Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR For Summer 2015

As I said in the above video, I am a seasonal reader. In summer, I crave contemporaries like they're going out of fashion. Which they might be - it certainly seems that way, especially when you look at the YALC lineup. Discuss.

Anyway, regardless of current publishing trends or fan furore, in my mind, contemporary settings in books and summer belong together. It's not compulsory for the books be set during a summer, but I do find myself drawn to summery books because summer is my favourite season, as I rambled in another video, last year, and I want to make the most of it!

So most of the books on today's Top Ten Tuesday are contemporary, or contemporary with supernatural elements.. I might not get to them all, because I'm moving, and have to spend a lot of time going round furniture shops (Zzzzzzz...). Or I might devour all of them, because I don't have internet for weeks. Who knows!

Yeah, as if I have the space for a dedicated table for my TBR, a pair of sunglasses and a wrist cuff. 

Top Ten Books On My TBR For Summer 2015

1. Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian, by Eoin Colfer - I am FINALLY going to finish #FinishItFeb. In June.

2. This Is Not A Love Story, by Keren David - everyone seems really thrilled about this, so I can't wait to give it a go.

3. The Lost and Found, by Cat Clarke - this is an upcoming Bookish Brits Book Club selection. Lots of people I know absolutely rave about Cat Clarke but I've never read any of her books before so I'm excited to give it a go.

4. Subway Love, by Nora Raleigh Baskin - because I'm probably not going to go on holiday abroad this year, I figured I might as well go on a journey in my head to NYC. Also this is quite a short book, so it can be a little self-esteem booster in-between longer reads.

5. How To Be Bad, by E Lockhart, Lauren Myracle, and Sarah Mlynowski - because this is the only E Lockhart book I haven't read yet, and I just got this copy. I'm hoping to start it as soon as I finish my current read (The Girl on the Train).

6. Second Chance Summer, by Morgan Matson - another book that everyone seems to love, plus, it's set during a summer.

7. Rules of Summer, by Joanna Philbin - I got sent this unsolicited review copy a year or two ago, and I hadn't heard anything about it, so it languished on my TBR until Stacey at prettybooks recommended it.

8. Have a Little Faith, by Candy Harper, and

9. Dare You To, by Katie McGarry, because I should really start working on my List of Shame. We're more than halfway through the year, after all.

10. Under My Skin, by James Dawson, because the hot pink on the cover and the edges of the colour is such a summery colour. I mean, I'm looking forward to the story as well, but maintaining a summer aesthetic is important business...

Just the UKYA, chilling on my bed.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these and if you have any recommendations, and if you've done your own version of this list please share the link. Top Ten Tuesday was created and is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Finish It Feb 2015

It's February, which means it's time to put the TBR Double Dog Dare on hold and #FinishItFeb instead!

I loved being part of #FinishItFeb last year, even though it took me a couple more months to finish the Gemma Doyle trilogy than I'd intended. This year, I'm aiming reasonably high, and I want to finish three books from my 'currently reading' list, and one series.

The Series

I hadn't ever really considered reading Artemis Fowl until I became a Christmas temp at Waterstone's Bromley, and a couple of my colleagues (one in particular), enthused about it so much that I couldn't resist.

I've read the first two, and I really, really loved them. But somehow I never got around to reading the rest. I am planning to re-read the first two and then I will be continuing merrily on with this fantastic series.

The Three Books:

I have started reading The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp's guide to creativity, at least once before but lacked the determination to finish it. You see, it's one of those books with exercises. I am often halted by exercises. I started it again in January, and I really want to continue it as it's one of those lifechanging, really useful kind of guide books. I just have to get around to doing this particular exercise, and then I can move on...

I read most of The Bookshop Book last year and then stopped after interviewing the author. I don't want it to end! But I should finish it, so that I can put the dustjacket back on it, take it off my desk and find it a nice home on a shelf.

I don't know why I never finished reading Haunted by History: Poetry by Joan Anim-Addo, who taught on my undergrad degree programme. It's a poetry book. It's not very long. And I don't have to review it - I generally don't review poetry, though I might mention it in a vlog. If I finish it!

I talked about my #FinishItFeb plans in my last vlog, which you can see below:


Are you taking part in #FinishItFeb? Have you read any of these books?

Finish It February Sign Up

I gave myself a minute to grab all the books I could see on my shelves from series that I haven't finished. You can see the results above. If I got out all the books I own from series that I haven't finished, I wouldn't be able to stack them up. The pile would be too big. I had a look at my 'series-have-started' folder on Goodreads and counted a whopping twenty-six different series that I have begun and definitely want to carry on reading.

Having so many series 'on the go' is an endless source of annoyance and dissatisfaction, and it's all my own fault. So why haven't I finished them?

Problem One: I Don't Usually Own Book Two

This is a genuine problem, or at least it was, until recently. I only work part-time at the moment, so that I can spend serious time writing, and as a result my book budget is about £5.

For the entire year.

Okay, it's a bit more than £5, but not that much more. There are lots of series that I've started, thanks to the generosity of their publishers, who have given me book one, but I fail to continue them because I rely on the library, and my library's stock is not that great.

But now, as I mentioned in my Why I Love...Libraries video, my library has joined the London Libraries Consortium. I can finally get all those book twos, for a mere 75p a time!

Which brings me on to...

Problem Two: My Arbitary and Ridiculous Self-Imposed Library Book Restrictions

For the last four or five years I've been restricting my use of the library, in a bit to decrease the size of the pile of unread books that I own.It began with the 'every other' rule. Every other book I read had to be a book I owned. This was pretty easy to follow. But my TBR kept getting bigger.

Then I decided that I had to read three books I owned before I could read a library book. This also worked okay, but my TBR kept getting bigger. Then I decided that I had to read four books I owned before I could read a library book, but still my TBR kept getting bigger...

As a result I've mostly been reading standalones and avoiding getting into series, so that I don't get tempted to break my rules. Honestly, this has probably hindered my bids to get my TBR pile down, because I read series books faster. When I am familiar with a author's style and a narrator's voice, the pages fly by.

I was reminded of all this when my copy of Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi arrived. I still haven't read Through the Ever Night, despite loving Under the Never Sky, and I was feeling quite annoyed at myself until I saw my fellow Bookish Brits Faye and Caroline tweeting about their #finishitfeb plans.

I decided to join in immediately. I did say that I wasn't going to sign up to any reading challenges this year, so I'm not going to set any goals. I'm just going to use this theme as an excuse to abandon my silly restrictions and attempt to finish some series this month, even if I have to use the library to do so!

I'm starting with the book on the top of the pile, The Sweet Far Thing, by Libba Bray. I love this trilogy, but The Sweet Far Thing, the final book, is 819 pages long, and it's quite hard to carry around. But the last few times I've gone out I forced myself to leave some other stuff at home so I could take it, and I've managed to  get up to page 206! This might be the only book I finish, but if so, I'll still be pretty pleased with myself!

If you'd like to join in with Finish It February you can sign up at Big Book Little Book or A Daydreamer's Thoughts. I'll be posting updates on Twitter, so keep an eye on the #finishitfeb hashtag!