Stack of all the books read and bough during the TBR Zero 4th Quarter

TBR Zero: 4th Quarter Update

My reading year has been extensive and quite hectic. And it’s not over yet. Between amazing books and a huge reading slump, I’ve been conflicted about my feelings towards this pet project. On one hand, I want to see it through, but on the other, I’m questioning if it’s worth it. If it will change anything. Lately, I’ve been thinking about joining my read and unread books and treating my entire book collection as a whole. All the possibilities of what I can read, instead of putting pressure on me to read the ones I haven’t yet.

While this quarter update is still haunted by the slump of months past, it was also a time of change and realisation that hopefully will affect the upcoming months and maybe even my relationship with my books. I hope this can take the dreaded reading slump out of the horizon for a while. My mood has already improved, and my disposition to pick up a book changed. After all, I love getting lost inside a story. I just need to remind my brain that it is far better than scrolling on my phone.

June

To my surprise, I somehow read 3 books. But none of them are from my TBR. Since I was still in a sci-fi mood, I kept searching for books that would scratch a particular feeling I was searching for. I borrowed The Giver by Lois Lowry, a book I was always on the fence. The synopses sound very fantasy-esq for me. Although being a dystopian story is more often than not classified as sci-fi. Since it was a small book, I gave it a try. To my surprise, I enjoyed it quite a lot. The story exists between both genres which didn’t bother me at all. I can’t say for sure what kept me interested, the same way, I can’t tell you why I enjoyed Murakami’s After Dark. It is just one of those books you like, it picks your attention, but it’s hard to say exactly why you liked it.

I then reread The Final Six by Alexandra Monir because I wanted to get out of Earth. I realised what I wanted was a good and immersive story about colonising other planets and living outside of Earth. That’s why, the month before, I picked up A Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein (which I haven’t finished yet). I wanted to glimpse a life on another planet. The Final Six is the first book of a duology about leaving Earth to colonise Jupiter’s moon Europa. While this first book is just about training to leave Earth, and the second one is the book in which they arrive there (I’ve read but don’t own this one yet), I was hoping it would be enough to ease my craving. But it didn’t. So I went shopping.

I stopped caring about book-buying bans because I usually only buy books when I can get some sort of deal. And that’s something I don’t do that often. So without any regret, I did a book-shopping session to try to satiate my craving. Dune by Frank Herbert, Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey and, the most important of all, Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. If there’s a book that will finally end my craving for interstellar colonisation is Red Mars. The first book in a trilogy about colonising Mars. I mean, it’s got to be it, right? (I’m yet to read this big boy to find out *facepalm*).

The month wasn’t over until I found the best book of the year. The start of a new series that I am now obsessed with! This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada is *chef’s kiss* It’s sci-fi, fast-paced, high stakes, lots of secrets, and plot twists inside of plot twists! I. LO. VE. IT. It was amazing to read, and I can’t wait to get my hand on the other two books in the series and fall in love all over again. Although as enjoyable as it was, I still felt in a slump. The moment I closed the book, I was back to where I started. I have to admit I lost a little bit of fate I would get over this slump.

July

Apparently, I maxed out on books read in June because I read none in July. I picked up Virgin by Radhika Sanghani, which I was somewhat enjoying until I wasn’t. I DNFed it. I even have a post about why I stopped reading it and what I really didn’t like about that story. Let’s just say, I’m ready to forget that book even exists. Also, I started one of the sci-fi books I bought, Leviathan Wakes, and as I’m writing this, I just finished it last week. Apparently not even shiny new books are enough to spark my motivation to read more.

While I didn’t finish any book, I still made a little progress in others. I started reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn because I saw the movie again, and it was enough to decide this was the right time to finally read it. Sometimes my reading mood can really come down to simple random things, like what’s on the TV. If only I could read as fast as my mood demands.

August

While I was not expecting to buy more books anytime soon, I was “forced to”. You know those deals you REALLY can’t miss because they are REALLY good? Bottom line, I bought another three books: The Secret History by Donna Tart, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie.

To compensate for July’s reading failure, I read another three books in August. So, I bought 3 and read 3. Not bad. At least this time, 2 were from my TBR. Sadly, I also got COVID, which required a lot of rest since I felt I was hit by a truck. And one of the books that kept me company was The Inheritance Games (already have a review of it here). I knew I was going to love this book, and in fact, I did. Also, I reread We Were Liars by E Lockhart because one piece of advice people give to get over a reading slump is to reread a favourite. It didn’t work. But I had a good time visiting that story. I’ve updated my review of that book, and I’m still working on a further analysis of the story that it’s giving me immense pleasure to do.

We Were Liars and The Inheritace Games laying on a table.

The crown of the month, which was a challenge, was finishing Gone Girl. Since I was already familiar with the story and the big twist, it acted as motivation to keep reading. The book was really slow, and I don’t know if I would ever finish it while going in blindly. I have a review in the making to go over all these things. Still, it was a challenge to finish that book, and I’m glad I accomplished it.

September

At this point, I was starting to question my reading slump. I wanted to read, although almost none of the books I own interested me. My mood was a mess without knowing what I wanted to read anymore. One thing I was certain: I wanted to read. What? I had no idea. And so, letting the instant gratification of watching YouTube be somewhat useful, I went down the rabbit hole of motivational videos to read more. And one thing that kept popping up was to establish a reading habit. That’s when I realised that I didn’t have one. I had various over the years, but they would all fade away while life kept happening. So, I tried to make an effort to change that.

In between murder mysteries, dark academia and sci-fi, I started reading every day. That was now my new goal, to create a habit. I only finished one book: How to Kill Your Family, but I was reading every day. And that’s what was more important. How to Kill Your Family wasn’t the easiest to read due to the writing style and pace. At times, it was hard to find the motivation to pick it back up again. But little by little, I did it. Now it’s finished, tucked away on the shelf, and with a review on the blog. *wipe hands*

At the end of the month, I had about 7 books I was in the middle of. I read a little bit here and a little bit there, jumping between them all. While all that progress doesn’t translate into complete books, I know it’s a matter of time until I finish one after the other. At least, that’s one positive reason to read multiple books at the same time.

For the future Quarters

For such a strong start of the year, my reading has been in free fall. While I’m currently off the dreaded reading slump, something “worse” came to replace it. The lack of a reading habit. Over the years, my reading habits have changed depending on various factors. There was a time when I woke up at 6:30 in the morning just to read. I don’t know how that girl could keep her eyes open, but she did. As I looked at my days, I saw I stopped making time to read. There wasn’t a specific time every day I would use to read, even for just 15 minutes. Nothing.

Whether I was in a reading slump for the past few months or not, changing my perspective and seeing it as a lack of habit meant I could actively do something about it. And so far, it has been helping a lot. Now, I find myself once again in an extremely optimistic mood where I want to read every single book I own until the end of the year. An impossible task. But it feels great to be in this mood again.

I can promise you one thing. The next quarter update will be much more cheerful and filled with more read books. The TBR seems a little stubborn to go down, but little by little, book by book, it will get there. Even if that means it will go up on occasion.