Right – so this is my first ‘wrap up’ and I’m a little bit scared of calculating the number of pages I’ve read. I’m a pretty competitive person and I can tell I’m going to want to beat mine (and everyone else’s, for that matter) page count each time, which will (obviously) lead to a worrying amount of reading!
October has been a bit of a difficult month for me – I’ve been in a serious reading slump that I haven’t been able to kick myself out of. Granted, it hasn’t helped that I’ve read two traumatising books one after the other; and I’ve had a busy month socially but I’m normally a lot better.
Books Read:
Henry James – Turn of the Screw
Edward St. Aubyn – Never Mind
Holly Smale – Geek Girl
Jeanette Winterson – The Daylight Gate
Currently Reading:
Rebecca Skloot – The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
Total pages read: 1168
Total pages read this year: 14,491
Quick Overviews:
Henry James – Turn of the Screw
My first gothic horror and I absolutely loved it – James’ tone is enough to terrify you, let alone the plot. I actually exclaimed out loud on the train when I finished the book; although mortifying, a few people did ask what book I was reading so I hopefully influenced at least one person to pick it up!
Edward St. Aubyn – Never Mind
This was actually a book club choice; I’d never heard of St. Aubyn before but was intrigued by the semi-autobiographical nature of the book. It’s the first book in a series of 5 (I think) that follow the main character as he grows up. Be warned – this is a traumatic read, but it is also extremely well written and thought-provoking.
Holly Smale – Geek Girl
Freaking awesome children’s book; it’s light-hearted, funny and provides a lot of facts that you can impress people with.
Jeanette Winterson – The Daylight Gate
An intriguing novella about the Pendle witch trials – another quick and easy read. Not my favourite witch based novel, however.
November TBR:
There are quite a number of books I want to get through next month but I seriously doubt my ability to do so for one important reason: I will be travelling round Thailand and Cambodia. Yes, my kindle is fully stocked and ready to go (and as a true book geek, I’ll also be taking 2 paperbacks) but I have a very short amount of time (23 days to be exact) to see a hell of a lot of stuff in both countries. My plan is minimal sleep and maximum caffeine; I’m not quite sure how I’ll fit books into it, but I will try my best.
In an attempt to be realistic there’s only three definite TBR books this month, but the optimist in me has added a few more hopeful’s to the list.
Definite TBR:
George R.R. Martin – A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold (I should be able to make a dent in this in my 13 hour flight!)
Arthur Koestler – Darkness at Noon (another book club read, and one of the paperbacks I’m taking along to Thailand).
Sam Thompson – Communion Town (the second paperback I’m taking with me).
Hopeful TBR:
Veronica Roth – Divergent
Susan EE – Angelfall
Andrew Miller – Pure
OK, so that’s a very hopeful TBR list…. All that’s left to say is: wish me luck?!
A Literary Mind 