Monthly Roundup

Monthly Roundup: September 2016

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Every first Wednesday of the month, I’ll be posting a roundup of the month just gone, and writing about what’s to come in the next few weeks.

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Last month I read a total of ten books: The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, Stranger of Tempest (The God Fragments #1) by Tom Lloyd,
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, The Ice Storm by Rick Moody, Tracks by Robyn Davidson, Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones: Seasons 1 & 2 by Bryan Cogman, The Dead (The Enemy #2) by Charlie Higson, Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed, The Wee Free Men (Discworld #30) by Terry Pratchett and It’s All in Your Head by Suzanne O’Sullivan.

I have to say that my absolute favourite book of September was Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found. I knew I wanted to read it after watching the film, starring Reese Witherspoon, in August. I found it incredibly inspirational – I would really love to do a long hike like that, although perhaps not alone! And I definitely want to read more travel books by female authors now, so please give me recommendations if you have any! Finally, I got round to The Girl on the Train – and I don’t quite get the obsession. It was easy to read and quite gripping (I think I read it in two evenings), but it was a really obvious ‘whodunnit’! I’ll probably go and see the film with my mum and sister soon. Let downs this month were Stranger of Tempest (still trying to work out whether I want to write a review or not because I honestly can’t think of much to say about it) and The Dead, which felt incredibly different to the first book, a lot more juvenile and not as fun.

 

Challenge progress:

  • I managed to defeat September’s villain for the DC vs Marvel Challenge, Deadshot. I’m doing really well this year and have defeated every villain so far, and only have a few more books to read before all heroes are recruited. October’s villain is, appropriately, Jack O’Lantern. I’ve already planned my books!
  • I have currently read 94 books towards my Goodreads goal. I’m in two minds over whether to raise it, because I get super competitive about it, and it’s more about quality than quantity.

 

Currently reading:

Traitor's Blade
How was September for you?

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Challenges

Challenge: 2013 TBR Pile Challenge


I am continuing this challenge throughout 2014, as I hope to have read all 30 books by the end of the year.

I have decided to join the 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, which runs from 1st January – 31st December 2013. You can read the rules and join the challenge here. There is also a handy Goodreads group for the challenge, which will track your challenge books for you, as long as you shelf them correctly.

I have almost 300 books on my TBR list, and some have been sitting there for years. One of the rules of this challenge is no books published after 2013, and no ARCs – which rules out a lot of my review books. This means I can read the books I want to, and have been meaning to read for some time – which means they’ll most likely be ones that I already own. I have set a goal of 15 books (considering that I also have to read review copies), any from this list:

1. The Odyssey by Homer
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (read 2014)
3. Endymion by Dan Simmons
4. The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (read 2014)
5. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
6. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
7. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
8. Redhead by Ian Cook
9. Tristan and Iseult by Rosemary Sutcliff
10. The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
11. The Ice Storm by Rick Moody
12. The Twelve by Justin Cronin
13. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
14. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
15. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
16. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
17. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
18. The Sun in my Eyes: Two-Wheeling East by Josie Dew
19. The Weeping Empress by Sadie S. Forsyth
20. A Walk in the Wood: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trial by Bill Bryson
21. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
22. Dear Fatty by Dawn French
23. Gone by Michael Grant
24. Virals by Kathy Reichs
25. Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
26. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (read 2014)
27. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (read 2014)
28. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
29. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
30. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Keep track of my progress or take a look at my tbr-pile-challenge shelf!

 Just under half of my list…