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!

Twelve Posts of Christmas (and New Year): Eleven - 2014 Reading Goals

I am not going to set any reading goals for 2014. I will not be joining any reading challenges.

It's not there aren't reading-related things that I'd like to do. I'd love to demolish half of my TBR and discover dozens of new authors. I'd like to read more classics and more literary fiction and more of everything I already love and read regularly.

It's not that there aren't challenges that I could probably complete with little effort. The New Author challenge is quite easy, and I could take part in multiple YA challenges, I'm sure!

And it's not that I haven't enjoyed taking part in challenges in the past. I think that reading challenges are a great way to push yourself to read more and to share what you're reading. I was even thinking of hosting a new challenge this year.

But I did not do very well on my 2013 reading challenges. I haven't finished any of them, and I'm not going to. I think I need a break. I think I need to make it easy on myself and to let myself read more for pleasure, without a target in mind.

I am setting goals for other areas of my life, and I want to really focus and get lots done. I don't want to have lots of goals for my career and blogs and hobbies all jostling around in my brain, competing for attention.

So 2014 will be the year without reading goals! I'm nervous and excited. Mostly excited. And I expect that by the end of the year I'll be looking forward to 2015's challenges!

Are you setting yourself any reading goals for 2014?

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make My Life as a Reader/Blogger Easier

This is my twenty-fifth Top Ten Tuesday. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by its creators at The Broke and the Bookish.

This topic is a great idea but it took me a while to come up with a full list! Some of my choices are small things, others much bigger, but they're all extremely useful.

Top Ten Things That Make My Life as a Reader/Blogger Easier

1. Bookmarks - Imagine life without bookmarks. Struggling to remember page numbers or having to bend over the corners of pages. It'd be pretty horrible, right? And what about the other kind of bookmarks? I rely on web browser bookmarks to keep track of all the books I want to read.

2. Gimbles - I used to struggle to eat or do anything else while reading, but my Gimbles changed all that. I even use them now when I'm reading on my bed or the sofa, to give my hands and wrists a break.

3. Online library renewals and reservations - I can renew my library books and reserve future reads without leaving my house. It's amazing. Which brings me to...

4. My smartphone - When I'm in a charity shop and I find a interesting book, I use my phone to check that it's not in stock at the library.

5. Wikipedia and Fantastic Fiction - Both really useful resources for checking series orders and finding out the titles of other books by an author.

6. My Nook - It's unlikely that it'll replace paper books, but it is easier to fit in my handbag sometimes.

7. Goodreads - Being able to catalogue all my books on Goodreads is brilliant. It helps so much when I'm writing book list posts to be able to scroll through all the books I've read and jog my memory.

8. Twitter - For 'networking' with other bloggers. If I wasn't on Twitter I'd miss out on all the great blogs and posts than get retweeted and otherwise shared around.

9. My diary - I make notes about the books I'm reading, post ideas, and I even use it to draft my Top Ten Tuesday lists. I write the next topic on each week's note page, to help me to come up with ideas in advance.

10. My reading journal - Where I write all my thoughts about the books I've read. These notes form the basis for my reviews, though I usually don't include everything that I've written in the journal.

Are any of these on your list?