Happy Halloween, fellow readers! Are you making progress on your TBR Challenge?

I am, but at a snail’s pace. I did finish listening to William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (it was as fantastic as I expected such a mash-up to be!), and I flew through Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastion (which was *such* a lovely story!).

Ye Olde Chronic Fatigue has been rearing its ugly head, though, so my previous plan of reading in the evenings hasn’t been sustainable lately–I’m just too tired most days. I’ve also got crochet projects lined up to make as gifts for Christmas, which I talked about last month, and I’m writing As Long As You Love Me So, both of which sap my remaining energy (though if I’m going to expend my limited energy on things, crocheting and writing are at the top of the list 🙂 ).

In light of all that, I’ve decided to do something I’ve never done in a TBR Challenge: modify the terms. I’ve dropped my Goodreads challenge from 36 books to 24, and I’m rolling back my TBR Challenge goal from 24 books to 14. That relieves some of the stress I’ve been feeling about making these goals, which helps make reading more fun again and knocks back my overall stress level. It’s always good to re-evaluate your goals and how you plan to achieve them–I think that should apply to reading challenges, too 🙂

Four months to go, fellow readers! How goes your TBR Challenge?

I’m making some progress 🙂  It’s not a lot, but I’ve finished two more books for the TBR challenge and am nearly through another. I’m also trying to carve out time to read on a regular basis–lately it’s been right before I go to bed–and I think that’s what’s been making the difference this past month. I may only read for an hour before I get too tired to continue, but an hour a day gets me through a novel by the end of the week. And if I can squeeze out more than an hour I can read more (or longer) books, which makes me happy. I get grumpy when I can’t/don’t read for more than a few days in a row!

We’re halfway through the year, fellow readers! Are you halfway through your TBR challenge?

As usual, I’m not. But I seem to be getting back on track. After judging in the first round of the RITAs, dealing with a busy period at the day job, taking a history class in a condensed semester (History of Modern India–very interesting, but a lot of work in 6 weeks!), and taking a literary detour to read about dog training (new dog, Bo, came home nearly two months ago, but he’s big and strong and has almost no training), I’m finally getting back to my TBR books.

After several attempts, I’ve finished The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde in audiobook, read by Richard Armitage. I started it six months ago, and though it isn’t a long book, I kept getting sidetracked by other things (and, if I’m honest, by Richard Armitage’s voice  😉 ). It was good, as I’d expected, and the narration was fantastic!

Unfortunately, Jekyll & Hyde was only the third TBR book I’ve read this year, out of the 24 I set as my goal, so I have a way to go in the second half of the year. Perhaps this is the year when I learn to balance my reading time with my writing time (and my Bo-training time!), and manage not to run right up on my deadlines  🙂

Bo, my new furkid, pretending that he hadn’t just disemboweled a squeaky hedgehog toy.