September turned out to be quite a stressful month reading wise, mostly my own fault as I seem to be drowning in a pile of ARCs right now… It’s probably the reason I’m once again feeling that reading/blogging slump and I really need to take a break ASAP, although I’m too excited about #Orentober so it will have to wait until November. xD September also means Spring has arrived again, and I’ve been working a lot prepping the garden and doing some DIY around the house… And of course a lot of baking/cooking as well, including Dutch ‘sprits’ cookies, apple crumble, pineapple/coconut cupcakes with buttercream decoration and my famous paella valenciana. ❤
Now to the bookish numbers:
- Number of books read in September: 18
- Total number of books read this year: 199
- Total number of pages read in September: 5.775
- Total number of pages read this year: 66.425
September wasn’t my best month numbers wise, mostly because I’ve been feeling slumpy these last few weeks and it was affected my reading speed. That said, the books I did read were almost all winners. Not only did I find THREE new 5 star ratings, but I also had FIVE other other fantastic titles with an almost perfect rating… And only three titles had a rating below 4 stars. Oh yes, I definitely got lucky last month.
SEPTEMBER READS
5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now.
Blood Song – by Johana Gustawsson // Muse Of Nightmares – by Laini Taylor // The Huntress – by Kate Quinn
4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic!
All Cats Are Introverts – by Francesco Marciuliano // Here To Stay – by Mark Edwards // Snare – by Lilja Sigurdardottir // Trap – by Lilja Sigurdardottir // Cradle To Grave – by Rachel Amphlett
4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!
The Unbound – by Victoria Schwab // The Essence Of Evil – by Rob Sinclair // The Liar’s Sister – by Sarah A. Denzil // Secrets Of The Mist – by Kate Ryder // The Lies We Tell – by Debra Webb // Finding Henry Applebee – by Celia Reynolds // Hope And Other Punchlines – by Julie Buxbaum
3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!
Sorry I Barfed On Your Bed Again – by Jeremy Greenberg // I Will Make You Pay – by Teresa Driscoll
3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.
The Birthday House – by Jill Treseder
I have quite a few challenges going on in 2019, but I feel all have doable goals I’m managing to work on without trying too hard. Things are still on track so far and I’ll have finished my updated Goodreads challenge by the time this post goes live as I only needed one more book for that. I should really work on getting those Reading Through The Centuries titles in though.
# CHALLENGES #
-
Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge:150/150 DONE!!!- Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge UPDATED: 199/200
2019 Beat The Backlist Challenge:DONE!!!! 53/50 books read published in 2018 or 2017 and 61/30 books read published 2016 or before. A total of 114/80 books.2019 Beat The Backlist Epic BTB Bingo:81/81 DONE!!!- Reading Through The Centuries: 2/5
2019 Netgalley And Edelweiss Challenge:50/50 DONE!!!- 2019 When Are You Reading?: 11/12
Double Trouble ABC Challenge:TITLE 26/26 DONE!! // AUTHOR 26/26 DONE!!!
As for my other goals…September wasn’t the best month for those. xD My ARC/backlist ratio is no longer below 40% thanks to me having to read a pile of ARCs in a row after a requesting binge… And my TBR pile goal is just as helpless as before. I haven’t been able to read my final TBR jar pick either, but I’m hoping to get to it in October.
# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #
Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count)3/3 DONE!! (The Painted Veil // The Big Sleep // A Wrinkle In Time)Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count)10/10 DONE!! (Anastasia Phoenix // The Conqueror’s Saga // Women Are Some Kind Of Magic // Fire And Thorns // The Collector // Beartown // The Wrath And The Dawn // 4MK Thriller // Things That H(a)unt // Flame In The Mist)Reread at least 2 books2/2 DONE!! (The BFG // Harry Potter Y El Caliz De Fuego)- Bring my physical TBR pile below 450 books and keep it that way. 646/450
Read at least one book over 800 pages1/1 DONE!! (813 pages; Colombiano)- Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 41%
Read at least 2 books in Spanish2/2 DONE!! (Harry Potter Y El Cáliz De Fuego // Harry Potter Y La Orden Del Fénix)Read at least 1 book in Dutch1/1 DONE!! (Alles Is Breekbaar)Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations15/15 DONE!! (Mala Vida (France) // The Painted Veil (France) // When Dimple Met Rishi (India) // And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer (Sweden) // The Courier (Norway) // The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Japan) // The Murmur Of Bees (Mexico) // Bright Burning Stars (France) // Trouble Makes A Comeback (Philippines) // Wolves At The Door (Norway) // The Secret Diary Of Hendrik Groen (The Netherlands) // Block 46 (France) // The Silent Patient (Cyprus) // I Am Malala (Pakistan) // Snare (Iceland))- Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 9/10 (The Insect Farm // The Shattering // Be Frank With Me // Tell The Wolves I’m Home // Sweetheart // The Dead Girls Of Hysteria Hall // The Problem With Forever // The Cellar // The Madness Underneath)
Join at least 5 challenges during the year5/5 DONE!!- Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 95%
Happy October and Happy Reading!
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Let’s fight this slump together, love! xxx
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Let’s beat that slump monster! ❤ xx
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It looks like you had a great month even if things got slumpy!
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It definitely went better than expected… I need a proper break soon though. xD
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Terrific post! Hope October is an awesome month filled with great reads 🙂 ❤
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Likewise! ❤
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All the food you baked looks delicious! Sounds like you read so many great books even if your reading speed was affected. That’s a win!
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True! Although I did pick up quite a few shorter reads, so that helped. 😉
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