On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 422
New books* read in June: 19
Books from the Library Book pile: 2
Books from the to-read pile: 12
E-books: 0!
Books read as soon as they arrived: 5 (including a freebie)
Most read author in June: Donna Andrews
Books* read this year: 111
Books bought: 11
Net progress: -1 – the pile is a book smaller than it was last month!
There were 4 Phryne Fisher books from the Kindle this month – but very little else – which is naughty, but I’ve been focusing on the physical pile. It’s all excuses isn’t it?!
* Total includes some short stories (although none this month)
Acutally a good week in the end – I’m not as tired as I was last week, but that’s because I’ve had a fair few days off and that means less commuting. And a wedding at the weekend meant I didn’t have the traditional weekend sofa reading time either, so not bad considering all that!
Read:
The Liar’s Daughter by Laurie Graham
Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris
Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews
Real Murders by Charlaine Harris
Started:
A Place for Us by Harriet Evans
Tiger Milk by Stephanie de Velasco
One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson
Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin
Still reading:
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
A trip to Milton Keynes mid-week led to six book purchases for me (although a couple were books that I’ve already read on Kindle that I wanted hard copies of) and some picture books for some little cousins we went to visit. Add to that a book on the Kindle, an impulse purchase in Sainsburys and the next Meg Langslow and the to-read pile is multiplying again…
This week’s other excitement was getting pre-approved on Net Galley for Part One of the Harriet Evans book mentioned above. I’m still quite new to Net Galley (and it’s not as if I need further encouragement to add more books to the pile!) and it’s the first time I’ve been pre-approved for something. It’s the simple things isn’t it. I’ll let you all know what I think of the first installment as soon as I’m finished reading it.
I’ve come to a bit of a standstill. This happens to me sometimes and it’s one of the reasons why I have such a large to-read pile. Despite the pile(s) of books awaiting my attention, I just don’t fancy reading any of them. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll have noticed that last week’s What I Read list was somewhat low on new books – and it’s all because I’m having one of these moments. I stare at the shelf of books waiting to be read and I can’t work up any enthusiasm for any of them. There are two usual outcomes to this – either I buy more books that I do fancy, or I go on a re-reading jag.
I don’t know what brings on these little moments, except that I’ve always been a re-reader and I have old friends that I can come back to again and again. But this is the third year that I’ve done the Goodreads Reading Challenge and I have a strict rule that I don’t count books I’ve already read towards the total – even if I haven’t already added them to my shelf. This means I spend a lot of time reading new stuff, and less time reading old favourites – as I’m always trying to beat last year’s total. In 2012 I read 202 books, last year I read 260 – and although I doubt I’ll better that this year, The Boy keeps asking me how I’m getting on and I get all competitive about it. When I beat my 2012 total last year, he got all superior about it because I’d read fewer pages than the year before (there was a higher concentration of short stories in there than normal) so I kept going until I beat the pages total as well.
Ten days ago I hit 100 books for the year (my first target) meaning I’m on target to do 200 books again and I think this might be what’s triggered my current bout of malaise. So, I’m re-reading the Phryne Fisher books – which were my big discovery of 2013 – so I can enjoy them afresh and block out the memory of the second series of TV adaptations (which are the inspiration for a post about TV versions of books that I’m currently working on). I also haven’t re-read Laurie Graham’s Gone With the Windsors for a while (I usually read it at least twice a year) so I bumped her latest paperback to the top of the to-read pile (The Liar’s Daughter) and I’m planning on getting GWTW out again after Phryne.
I think another factor maybe tiredness. I’ve done a lot of hours at work over the past month and although it wants to read, my brain doesn’t want to contemplate anything new or taxing. Well, I’m hoping that a lighter week at work because of a heavy weekend and an upcoming wedding will deal with the fatigue and get me back into the zone because I know that despite what I think at the moment, that pile of books is bound to be full of interesting books and new favourites.
The final factor (that I can think of anyway) is Titus Groan. I started reading this damn book in January and it is lingering on. The trouble is that it hasn’t really grabbed me and there is so much other stuff waiting to be read that I can ignore it. Now you’d think that I’d take this as a sign and give up, but I’m a stubborn old thing and I hate admitting defeat, so this weekend just gone I took it with me to London (where I was staying for the weekend for work) to try to force myself to finish it. I read another 75 pages, but then I got too tired to concentrate on it and I went back to Phryne. I keep telling myself that I just need a bit more sleep and then I’ll get down to it and it’ll be fine – despite all evidence from the lingerers on the to-read pile that this is not the case. Watch this space.
Do you have any tips for getting back your reading mojo? Post them in the comments below.
Ok, so this doesn’t look like a very productive week reading-wise. And you’d be right. Sort of. I’ve re-read two and a bit Phryne Fisher books this week – and I’m doing something very rare – I’m trying to pace myself and make a book last. I love Laurie Graham’s books and Liar’s Daughter is her latest to be released in paperback (I valiantly resist the urge to buy them in hardback) and I’m trying not to gobble it up in one sitting. I had about 80 pages to go when I left home for a weekend working on Friday night – which meant fell under my rule about not taking books with me when I have less than 100 pages to read (because it means I have finished it before I get to London and then have to carry it around with me for no benefit) – so I’m expecting to finish this on Monday. On the bright side I did take Titus Groan with me for the weekend to try and finish it – as I’ve been reading it on and off for months now.
Read:
Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews
Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay
Started:
The Liar’s Daughter by Laurie Graham
Still reading:
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
Purchase wise – a good week – only one book bought – the next Meg Langslow which is coming from the States so may not arrive for another week yet. I also won another Goodreads First Read book – which has already arrived – so I have two of those that need reading asap now. Look for them on this list next week!
You can tell I worked four days this week and commuted each day can’t you?! A much better week for reducing the to-read pile – and a library book in there too! I also finally got around to reading The Fault In Our Stars ahead of the film release.
Read:
The Valley of the Shadow by Carola Dunn
The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
High Rising by Angela Thirkell
The Temptress by Paul Spicer
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
Started:
Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews
Still reading:
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
On the purchasing front, I bought the next Meg Langslow book, my pre-order of Laurie Graham’s Liar’s Daughter arrived (I’d forgotten that was out this week – hurrah!) and that was it – apart from two children’s books from the New Foyles flagship store for The Boy’s nieces (Weasels and The Great Granny Gang if you’re interested). So progress on that front too!
Oh nightshifts. You really do fry my reading plans. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’ve been re-reading Phryne Fisher during my dinner breaks rather than reading something new, but I need something easy and fun in the early hours. Still, I don’t think I’ve done too badly all things considering.
Read:
Mutton by India Knight
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Scruples by Judith Krantz
Started:
We’ll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews
Still reading:
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The downside is that I had a bit of a book buying spree – one in the early hours of Monday morning, two in the early hours of Tuesday and two more in the early hours of Thursday. So the to-read pile hasn’t exactly shrunk this week – and I’m currently resisting the urge to by the next book in the Meg Langslow series as I’m enjoying We’ll Always Have Parrots…
On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 417
New books* read in May: 20
Books from the Library Book pile: 0 (Oops)
Books from the to-read pile: 10
E-books: 7
Books read as soon as they arrived: 3 (including 2 free books)
Most read author in May: Carola Dunn
Books* read this year: 92
Books bought: 16 actual books and 3 ebooks
Net progress: 6 more books on the pile
Dang it. That book buying spree in the charity shop, and the nightshift impulse buys ruined what could have been a really good month for to read pile reduction. And the last week of the month was derailed by the nightshifts when all I seem to do is sleep and work.
Drat.
* Total includes some short stories (1 in fact this month)
Oh dear. All those train journeys and I didn’t manage to read much as I was hoping – the list was looking very poor until a concerted effort at the weekend. This week coming I’m on nights – so it could go either way…
Read:
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan
On the brightside, all I bought this week was a free short story on Kindle and a mystery novel on the Kindle for 99p and I’m counting that as progress!
Squeezed in a bit of over-time this week and had an elections briefing on Saturday – so you’d think that was plenty of commutes to get my teeth into some books, but I don’t seem to have covered as much ground as I was hoping. I’m blaming this on my attempts to reduce the number of non-fiction titles waiting to be read – because they take me longer to read than some light fiction does. But it remind me how much I enjoy good non-fiction and so I’m thinking of adopting a policy of having one on the go at all times. But then I already have too many rules and policies and it’s starting to get ridiculous.
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan
The Blessing by Nancy Mitford
Still reading:
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
A bad week for self-restraint – but one of these was free and another borrowed
Now I was doing really well on the not buying books front, until Saturday lunchtime when I arrived really early for my shift and ended up wandering into a charity shop. Four books later and suddenly the to-read pile was looking monstrous again.
I had a bit of a panic earlier in the week when Jenn McKinlay’s book turned up – as I didn’t remember ordering it. It turned out that I hadn’t – it was a win in a Goodreads giveaway – so of course that had to jump straight to the top of the pile so that I could review it because when some one sends you a book and wants you to review it, you should really do that as quickly as possible…
The Railway Detectives is borrowed from my Dad, and the Terry Pratchett is the replacement for my duplicate copy of Trisha Ashley, so only 6 (gulp) books bought this week and a net gain of 2 on the pile (because the Delilah Marvelle was an ebook). I really do need to try harder, still, I have many shifts this week. But then that’s what I thought last week!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 