For all arguments sake, 2018 is over as far as reading goes. I currently have I think 5 books in progress, yes I could take the time to count but I’m afraid to know exactly how many books I am in the middle of. So starting any of the books I wanted to get to this year is not going to happen.
This year I didn’t push myself, I didn’t want to stress myself out with trying to read 100 books, instead whatever total I made it to I would just let happen. My only goal was to read at least 52 books, which averages out to a book a week. I have passed this goal, but barely.
Why didn’t I read as many books as last year? Well, I didn’t count a lot of the books I ended up re-reading. Why was I re-reading so many books? Between some things going on with family and at work, I got seriously stressed. When this happens, there is one series in particular I tend to turn to. It’s the In Death series by J.D. Robb, better known as Nora Roberts. This kind of transitions into one of the books I’m kicking myself for not reading this year.
Last year for Christmas I received this book as a gift. It was one of the books I really wanted to get to, because it’s also a fantasy book. Nora Roberts doesn’t really do fantasy, but does Romance Mystery. Which fits her other persona, J.D. Robb who writes the In Death series which is Mystery Romance.
This book though is fantasy, which Nora Roberts has done a little in the past, and I wanted to see how this one fared.
I also received Outlander for my birthday last year. (I’m noticing a trend of books I get as a gift, seem to be the ones I don’t get to.)
This one I kept hesitating because I know it’s a large book. I was worried about the time commitment required to finish the book because I’m a somewhat slow reader. I’m trying to teach myself to read faster, and well, I’m a work in progress. ?
Crucible of Gold is the seventh book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. There is only one book in the series after this one and I was hoping to finish the series this year. But after I finished the sixth book in 2017, Tongues of Serpents, and wasn’t really impressed, I feared what reaction I would have when I read this book so I didn’t read it. (Yes this one was another book gifted to me. I’m seriously starting to feel like a horrible person.)
I can’t even tell you how long this book has been sitting on my shelf. This one I purchased for myself years ago, after happening across it in Meijer while grocery shopping. I’ve been wanting to read from this series since finding the Rizzoli & Isles show on TNT and learning it was based on a series of books, I wanted to read those books. And yet, this book has sat on my shelf for at least two years, likely longer.
I can say, I’ve at least read the first chapter, since I did choose this book as one of five I included in the Try a Chapter Tag video, but ultimately I chose another of the five books to read.
In 2015, I was lucky enough to have received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) copy of Hunter by Mercedes Lackey which I was absolutely crazy for. I gave the book 5 of 5 stars and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Still, from time to time, I will find myself thinking about this story and wanting to continue. So why then have I not picked up Elite which is the second book of the series? I also received this, I don’t remember now if it was last year or this year, as a gift.
I’m hoping in 2019 to catch up on my reading, and this seems to show I especially need to work on reading the books I’ve received as a gift.