September TBR

I don’t post a monthly TBR anymore (and if you remember the days that I did, then congrats on being an old-timer, I think it’s been more than a year). But last night I was looking at my currently reading shelf on Goodreads and the stack on my end-table, which essentially serves the same function, and vowed I would finish all of my currently reading books by the end of September. So, since public embarrassment is actually a pretty good motivator for me, here’s the list of books I have completed at least a percentage of, but want to finish by the end of the month:

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas-This one won’t be a stretch to complete; it’s my newest “current” read, I’m enjoying it greatly and I should have it done by the end of this holiday weekend.

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon – I’ve had this one marked “currently reading” for three months and I have been reading it on and off that whole time–pick it up for a few minutes, listen to an hour of the audiobook in the car, but only once a week or so, in and amongst other things. I’m liking it and am slowly starting to get hooked back into the Outlander world by it, but the slow start hasn’t been helping it out.

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald – My book club picked this one and I didn’t quite get finished before skimming to the end and going to the meeting anyway, but I want to go back and read the last 100 or so pages properly because I was really enjoying Fitzgerald’s writing and style with this.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn– Another book club pick I was enjoying, but got too busy to finish in time to attend the meeting. I set it down in favor of the next month’s pick (Half of A Yellow Sun–I did finish and was great and a great choice for a discussion group) but I do want to finish it.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – I am nearly done with this very interesting, exceedingly excellent graphic memoir, but I lost momentum on it when I left it behind when I left for vacation at the end of August. Now that I’m back, it’s time to finish it out.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee-I bought this the day it came out and made a pretty good dent in it the first two weeks I had it but I set it down in favor of something else. It’s not terrible, but I start feeling kind of stressed out about it every time I pick it up, constantly monitoring my own reaction to everything that happens in it. I want to finish it, now that the buzz has died down a bit and I have come to realize that it is not really at all a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird and that no matter what happens, the two stories are separate entities and TKM won’t be improved or destroyed by the newcomer.

Bout of Books 13 TBR

Who’s excited for Bout of Books? I know I am!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th 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 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

My last few Bout of Books have been a little disappointing. I start out all excited and then car breaks down or work gets super busy or something and I wind up reading even less than a normal week, but let’s hope that that doesn’t happen this time.

I’d like to use the week to make a nice dent in the number of books on my TBR, by starting and finishing some of the shorter ones, especially since the #crushyourtbr readathon is happening at the end of Bout of Books, over the weekend, and I’d like to join in on that one as well. But I also need to read All the Light We Cannot See for a (IRL) book club I’ve just joined and I probably won’t completely abandon the Outlander books either (I’m currently reading Dragonfly in Amber and I spoiled myself, and I’m pretty sure I’ll want to roll right into Voyager when I’m done), so we will have to see what I get all the way through. Even if I don’t crush the number of novels on my tbr, I will try to get through bunches of pages.

My Tentative and Overly Ambitious BoB TBR

–Animal Farm by George Orwell

–Boundless by Cynthia Hand

–Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

–The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

–Dragonfly in Amber/Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

–All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR

More and more I find my reading tastes changing with the seasons, though spring is usually a pretty transitional time from the darker and more serious reads of the wintertime to the light contemporary mixed paradoxically with epic, high fantasy fare I tend to favor in the summertime, so here’s a mixed bag of stuff I plan on reading between now and May or so…when I can be certain the snow is gone for good. Springtime in the Rockies and all…

1. Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

I often pick up non-fiction in the springtime, don’t ask me why, and I’ve been interested in this book since watching The Imitation Game back in January. I picked up the audiobook cheap on Audible and am really enjoying the slight dent I’ve made in it so far (it’s 30 hours long!).

2. The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

I’ve heard some of the buzz around this book and snagged it from the library. I imagine I’ll pick this one up this coming weekend before it has to go back and see what all the fuss is about.

3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I’ve been meaning to read this forever and one of my friends really loves this series so it’s high time I started it.

4. I Was Here by Gayle Foreman

My birthday was a few weeks ago and I got a bunch of books that I really desperately wanted and just haven’t gotten to yet. This is one…

5. These Broken Stars by Amy Kaufman and Megan Spooner

This is another one.

6. The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

I reread Garden Spells almost every spring anyway, and this year I have acquired a few more of her books that I haven’t read that would be perfect to go along after.

7. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

A series with more of an autumnal mood, but I just recently read the Miss Peregrine’s graphic novel and got back into the world, and I need to read this before the third book and the Miss P movie come out later this year (I think? Hopefully that’s right!)

8. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

A recent release I haven’t sunk my teeth into yet. I’ve always had a hit and miss experience with Holly Black’s stuff, but I’m hoping this one’s a hit.

9. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

One more 2015 release. Vicious was one of my favorite books last year and I only held off on buying this the week it came out because I was holding out hope someone else would buy it for my birthday. They didn’t, and I’m trying to read down the pile of stuff I did acquire before I run out and get it myself, but I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out before picking this one up.

10. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I bought this one back in February when I went through my TBR looking for black authors to read in honor of Black History Month and came up pitifully empty and keep pushing this aside in favor of some other things, but it’s definitely a goal of mine to keep reading diversely all year and I’ve heard nothing but glowing things about this book in particular.

November Wrap-Up and December TBR

As I said in this post last month, I really like watching wrap-up videos by “Booktubers” on YouTube, but I usually review everything I read either here or on my Goodreads page, so in my wrap up posts, I let you know what I read and what, out of those books, I liked best. Last month I had three winners, so it’s not like it’s a cutthroat competition here, but it is kind of fun. Click the book titles for Goodreads links, so you can read what they’re about if you’re interested. I’ll also link my reviews to the books in parentheses, indicating if the review was here on The Starlight Shelves, or if it’s a little less formal, on my Goodreads page.

Books I Read in November:

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (SS Review)

Bloodlines (SS Review), The Golden Lily (GR Review), The Indigo Spell (GR Review), The Fiery Heart (SS Review) by Richelle Mead

Dreamless (GR Review) by Josephine Angelini

What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You’re Not Officially Dating Anyway) (The Bane Chronicles) by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan (I wrote a GR Review, but all I said was “Awww. So sweet.”)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (SS Review)

My favorite is definitely the Bloodlines series! I’m obsessed. I read so many fewer books this month in part because I did NaNoWriMo, but also because I was constantly just rereading all my favorite parts of those books. It was a pretty great month overall though: The Lightning Thief and The Darkest Minds are recommended reads as well.

My December TBR

Woo, that’s a big pile. I just went to the library and went a little nuts, plus I have left overs from last month.

The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman are on there from last month. I’m still planning on re-reading them, but I have to get through these library finds first.

The Book Thief is on there next, another old favorite I’ve been meaning to re-read, especially since the movie just came out. I’ve heard mixed things about the movie, but I still hope to see it soon. If you’ve seen it, let me know what you thought!

Last month I bought Foretold, a collection of short stories about foretellings, fate and destiny, edited by Carrie Ryan. I bought it only so I could read the story Homecoming by Richelle Mead, which takes place after the events of the Vampire Academy series and tells of Dimitri’s reunion with his family and another small adventure. I read it already and it was great, but I really should check out some of the other stories in there, since it’s got some really wonderful contributing authors.

Next is The Shadowhunter’s Codex by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis. This is a supplement to The Mortal Instruments series, it’s meant to be the actual text of the Codex the characters reference and this one is printed like you’re reading Clary’s copy, complete with notes by her and Jace with interjections by Simon. It’s also full of art, from doodles and sketches meant to be Clary’s to the art of the Codex itself. I actually finished it this morning (so one down you towering pile of books!) and I should be posting a review sometime early this week.

The penultimate Bane Chronicle by Cassandra Clare is out this month as well. Last month’s was wonderful and I am looking forward to reading The Last Stand of the New York Institute so much, even if it’s not as Malec-packed as November’s installment (Because Alec, if he’s present at all, is like barely two years old in this one.)

I’ve heard good things about Holly Black’s latest: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown which I’ve heard is a cool take on vampires, so I’m in. Looking forward to reading it.

Next is another leftover from November. Goddess, the final book in the Starcrossed series. I plan on reading it soon, but I’m not that excited about it after being kind of disappointed by Dreamless this month.

I had Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas on hold at the library for a long time and I finally got it. I don’t recall what prompted me to try to get it, but it looks to be YA high fantasy, something I haven’t really read much of in the past month or two, not since I read The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy back in September.

I also managed to snag Rick Riordan’s Sea of Monsters, book two in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series from the local library. The Lightning Thief didn’t disappoint, even after a lot of hype, and I am excited to continue the series. Hopefully I can get my hands on The Titan’s Curse this month too, but we shall see.

I changed things up a bit on my last library adventure and spent some time browsing around the non-fiction section. First, I picked up Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. I’ve read three other books by him (Into the Wild and Into Thin Air for classes in high school, and Where Men Win Glory on my own in college) and I was intrigued by this one.

On the bottom of the stack, purely for the humor, is The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I was on my way out when I spotted this lying neglected on the shelf and I had to take it home with me, especially since I remember loving  Outliers.

I also expect that my long wait on the library hold list for Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep will end very soon, (I’m first on the list now and there’s a copy due back today!) so that monster will be added to the already precarious pile. This just got really intimidating….Check back in next month to see if I read all twelve! I’ve done it before, but it’s going to be a tall order for sure.