Currently Reading: 02 to 15 May 2021

Currently Reading

- Cute Little Lenormand by Sara M. Lyons (18%)

- Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox (30%)

- The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington (23%)

- Monkey King by Wu Cheng'en (47%)

- Fearless Tarot by Elliot Adam (03%)

- Under the Apple Blossom by Kate Frost (02%)

- The Fireman by Joe Hill (40%)

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Yearly Reading Goal

35/100

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So far so good. I managed to actually not go to the bookstore over the first weekend of May, which happened to fall on my weekend off and the last "hero bonus" pay for us at work. Which means just that my last two paychecks will be regular ones. Okay. I think I can handle it. Anyway, as I've stated before in the more recent Currently Reading posts, I've been trying to cut back on my book buying. Normally when I am out with my friends we end up doing what we call "adventure shopping" that inevitably ends at either Books-a-Million or Barnes & Noble, where I spend $100-$200 and come home with anywhere from five to twelve (once like twenty) books. Not any more!! Ha! I managed to keep myself from going out. I stayed in and read one I already owned!

That being said, I do already have a book hauled for May. I am choosing not to count the books I get from Book of the Month or Once Upon a Book Club for the restriction, because they are both subscription box books. I'm also not counting audio books, because they aren't taking up any space and I pay for a monthly subscription to the streaming service to even listen to them. The only two types of books that are on this restriction list are digital (Kindle) and print books as I have over two thousand of them combined and I've barely read like a tenth of them. 

For those wondering, the book I received was Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. I couldn't resist when I saw it. I didn't bother to even look at the synopsis (why would I? I'm a fan of Greek mythology and am already versed in the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur of Crete), nor did I look at the rest of the books on the selection list. The art on the cover is pretty impressive. I love how it's all blues and then this bright orange relief of the princess herself. I'm looking forward to reading it when I get the opportunity. 

I'm starting a new idea in May. Instead of a monthly list of books I want to read, which I'm terrible at sticking to anyway, I've made up I think 68 slips of paper with titles of various books on them that I've put into an old Harney & Sons tea tin. When I finish a book already on my currently reading list, I will draw a title from the tin and then read that one. There's a mix of digital and print books in it. We will test this out in May to see how well it works.

Camp NaNoWriMo is officially over as of the 1st. I did manage to squeak out a win on the very last day, which I forgot to write about during my previous post, but that was probably because of the fact I was trying to cover about three months worth things in one post and I forgot about it. My goal was 30,000 and I ended up finishing with a bit over 48,000. Which means of course now that I am not required to focus on my project, that will be all I want to do. I'll make a ton of progress in the off-month because that's just how my brain works. I do not do the thing I am supposed to do until I am not supposed to do it. 

I was thinking about May's TBR, and subsequent TBRs to be had after this and I've come to a decision. In the first Currently Reading post for the month, I will just put the TBR. And it will only be whatever books I started in the previous month and haven't finished yet, so here is our TBR for May: 

Print

- Witch Hunt by Kristen J. Sollee

- Real Murders by Charlaine Harris

- The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington

- Monkey King by Wu Cheng'en

- Fearless Tarot by Elliot Adam

- The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A. Wolf

- The Fireman by Joe Hill

Digital

- Under the Apple Blossom by Kate Frost

Audio

- Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox

As you can well notice, I read mostly print books. In general I prefer print books over most other forms. Not that I'm saying there is anything inherently wrong with someone reading mostly print or reading mostly audio. They just don't work as well for me in particular. I wonder what, if anything, from April I will finish by the end of May? There are at least two or three very large books on there. 

Seems I'm already down three of the books on my TBR for May. How many more can I get through before the end of two weeks? Will I have any left to even read? I'm blazing through them like they're nothing! 

I have decided that as I finish books in May, I will not add any more. Since there is a readathon I am taking part in (hopefully) in June. I will give it a post all its own. I may even bring my currently reading list on Goodreads to the lowest it's ever been if I continue like this. Holy cow the list is dropping quickly.