Boy, this reading challenge seemed like a good idea when I first started it. Now we’re getting to the end of the year and the months are getting longer. I can’t help but wonder what past Laura was thinking. She’s such a bloody optimist. Thankfully, I just about managed to get all the books I needed read. Although, it wouldn’t have happened without my holiday.
Number of books read: 10
Number of rereads: 2
Number of physical books: 6
Number of ebooks: 0
Number of audiobooks: 4
5* reviews: 1
4.5* reviews: 0
4* reviews: 3
September was always going to be a tough month. Not only is work always super busy at this time of year but my TBR was longer than ever. I knew that I’d have to finish at least 10 books to get my reading challenge complete and read my book club’s pick for this month. Thankfully, I went away for the first time in years and spent a whole week relaxing. Relaxing and reading. Turns out, when I don’t have Netflix at my disposal, reading is pretty easy.
It’s the last day of my holiday and the day before I’m back at work. I’ve had such a good week that I’m really not ready for it to end. I should book off two weeks in future. I need a week away and then a week to recover. Hopefully, I won’t be going back to a load of unanswered emails and jobs that need doing. Ideally, it’ll be a stress free week to ease myself back in. When has that ever happened. As you will have noticed, I haven’t ben blogging this week. Why am I doing an rundown then? Well, I have read a lot of books. At least, a lot for me. It will be a bit of time before I get round to reviewing them all, so I figured why not update you on what I’ve got through.
I’m on holiday next week, so I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a bit. Meaning, this will be my last book review for a while. It better be a good one I guess. I’d never heard of this book until Amazon suggested it to me. I know that I should use Amazon as little as possible but I’ve discovered so many novels thanks to its algorithm. This one was perfect for so many reasons but mostly because I was struggling to find shorter reads for my September reading challenge. I’ve got so many letters to cross off but the majority of the books I’d lined up were all over 300. That wouldn’t do. The Reader comes in at under 200, which means I already loved it before I’d even opened it.
August is the first in a run of long month names. For the rest of the year, I’m going to have to be smart to get every letter crossed off. I’m already panicking about September and we’re only 2 days in. But enough of this month. How did I do last month? Did I cross off every letter? Including those two pesky U’s?
By the end of the day, July will be over and we’ll be one month closer to the end of the year. I know 2020 was the longest year in history but 2021 really isn’t wasting any time. The end of July also means the end of short month titles. From here on out, it’s long names to spell out. I’m pretty concerned that I won’t manage it but I’ll do what I can. Hopefully, I can just get through with audiobooks and graphic novels.
So June has come and gone. This means another month of my Spell the Month Reading challenge is over. I’m pleased to report that it seemed easier in June than it did in May. I was finished with the challenge quite early. I guess that’s mostly to do with the order that I was reading in but also because I actually gave more time up to reading. Of course, one of my books was only 32 pages long but that was mostly because I was struggling for a Pride book starting with U. I’m also wary that I have a lot of U’s coming up, so I’ve got to be a bit clever.
Ah, May. The 3 letter month. This was such a relief after my recent reading slump. Maybe too much of a relief. I think I got a bit cocky at a few points and should probably have focused on some of the longer books earlier on. Especially as it was another difficult “Y” month. I knew that I already owned a book for that letter but it was a longer one than I’ve read in a while. I’m just not used to books above 250 pages anymore. God knows how I’d cope with Ann Radcliffe of Tolkien these days. Anyway, let’s take a look at the titles I picked out for May.
After feeling like I spent most of April in a slump, I definitely noticed an improvement in May. I still wasn’t quite on top form but I’ve got back into the swing of things. Did I read as many as I had hoped? No but, in terms of quality, this was a strong month. A lot of 4 star reads came out this month, which probably helped with the good feeling. So, what did I consume in the last 31 days?
Number of books read: 7
Number of rereads: 0
Number of physical books: 5
Number of ebooks: 0
Number of audiobooks: 2
Number of 5* reviews: 1
Number of 4.5* reviews: 0
Number of 4* reviews: 4
Boy, April was a complete washout for me. I’ve still managed to finish 6 books but there’s definitely been a dip in energy during the pas 30 days. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ve had my second Covid vaccine and gone back to working in the office. These two things have caused nothing but exhaustion. Hopefully, a 3 day weekend is going to get me back in line.
Number of books read: 6
Number of rereads: 0
Number of physical books: 4
Number of ebooks: 0
Number of audiobooks: 1
Number of 5* reviews: 1
Number of 4.5* reviews: 0
Number of 4* reviews: 2
