It seems like my 5 Step Plan to beat my slump has been working and I’m definitely over my reading slump now. The blogging slump is still there though… Although scheduling posts has been a big help during the last two months. I have been a lot less active both here and on my social media accounts; I haven’t disappeared, I’m just taking some necessary breathing time! Actually going to write a post about that soon… Basically, I’ve been dedicating more time to my personal life, started eating healthier, exercising more, and this has been eating up some my blogging time. Also, it’s currently Spring and we’ve been working on some reforms in the garden… I’m truly surprised I was still able to read 18 titles, although a few of these were either short or superfast reads. 😉

As for the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in September: 18
  • Total number of books read this year: 165
  • Total number of pages read in September: 6.386
  • Total number of pages read this year: 55.046

Thankfully September was another good month and I even managed to add another 5 star rating to my list! (This Savage Song was a reread so doesn’t count) It was a great month in general since I had only two ratings below 3 stars (although one was a DNF) and lots of titles with a 4 star rating or above. Fingers crossed October will continue to be good!

5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now. 
This Savage Song – by Victoria Schwab (REREAD) // Our Dark Duet – by Victoria Schwab

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 
Cold Blood – by Robert Bryndza // The Surrogate – by Louise Jensen // Flowers For Algernon – by Daniel Keyes // Snuggle And Play Crochet – by Carolina Guzman Benitez NO REVIEW // Murder Game – by Caroline Mitchell // The Diary Of A Young Girl – by Anne Frank (REREAD)

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!
The Dollmaker Of Krakow – by R.M. Romero // Beartown – by Fredrik Backman // A Different Blue – by Amy Harmon // The Mistake – by K.L. Slater

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!
Things I’m Seeing Without You – by Peter Bognanni // Her Last Secret – by Barbara Copperthwaite

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic. 
The Lifeboat – by Charlotte Rogan // Heartless – by Marissa Meyer

2 STARS: It was ok. But mostly ‘meh’.
Bentwhistle The Dragon – by Paul Cude DNF

1.5 STARS: The story wasn’t horrible, but there still isn’t another word to describe it but ‘bad’.
I Am Behind You – by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Somehow I have joined way more challenges than usual this year, but at least I’ve already made a lot of progress with most of them so far. I’m considering the Netgalley challenge done since didn’t really have a goal in the first place and I already have surpassed the ‘magical’ number of 100 ARCs this year. I also made some progress with the Reading Through The Centuries challenge, although it’s going to be a struggle getting the final four titles in before the end of this year. The Beat The Backlist challenge is going good enough since I almost finished the 20 books published before 2013 and those 20 of course also count for the the total of 50 books published before 2016… Meaning I’m only 8 titles away of completing the challenge; not bad at all! 😀

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals…I managed to maintain my Netgalley ratio above 80% and even almost clean out my shelf completely, which I’m very happy about. But more importantly: I managed to both complete my classics, series and reread goals in September! I just love all that green on my goals list right now. 😉 Things are pretty hopeless when it comes to my TBR pile though, although I did manage to bring down the number slightly. I’m planning on cleaning up my kindle and getting rid of some Amazon freebies, so hopefully the number will be even less by next month! I’m currently working on the 800+ pages book (IT), so that should be another goal completed soon… I guess I should really start working on those Spanish books though. And running. I’ve been slowly picking up running again (I always combine it with speedwalking; in total at least 6-7km), but I’m so out of form I’m still not able to run for long. xD

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 5 classics (rereads don’t count) DONE 5/5 (The Color Purple, Little Women, The Jungle Book, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Flowers For Algernon)
  • Complete at least 5 series (rereads don’t count) DONE 5/5 (Shades Of Magic, The Dominion Trilogy, Confessions, Chaos Walking, The Monsters Of Verity)
  • Reread at least 3 books DONE 3/3 (The Perfect Stranger, This Savage Song, The Diary Of A Young Girl)
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 250 books 373/250
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages (maximum at 624 pages)
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 0/2
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch DONE 1/1
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% currently at 98%
  • Start a Twitter account and use it regularly
  • Reach 5km running! 2000m/5000m

Happy October and Happy Reading! 

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