August Overview/ Month Ahead!

I have to confess that I have been slow in my reading this month and even slower in my posts. I am quite far behind in my reviews. I was even far behind in my book journal although I have caught it up. So if you don't follow me on twitter or on goodreads you might not know where I am at reading wise. Here is my very short list;

1. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
2. The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells
3. A Sorcerer's Treason - Sarah Zettel
4. Manhattan In Reverse - Peter F. Hamilton
5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
6. A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson

Like I said a very short list. I finished my placement and have had two weeks of my three week holiday. So no excuses really. I would have been at 7 (possibly) but I have mislaid A Feast of Crows by George R. R. Martin. Not to worry, I enjoyed what I read. Not a single one of those books did I dislike. In fact I very much enjoyed them all. The Sherlock Holmes is probably my favourite but the others fall closely behind it.

Challenge Overview

I have read all of my challenge books including one extra for the Mixing It Up challenge. In that at least I didn't fall behind. However, as I have yet to review any of them I haven't posted them on the organisers blogs.

 I read two books for this challenge. The first was for the fantasy/sci fi category. I went with A Sorcerer's Treason by Sarah Zettel as it has been lying on my tbr pile for quite some time. It was a birthday present at least five years ago. I quite enjoyed it and I might even read the rest of the series. I also read A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson for the travel category. I had warned when I bought it that I might not be able to wait and I was right. Not as good as I had hoped it would be but I still liked it. Next category is poetry/drama and I have picked The Crucible by Arthur Miller. To my shame I have never read this before.

 For the classics challenge I read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne as recommended by fellow blogger FBT. I very much enjoyed it. I can see exactly why it is a classic. I highly recommend it too. For this month I picked Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I loved Jane Eyre so have been looking forward to this. I am about 1/3 of the way through already.

 My sci fi choice was Manhattan In Reverse by Peter F. Hamilton. A collection of short stories. I loved them. It showed that maybe I am not done with space operas after all. As a result my next book for this challenge is also by Hamilton, The Dreaming Void. Looking forward to it now (plus it's been on my tbr pile a while).

I have just about finished this challenge. I read The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Next up is the last Sherlock Holmes featuring Moriarty. However, I want to read the Holmes books in order. I have a number to get through before I reach this one. So until I get through them this challenge will be on hold. I will still have it finished by the end of the year but I plan to enjoy those Holmes books.






I have also been thinking about challenges for next year already. I have been considering a fantasy challenge (much like the sci fi one) and continuing with the classics. However, I have decided that there will be no challenges for next year but one. That one is to read whatever takes my interest at the time. For that I want to get through my entire tbr pile by the end of the year. There are now less than 30 in that pile so fingers crossed that I can manage it.

For the rest of September I plan to read more Holmes and just work through my tbr pile as much as I can. Oh, and catch up with my reviews as well as visiting blogs (have been remiss on that too).