I'll Get Back To Them

I have to admit that I have a few books that I started, but I never got around to finishing. Being completely honest, there are only two of them... That's not so bad I guess.

No matter how many of current reads I have, they need to be finished. Looking at GoodReads frustrates me at this point because it always says I am reading 3 or 4 books when I am really reading 1 or 2. There seems to be no reason to take Game of Thrones and The Damned Busters off of my currently reading list though... I am in the middle of them and I will finish them at some point. The more I look at them the more I want to finish them just to clear my current reads. That's why I am going to read either one of those novels if I complete my TBR list for this month.

I will complete these before the end of 2013.

Number Ten

Title: Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Publication Year: 1955
Publishing Company: Random House Inc.
Number of Pages: 317
Part of a Series: No
Read for Pleasure or School: School
Would Recommend: Yes
Rating: 4 out of 5

Number Nine

Title: Fledgling
Author: Octavia E. Butler
Publication Year: 2005
Publishing Company: Grand Central Publishing
Number of Pages: 310
Part of a Series: No
Read for Pleasure or School: School
Would Recommend: Yes
Rating: 5 out of 5

Where Do Audiobooks Fit?

Currently I am spending about 3 hours in a car every Monday through Thursday and another hour in the car every other day of the week. With that much driving time I don't know why I didn't think of listening to audiobooks before. Yes I do, audiobooks are expensive. There was no reason to buy an audiobook just to listen to it for a week or so and then never use it again. At least that was the case until I got my library card. Free audio books that I can listen to once and not feel guilty about never listening to again. It was the best find of the month.

Now my confusion is, where to audiobooks fit into my reading. Do they count as part of the fifty book challenge? I listened to the entire book, didn't I? Though I did not sit down the the book in hand, I did make it through the entire thing. Honestly, I probably spent more hours listening to it than it would have taken me just to read the novel. This is nothing more than making use of unused time. On some level, though I still feel like its cheating. The books I listen to should not count as part of my challenge. I just need some other opinions.

Do audiobooks count or not?

Number Eight

Title: Monster
Author: A. Lee Martinez
Publication Year: 2009
Publishing Company: Orbit
Number of Pages: 295
Part of a Series: No
Read for Pleasure or School: Pleasure
Would Recommend: Maybe
Rating: 3 out of 5

Putting a Book Down

Personally one of my biggest weaknesses in life is motivation. Finding it, keeping it, etc. Sadly, I have to admit that reading is no different than any other aspect of my life... Motivation isn't always there. In fact, until I get into a book I have a really hard time making myself pick it up at all.

Usually when I finish a novel, I feel so accomplished, but that does not translate into wanting to repeat the action. Unless it is a novel I have been looking forward to reading, I don't desire to grab the next novel. It just seems so weird to be because I really do love to read. Plus I know what I like and what I don't like... It's not like I am buying books I should have any issues with reading, in fact I only buy books if I really know I am going to enjoy them. Even still I have to force myself to start reading that next book and get myself into the story.

Let's be honest though, no matter how great the book sounds or how many amazing reviews it's gotten, sometime there is just a novel I don't like. When it comes to those the motivation is no where to be found. I don't want to finish it, usually I don't even want to get to the next chapter. The problem with that is that some books just have a slow start. There have been numerous books that I have forced myself to read which started out slow, but I ended up really enjoying.

So here's the question, when reading four or five chapters takes an excruciating about of time and energy do you put the book down or force yourself to keep going. I used to be that I would force myself to continue on, but when I am trying to read 50 books in a year that's just not realistic. I can't spend 3 weeks putting a book down and trying to force myself to get into something I just don't enjoy. So for this year, I am going to just put books like that on hold. If I have time later in the year to pick them back up maybe I will try, or maybe next year I will give them another go. For now though, I just don't have the extra time to spare.

Number Seven

Title: Mothership
Author: Martin Leicht & Isla Neal
Publication Year: 2012
Publishing Company: Simon & Schuster
Number of Pages: 308
Part of a Series: Yes, book one
Read for Pleasure or School: Pleasure
Would Recommend: Yes
Rating: 4 out of 5