My New Reading Challenge

I have 35 books on my TBR. For some people that may not seem like a lot, but to me it's been a consistent number of books I have yet to read. I don't make enough time to read for fun, and I love buying new books, so it's a never ending cycle.

I was watching a vlog by Leena Norms (an incredible booktuber, please check her out) this morning and she was discussing the concept of a 'Mashed Potato' book - a book that you buy and save reading until the right time. I have a lot of these on my shelf, because I get swept up in different trends and different interests that I go through at any given time. This is how the TBR list got so long in the first place. In 2022, I set myself the New Years Resolution not to buy any more books until I'd read the ones I've got, and I read 12 books (one a month). I bought five books, and used the excuse that they were for some good reason or another. I set the same NYR this year and then immediately bought two books, then another two a couple weeks later. And a fifth quite recently. Again, I've been reading one book a month, so I have more books to read now than I started the year with.

So I have 35 books on my list. Two that I've started (which I'll read first) and 33 untouched. We have 8 months of the year left, including the rest of May, so that works out at just over 5 books a month. If we're going by weeks, we have 35 left on 2023 (fun fact: this year has 53 weeks in it!) so that's at least one book per week for the rest of the year. In case you're interesting in joining in, feel free to check out the rules and the TBR so you can join in my challenge.

THE RULES:

• I will allow myself 1 DNR per month.

• I can also swap one book for the audio version per month.

• I can read more than one book a week, but I must always finish at least one.

• I have to stick to the order I've written the list in (to prevent any more mashed potatoes).

THE BOOKS:

1. Pod - Laline Paull (already started)

2. The Hate You Give - Angie Thomas (already started)

3. The Perfect World of Miwako Sumido - Clarissa Goenawan

4. You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here - Frances Macken

5. Hot Milk - Deborah Levy

6. Girl A - Abigail Dean

7. Sacred Earth - Jonathan Crary

8. The Old Ways - Robert Macfarlane

9. The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett

10. Latitudes of Longing - Shubhangi Swarup

11. Patsy - Nicole Dennis-Benn

12. Circe - Madeline Miller

13. Wool - Hugh Howley

14. The Field - Robert Seethaler

15. The Secret Network of Nature - Peter Wohlleben

16. Before The Coffee Gets Cold (Tales From The Cafe) - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

17. Before Your Memory Fades - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

18. Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark

19. Lean, Fall, Stand - Jon McGregor

20. Dune - Frank Herbert

21. The Wolf Den - Elodie Harper

22. The Song Of Achilles - Madeline Miller

23. Must I Go - Yiyun Li

24. Silent Earth - Dave Goulson

25. Underland - Robert Macfarlane

26. What's Left Of Me Is Yours - Stephanie Scott

27. Really Good Actually - Monica Heisey

28. The Secret History - Donna Tartt

29. The World Is Blue - Sylvia A. Earle

30. The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide

31. The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf

32. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

33. Superstition and Science - Derek Wilson

34. Scattered All Over The Earth - Yoko Twada

35. Losing Eden - Lucy Jones