not quite madness but is fascinating to the other girls to see and to try to understand.

Barba's writing is simple but this is what makes the book so disturbing and I can see why the comparisons to both Daphne du Maurier & Shirley Jackson are made. The girls in the orphanage are never portrayed as anything other than little girls but in the dead of night, anything and anyone can be terrifying. Such Small Hands wasn't quite what I was expecting but nevertheless wriggled its way into my brain where it's filed away in the 'creepy doll' section.

Such Small Hands - Andrés Barba, translated by Lisa Dillman

ISBN - 9781846276439

Publisher - Portobello Books

Release date - August 3rd, 2017

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

This Week In Books #1

I have decided to join with the lovely Lipsy from Lipsy’s Lost and Found's feature, 'This Week In Books', which highlights our week in books. Here are the books that I've just read, am currently reading, and just about to start.

Now | Then | Next

Now: Death In The Stars

1920's crime writing from Frances Brody and my fourth Kate Shackleton mystery. I'm on the blog tour for this one so look out for my review next week.

Then: Such Small Hands 

My fourth R.I.P. read, a quirky translated (originally written in Spanish) horror novel. Look out for my review of this on Friday.

Next: Karen Memory

One for the TBR Challenge, this has been sitting on my shelves for about 18 months...

Cuckoo Song - Frances Hardinge

The first things to shift were the doll's eyes, the beautiful grey-green glass eyes. Slowly they swiveled until their gaze was resting on Triss's face. Then the tiny mouth moved, opened to speak.

'What are you doing here?' It was uttered in tones of outrage and surprise, and in a voice as cold and musical as the clinking of cups. 'Who do you think you are? This is my family.'

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out.

Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it's too late...

Unless you've been living under a rock or this is your first visit to my blog you will all know about my love of Frances Hardinge's books. I recommend them to anyone who stands still long enough! What is really noticeable though is that there aren't any reviews of her books, at all, anywhere on this blog. My problem seems to be that the more I love a book or indeed its author the more I have trouble trying to put together a coherent review, or even sentence... I am determined though, to start writing them so am slowly re-reading all of her books. 

I'm not sure why my re-read started with Cuckoo Song. It's not the first Frances Hardinge book I ever read, or my favorite (that's A Face Like Glass) but it's my second favorite, and it's the book that is most like a book that I would write. Seriously. I want to live in Frances Hardinge's imagination because it must be a wonderful place to reside.

Triss and Pen are sisters that have never really got on. After Sebastian, their older brother, went off to fight in WWI Triss was pampered and cosseted to the point where she thinks of herself as an invalid. This is the impression of Triss that everybody has come to accept, but not Pen. She is treated horribly by Triss and rebels by running away on a regular basis. Whilst on holiday Triss falls into the Grimmer, a lake or river near their holiday home, and it's from this point that things take an unsettling turn. Triss knows something isn't quite right but because she's been ill for half of her life she thinks it's yet another illness taking hold of her. Except. This illness has made Pen terrified to be near her, has left dead leaves and other bits and bobs in a trail behind her, and given her a hunger that nothing seems to satisfy. Nothing that is, until she eats a doll and the hole in her stomach seems to be temporarily filled.

On their return home, things continue to be strange and weird. Triss is starting to realise that she's not quite the old Triss, her parents are talking about a strange man that they seem to be scared of, letters from someone are arriving - inside a locked drawer, but strangest of all is that Pen is nearly kidnapped by a movie screen in an old theater and we're introduced to The Architect. From now on it's a race against time for Triss, or Not-Triss as she's calling herself now, to save herself, mend her relationship with Pen, and find out just what is going on in the darker corners of Ellchester. This is where the fantastical comes in, fairies but not as we know them. They're the Besiders, living alongside humans in places where once that wasn't possible. Church bells once drove the Besiders away but thanks to the aftermath of the Great War they're no longer as effective, people simply don't believe as much after their huge losses, and they're coming back in droves. In part, this is thanks to Mr. Crescent, the girls' father, who has made a deal with the Architect. In return for something to do with Sebastian and keeping his memory alive, Mr. Crescent has to design his new buildings a certain way including a pyramid currently being constructed at the new railway station.

Apart from Triss, Pen and their parents, and the Architect, there are two more characters of note in Cuckoo Song. One is Mr. Grace the tailor, whom we meet after a pair of metal scissors displayed above his shop door fall and nearly hit Triss. The tailor befriends Triss and says nothing of her huge appetite after she consumes plate after plate of cake whilst being fitted for a new dress. Mr. Grace is not as innocent as he appears to be and in fact leads to some of the pivotal points in Cuckoo Song, no pun intended after the above scissor incident. 

The other is Violet Parish, Sebastian's former fiancée, who is no longer part of the Crescent family's life. Dismissed from their thoughts as someone who wasn't worthy of Sebastian, Violet has her own 'otherness' to deal with but of course, Triss and Pen don't know this until Violet becomes the one person they can rely on to keep them both alive and discover that she's not the heartless, cold creature their mother likes to say she is. I think Violet was quite possibly my favorite character, fiercely independent, not just out of necessity but because she wants more from her life as a woman in the 1920's, she has a motorcycle and sidecar, spends her nights dancing to jazz and is constantly on the move. Violet doesn't know it but she might be the one person who can help Not-Triss to save the Crescent family and save herself from her grief.

Cuckoo Song is a fantastical/supernatural/historical/mystery novel about the aftermath of war, grief and the hold it can have over you with changelings, a wonderful new take on fairies in the Besiders, weirdness, the bond between sisters and a young girl's struggle to fight against monsters, even though that's the way some people view her. I have nothing else to say except read it as Frances Hardinge might be your new favorite author...

Cuckoo Song - Frances Hardinge

ISBN - 9780330519731

Publisher - Pan Macmillan

Release date - May 8th, 2014

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

The Orphan Choir - Sophie Hannah

Louise's seven year old son has been sent away to boarding school against her wishes, and she misses him desperately.

And her neighbor from hell is keeping her awake at night by playing loud, intrusive music.

So when the chance comes to move to the country, she jumps at it as a way of saving her sanity. Only it doesn't.

Because the music has followed her. Except this time, it's choral music sung by a choir of children only she can see and hear...

I picked up The Orphan Choir for two reasons, the fact that I loved Sophie Hannah's Spilling CID series ( the first few anyway,) and because I was intrigued by the new Hammer imprint. If you like horror it's pretty obvious you're going to check out Hammer books sooner or later! 

I'm not sure what Sophie Hannah intended with The Orphan Choir but I'm quite sure it wasn't complete and utter confusion, along with a healthy dose of disbelief. Louise and Stuart have a talented son who is lucky enough to be a chorister and boarder but Louise is not happy about this. She thinks her son is slowly being taken away from her but can't convince her husband of her worries. Added to this an ongoing feud with the next door neighbor who will insist on playing loud music at all times of the day and night and Louise is falling apart.

When a lifeline appears in the form of a second home in a secluded rural gated community Louise is off, trying to work out how she can stay there full-time and have her son with her. If something seems too good to be true though, it normally is and Swallowfield is where her life will change forever.

You might think, that as this is a Hammer novel, that it's full-on horror, scary and bloody but it's not. The Orphan Choir is a subtle horror, a ghost story, unsettling, more psychological than horrifying but there are parts that will stay with you for some time after reading. This is where the confusion comes in though as the vast majority of the story seemed to consist of the fight with the noisy neighbor, the battle to have Joseph come home on weekends and then all of a sudden it's the last twenty pages of the book and everything is happening. People are dropping huge hints that maybe everything isn't quite right, Louise is starting to figure out the origin of the mysterious choral singing and then, bam! It's all over... 

If you're a fan of Sophie Hannah's books then you'll like The Orphan Choir but if you're reading it for the horror and hopes of a good ghost story I would suggest you look elsewhere unfortunately.

The Orphan Choir - Sophie Hannah
ISBN - 9780099580027
Publisher - Hammer
Release date - October 10th, 2013
Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XII

For the last 11 years, Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings has hosted the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge, a.k.a. as the R.I.P. Challenge. This year Andi from Estella's Revenge and Heather from My Capricious Life are hosting so I'm leaping in with both feet and signing up for all the options, books, short stories, on the screen, and (if my library has a copy) the group read of Slade House.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read, hence the very short list below, but it will involve both YA and adult fiction from the following R.I.P. categories - 

Mystery.

Suspense.

Thriller.

Dark Fantasy.

Gothic.

Horror.

Supernatural.

I'll keep this as my master post so will add links to anything I read or watch and will add books to my R.I.P. TBR as I think of them.

To Read

The Crow Garden - Alison Littlewood

Path Of Needles - Alison Littlewood

Sleeping Beauties - Stephen & Owen King

Such Small Hands - Andres Barba

The Orphan Choir - Sophie Hannah

Arrowood - Mick Finlay 

The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

Frozen Charlotte - Alex Bell
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

To Watch

IT - Stephen King (Original Mini-Series)

The Mist (Netflix series)

Reviews

The Orphan Choir
Arrowood

#ShelfLove - September Update Check-In

It's September... How on earth did that happen? Time has flown and before you know it? Christmas. Yes, I said it. The C-word. I'm still waiting for news as to when my surgery might happen but nothing yet. The only good thing about the wait is that the only thing I can really do is read. Which is good but I'm starting to get cabin fever. I also think my Instagram will have to start comprising of books and coffee at home because I'm not going anywhere except the hospital.

I read 34 books in August!!! And 13 of those books were on my TBR pile! This meant my #ShelfLove total increased by 13 in August, taking me up to 101 books from the TBR pile so far this year. That means over the next 3 months I have to read 79 books from my TBR pile which I'm not overly optimistic about. We shall see. Here are the facts and figures for September's reading and Shelf Love.

Aims

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
• For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
• For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books

 Progress

Dust Girl - Sarah Zettel
Ruin And Rising - Leigh Bardugo

The Orphan Choir - Sophie Hannah
Pears On A Willow Tree - Leslie Pietrzyk 

Local Girls - Alice Hoffman 

  The Outside Child - Nina Bawden
City Of Light - Lauren Belfer
Apple Bough (Traveling Shoes) - Noel Streatfeild
The Painted Garden (Movie Shoes) - Noel Streatfeild
Party Shoes - Noel Streatfeild

Tennis Shoes - Noel Streatfeild

White Boots - Noel Streatfeild

Iron And Gold - Hilda Vaughan

TBR August Highlight

August Reading By Numbers

Read - 34

Own - 14

Kindle - 6

Library - 14

 

TBR Challenge - 13

Review  - 4

 

 #ShelfLove Target - 101/180

Wishlist - 2685
TBR (Still not accurate) - 1526 (It went up again...)

 

Goodreads Challenge Update

 

#ShelfLove - August Update Check-In

It's August! And I'm almost caught up, sort of!!! Here's my TBR Challenge update for July. I read more of my own books this month than I realized, a lot of the books I was reading for #YALC were from last year so that was a pleasant surprise! What was also a surprise was the fact that I didn't read any books on my Kindle this month, not a single one. My sister and I were talking about how we have both stopped reading that way recently and I must say, I didn't really notice I hadn't used it. Maybe next month I will...

My #ShelfLove total increased by 10 in July, taking me up to 88 books from the TBR pile so far this year. As the end of the year rapidly approaches I don't see how I'm going to reach my target of 180.I don't want to adjust my final target but I also don't want to feel like I'm hugely disappointed in myself either. Decisions, decisions! Here are the facts and figures for July's Shelf Love.

Aims

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
• For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
• For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books

 Progress

Monster - C. J. Skuse
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman (reread)

The Graces - Laure Eve
Pantomime - Laura Lam (reread) 

The Falconer - Elizabeth May 

  The Square Root Of Summer - Harriet Reuter Hapgood
Fen Runners - John Gordon
The Midwinter Watch - John Gordon
Alice Jones: The Impossible Clue - Sarah Rubin
Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot - Horatio Clare

TBR July Highlights

July

 

Read - 21

Own - 20

Kindle - 0

Library - 1

 

TBR Challenge - 10

Review  - 3

 

 #ShelfLove Target - 88/180

Wishlist - 2684
TBR (Still not accurate) - 1525 (It changed! It went down...)

 

Goodreads Challenge Update

#ShelfLove 2017 - July Check-In

Welcome to July! I'm writing this in August, after having spent weeks without a computer, in hospital or both! I'm posting June progress today and July's progress on Sunday/Monday. I've got so much to catch up on that I'll probably be behind for the rest of the year.

My #ShelfLove total increased by 12 in June, taking me up to 78 books from the TBR pile so far this year. Not good at all, I don't see how I'm going to reach my target of 180 by the end of the year. Both June and July were hit and miss on the TBR thanks to traveling, #YALC, and other assorted things sent to try my patience. I think August is going to be the best month for my challenge as I've had nothing to except read but I'll discover that next week!

Aims

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
• For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
• For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books

 Progress

The Gifts of Reading - Robert Macfarlane
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher(reread) 

Appointment With Death - Agatha Christie (reread)
Circus Shoes - Noel Streatfeild(reread)  

Dancing Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (reread) 

 Theater Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (reread)
The Girl In The Steel Corset - Kady Cross
Monster Slayer - Chris Riddell
The Song From Somewhere Else - A F Harrold
Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) - Philip Pullman(reread)
Siege and Storm - Leigh Bardugo (reread)
The Mysterious Misadventures of Miss Clemency Wrigglesworth - Julia Lee

TBR June Highlights

June

 

Read - 23

Own - 15

Kindle -3

Library - 5

 

TBR Challenge - 12

Review  -4

 

 #ShelfLove Target - 78/180

Wishlist - 2683
TBR (Still not accurate) - 1531 (No change again...)

 

Goodreads Challenge Update

#ShelfLove 2017 - June Check-In

Welcome to June! Even though I'm actually writing this in July... I'm so far behind with everything that I'm just frantically trying to catch up in one way or another.

My #ShelfLove total has increased by 15 in May, taking me up to 66 books from the TBR pile so far this year. Not bad but not great either, I'm definitely going to struggle to reach my target of 180 by the end of the year. I expect June will be library/Kindle books as I'm away for most of the month and July will be a bit of a TBR reading black hole as I'll be reading my way through my YALC list before ComicCon at the end of the month.

Aims

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
• For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
• For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books

 Progress

Divine By Mistake - P. C. Cast
Divine By Choice - P. C. Cast
Reasons She Goes To The Woods - Deborah Kay Davies
The Red House - Emily Winslow
The Versions Of Us - Laura Barnett
American Gods - Neil Gaiman (reread)
The Book of You - Claire Kendall
The Lascar's Dagger - Glenda Larke
On The Edge - Ilona Andrews
Defiance - C. J. Redwine
Poison Heart - S. B. Hayes
Shadow And Bone - Leigh Bardugo (reread)
The Last Girl - Jane Casey
Utterly Charming - Kristine Grayson
Silent In The Grave - Deanna Raybourn

TBR May Highlight

May

 

Read - 24

Own - 19

Kindle - 2

Library - 3

 

TBR Challenge - 15

Review  - 1

 

 #ShelfLove Target - 66/180

Wishlist - 2682
TBR (Still not accurate) - 1531 (No change...)

Goodreads Challenge Update

#ShelfLove 2017 - May Check-In

Welcome to May! I'm not entirely sure where the time has gone but figured an update was better late than never! I'm completely lost by what I've read or what I should be reading thanks to a fair bit of traveling over the last month or so...

My #ShelfLove total has increased by 14 this month, taking me up to 51 books in total. This still means though, that I'm going to struggle to reach my target of 180 by the end of the year. What's not helping is the fact that I'm requesting lots of library books to try and stop myself buying books and of course they have to be read within a certain period of time, which can be quite restricting... In June and July, I think I'm going to try to not request any, especially as July is ComicCon time!!!

Aims

• Read at least 15 of my own books a month - they have to have been on my shelves up to and including December 2016
• For every 15 books read I'm allowed to buy 3 brand new books
• For every 20 books donated to either charity or the library, I can buy 2 new books

Progress

 

Read - 26

Own - 18

Kindle -1

Library - 7

 

TBR Challenge - 14

Review -

 

 #ShelfLove Target - 51/180

Wishlist - 2644
TBR (Still not accurate) - 1531

Goodreads Challenge Update

#BoutOfBooks 19 SignUp

Yes, it's that time again so this is me signing up for what I think is my 13th Bout of Books. I kind of glossed over the last two and the one before that gave up about halfway through but I'm feeling good about reading after a great Dewey #readathon at the weekend! Go here to join the bookish fun for yourself!

As for what I'm reading? I shall carry on with the pile I made for the #readathon but add a couple of review titles that I'm desperate to read!

Let me know if you're joining in too, I'd love to hear about what you might read!