#Amstillreading

Ten months into my self-imposed reading challenge on Goodreads and I actually find myself 8 books ahead of schedule.  For those of you who think I’ve lost the ability to count – I didn’t actually start this challenge till February. The reason I'm this far along though is primarily due to books loaned to me by several fabulous students: Ari, Tobi and Tianna as well as the magnificent collection of Jacqueline Wilson at the charity where I teach.  It’s a difficult thing entrusting your beloved darlings to someone else but my students have faith in me and I hope I’ve not let them down by spilling spaghetti sauce all over the pages of their precious books.

In quick summary: the way I’m attempting to get through this challenge is by reading 3 books simultaneously.  I read one #bookatbreakfast), the second is my #bagbook and the third my #bedbook.

Reading this at bed time
 makes for very
exciting dreams

My summer holiday in Scotland gave me a fair bit of reading time so I added up the reading total on Goodreads quite nicely during that time.  However, the reading of adult fiction is going much slower than I would have liked.  I’ve also moved on to the second book in the Game of Thrones series for my #bedbook.  These are all weighty tomes and take a bit of getting through.  The only problem with this series is that I keep wanting to read tons more so am getting a bit sleep deprived.

However, I’ve resolved to have a fairly slim volume as my #bagbook in order to save my bag toting shoulder from undue injury.  So I may well be reading more than one children’s book at a time as they tend to be the slimmer volumes.

I’m now also constantly side tracked by the Bill Bryson books currently sitting on my coffee table just taunting me and urging me to read them.  It’s hard work resisting their pull.  But I’m determined to vary my reading as much as I possibly can, so Bill Brysons – you’re just going to have to wait till next month – or maybe later this month.  I’m so easy.

Believe it or not, I’ve only bought 7 books during this entire challenge – all of them from my local Oxfam which I can’t resist if I’m in the vicinity.  All the other books I’ve read have either been on loan from my beloved Carnegie Library or from the shelves of friends and students.  I’ve also read books which were given to me as gifts but had been languishing unread on my own bookshelf.

At Christmas time I usually reread Lord of The Rings as it remains one of my favourite books from the moment it was first given to my 12 year old self by my mother.  But this year I think that may not happen as I'll probably be scrambling to finish the 100 books required for this challenge.

So far this challenge has seemed daunting at times but now I’m starting to feel like I might just finish what seemed like an impossible task a few months ago.  Shortly before Christmas I plan to do a post on my top 10 reads during this challenge.  Till then I'll keep #reading.