So, over the past ten months I have started so many books that I have not yet finished. I’m literally still reading books that I started in January. It’s a little frustrating, verging on embarrassing, but it is what it is.

At the moment I have thirteen books on the go, and I still have more books that I want to start as well. I honestly can’t bring myself to pick up the books that I’m in the middle of reading, but I keep getting urges to start new books, which isn’t going to help me complete any of them at all.

Earlier in the year my plan was just to read whatever I felt like reading, and that is how I ended up with so many books I’ve started and so few that I’ve actually finished. I think I’ve only finished about nine books so far this year, so I’ve definitely got more on my currently reading pile than on my completed pile for the year.

I’m thinking that, starting in the new year, I’m just going to stick to reading one book at a time. However, maybe I should start doing that now, just so I can complete all of my current books. There are some books that I’m less excited about, and maybe shouldn’t bother finishing, but we’ll  have to see about that later.

First I’d like to talk about the thirteen books I’m currently reading, when I started them, and what interests me most about each book.

So the oldest book on my currently reading list is Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile by Shannon Messenger, which I started in the last week of January (yikes). This is the second book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which is a middle grade fantasy following an elf called Sophie as she is brought into the elven world to discover the truth about who she is, and to learn how to control all her different powers.

This series really intrigues me because there is a large cast, and a wide variety of powers. It is also about teenagers learning to understand themselves, as well as learning how to be supportive to the people they love whilst going on adventures and completing quests.

This is a wonderful story about friendship and found-family. It has cool powers, a magic school, and lots of crazy adventures. It is definitely a book that I want to finish this year so that I can continue the series. This series is quite long, I have the first five books, but I believe it is about ten books long (so far). I’m really looking forward to reading about these characters and seeing them grow up throughout the series.

The next book I started was 1984 by George Orwell, which I started reading in late April. This is a book I’ve owned for about ten years. I tried reading it once before and only got about 75 pages into it. It is obviously a very well-known book, and because of that I was quite curious about it. However, it is also a fairly slow book, with fairly old-fashioned writing (at least in comparison to the other books I’ve been reading recently).

This is definitely not a book to go into lightly. And perhaps I went into it thinking that it would be much easier to read than it actually was. In any case, it’s definitely taking me longer to read than I had hoped, especially considering that it is quite a short book.

I still like the idea of finishing 1984, but if I’m going to DNF any of the books I talk about today, it’s likely to be this one. It’s much slower than I would like, and it’s not exactly a cheerful plot.

After that we have Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb. This is the second book in the Farseer trilogy, the first of five trilogies in the full series. This series has been very popular on Bookstergram and Booktube over the past few years, and this is what drew me into reading it in the first place.

I initially started this book two years ago, but never finished it. I then tried starting it again at the beginning of May this year. It is another dense read, but it is also a fantasy, which is one of my favourite genres. Therefore I feel like I should have much more interest in this book than I currently do.

I have heard a lot of positive things about this series, but I have also heard that the first two books in the series are not as good as the rest of them. However, I still need to get through this book in order to continue the series. I’m still quite intrigued by this book, I just want to get on to the more interesting parts of the series.

I don’t know if my sole interest in this series is just because of the hype, but I feel compelled to read it because I’ve bought the first four books in this fifteen book series already. Lol.

The next book on my list is Clap When you Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, which I started right at the end of May. This book is about the lives of two teenage girls who lose family members in a plane crash, and it is told through verse.

I think the main thing putting me off about this book is that I started reading it just before getting on a plane myself. That is why I put it down in the first place. Now I think the whole story makes me feel a little bit anxious. Maybe I’m just being superstitious, but I feel like reading a book about a plane crash will cause something bad to happen.

I like the concept of the story, and I enjoy stories written in verse. I’m just not one hundred percent sure that I want to finish reading it, purely because of the anxiety I got when I read it before. But we’ll see.

The next book I started was Caliban’s War by James S A Corey. I started this book in the middle of June, and I initially started it as a buddy read. Neither of us have got very far with this book yet, but I think I’m the one in the lead (and I’m only about a third of the way through this book).

This is a science fiction book set in a near future version of our world, where humanity has spread out to Mars, and created colonies between planets, known as The Belt. This is a story of space battles, investigations, and found family. The first book in the series followed a mystery surrounding surrounding a plague, and this sets off a string of events which continue throughout the nine book series.

So far I’m really enjoying this book, but I think it does take quite a bit of concentration to understand what is going on, especially when I keep having long breaks between reading sessions. Lol.

I’m really excited to finish this book and to continue the series. I think it might take me a few years to finally complete the series, but I really think it will be worth the effort.

The next book is Sorcery of Thorns. This is a young adult fantasy about a library full of forbidden spell books. I’ve literally read about ten pages of this book, and then put it down for months. I started this at the end of August, and never read any more of it. I honestly think it could be a good story. The beginning certainly intrigued me. But I won’t be surprised or indeed upset if I fail to finish this book by the end of this year.

On the same day as starting the last book, I also started reading Foundaryside. This is the first book in a fantasy series that I have heard so many good things about. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t continued to pick it up. I read less than ten pages of this book, enjoyed it, and never picked it up again.

It doesn’t make any sense to me either. I really should just pick it up and continue the story. I think I feel a lot of pressure to read this book because so many people online seem to love it. I don’t want to be the one person to read it and not like it, so I’m just avoiding reading it, even though I did enjoy the few pages that I did read.

I think I just need to give myself some positive encouragement, and just get back to reading this book. Lol. I don’t have to like every book that the internet loves, but I shouldn’t get put off reading them just because so many people like these books.

At the beginning of September I started The Maid by Nita Prose. This is a murder mystery novel set in a hotel, where the maid discovers the body, and takes it upon herself to investigate.

I have read nearly thirty pages of this book, and so far I really like it. the maid is narrating the story in first person, and I love seeing her perspective of how she goes about her day at work, and getting to understand her thought processes.

Although they haven’t mentioned it explicitly yet, the protagonist comes across to me as being autistic. I find this a very interesting view point, especially in the context of a murder mystery. I’m curious about if this will help her to uncover the secrets of the murder, and to help with the investigation, or if it will cause problems for her along the way.

I’m definitely intrigued to continue this book. I don’t read much crime fiction, and I think this is quite a gentle one for someone who is unfamiliar with the genre.

On the same day as starting that book I also started The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill. This is a middle grade fantasy book. I’ve only read about ten pages, and I quite enjoyed the gentle nature of the writing. The chapters are all about four pages at most, so it feels like a really quick book to read.

I can’t say much about the plot, because I haven’t got too far in the book. But I think I would enjoy reading it. It is kind of hunourous in its writing style, which makes it feel like it will be really gentle and easy to read. I’ve read at least one other book by this author, which I really liked, so I’m hoping that I’ll enjoy this book too.

The third book that I started that day was Bunny by Mona Awad. I tried reading this book a few years ago, and I just didn’t vibe with it. I’m trying to give it another go, but I’ve only got about thirty pages into it, which isn’t even as far as I got the first time I tried reading this book.

I have heard a lot of good things about this book, which is why I decided to give it a second try. I’m really hoping that I can continue with this book, as I’d really like to enjoy it as much as everyone else seems to.

This book is hard to describe. It is set in a university, and follows our protagonist as she befriends a group of classmates who refer to themselves as the Bunnies. They are sickly cute in their behaviour, which feels quite creepy from the beginning. One night our protagonist is invited to a party with the bunnies, and she learns that a lot of weird stuff is going on.

The mystery in this book interests me quite a lot, and I think it would be a fun book to read this autumn.

At the beginning of October I started reading Horns by Joe Hill. This is a spooky fantasy book about a man who starts to grow devil horns. It is a dark fantasy, which isn’t something I tend to lean towards within the fantasy genre. I think the plot sounds quite interesting, as it follows Ig as he learns more about why he is growing horns, and learns about the powers that are developing around them.

This book is mysterious and creepy, and it is a book that I’ve wanted to read for about ten years now, but it never felt like the right time. Part of me feels that if I don’t finish it this autumn then I probably won’t pick it up again until next autumn. It just feels like the kind of book that needs to be read at this time of year.

And then today I started re-reading Winter by Merissa Meyer, which is the final book in the Lunar Chronicles series. I’ve only read the first three chapters, but I’ve read this series a couple of times before and I know that I love it. It is a fairy tale retelling set in space, with aliens, and cyborgs, and monsters. But it also feels like its own story, with aspects of the fairytales thrown in every so often. It is fun and gentle, and a good way to introduce young adults into sci-fi.

This final book is 824 pages long, which feels super intimidating, and I probably shouldn’t have started such a long book so close to the end of the year. Especially when I have so many other books on the go right now. But at least it’s a book that I know I love, and could probably finish quite quickly if I wanted to.

The last book on my list (I think I started it a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t really remember), is my only audiobook on this list. The book is The October Witches by Jennifer Claessen. I borrowed this book from my library using the Libby app. I haven’t listened to much of it so far, but it is quite fun. There are lots of different characters to get to know, which feels a little confusing in the beginning, but I think I’ll get the hang of it soon.

This is another middle grade fantasy, it is about a group of witches whose powers only come out one month of the year (guess which month). I don’t know much more about it than that, but I enjoy the idea of young witches learning to use their powers, and I do like the narrator’s voice, so I think I could enjoy this book if I choose to complete it.

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This feels like a very long post, but I did have a lot of books to talk about. I hope it wasn’t too overwhelming. Haha. Personally, I am quite overwhelmed by the number of books that I’m in the middle of reading right now, and I’m not certain how I’m going to go about getting through them all.

I guess it helps that I’m going to start commuting next week. I love reading on oublic transport. It’s  one of my favourite places to read.  It’s that weird? Lol. That might only help me to get through an extra 60-ish pages each week, but that is honestly about 60 pages a week more that I have been reading recently. Lol.

Do you have any tips on how to get throgh all these books in the next two months?

WHat are you reading at the moment?

Until next time,

Love, Bobbi. Xx.