Another month completed of the Hardest Reading Challenge You’ve Ever Done. I’m really enjoying participating this year. Doing the Ain’t-Nobody-Got-Time-For-That version was the right decision. We are only three months in, so it’s still a little early, but I think this might be the one. This year I’m going to conquer HRCYED. I’ve been reading amazing books, making steady progress, and I’m still excited by all the books I want to pick up for the challenge.
The first book I finished in September was Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern. I really like her writing style. I never get tired of saying it. It’s not often an author can capture me with their writing alone on the very first few pages. So I’ve decided to read everything this woman ever wrote and will write in the future. Her writing is just mesmerising to me. I want to keep reading it. I enjoy her lightness and humour a lot. We are a perfect match. What else can I say?
This was the book that continued my Shiritori. So naturally, after putting it back on the shelf, I opened Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou, as planned. This is an old ARC I’ve yet to read, and a reading challenge like HRCYED can be all the motivation I need to finally pick it up. The premise still intrigues me, and I know both sisters have some dark secrets for me to find. And October is the perfect time to drop some secrets with the falling leaves.
Lastly, I finished rereading the Divergent series with Allegiant. And this was a mistake. How can I possibly read The Sixth Faction now? This book wrecked me. Whatever life or emotions I still had inside of me after reading I Who Have Never Known Men, or that I recovered since then, are gone. Completely gone. Here I was thinking I wouldn’t feel as emotional with the ending this time around. I was wrong. So very wrong. It was even more emotional than the first time. How is it possible to grieve a fictional character? The only bright side is that we finally learn the Divergent world is set in Chicago, which counts for the US Road Trip prompt. At least my suffering wasn’t in vain.
By the end of September, this is how the prompts are looking:
- Choose Your Party (1/1)
- Periodic Table (0/1)
- Familial Terms (0/1)
- Regional Books (1/1)
- Food Pyramid (1/1)
- Random States (1/1)
- Second Chances & Hidden Gems (0/1)
- Cover Styles (0/1)
- Titular Counting (1/1)
- Shiritori Titles (2/5)
- Weather (0/1)
- Numerical Titles (0/1)
- Rainbow of Words (0/1)
- Animal Families (2/1)
- Backlist Author (0/1)
- Characters Become Authors (0/2)
- Book Within a Book (0/2)
- No-So-Secret Prompts (1/1)
- Biomes & Landscapes (0/1)
- Re-Re-Re-Remix (0/1)
- HRCYED Mashup (0/1)
- It’s My Birthday (0/1)
- Pocket Monster (0/1)
- Anthology of Authors (0/2)
- My Curriculum (0/1)
Reading plans for October
I don’t know how, but I’ll gather my strength to read The Sixth Faction. It’s my most anticipated book of the year, and I also want to write a review about it, so I have to read it. I’m just not sure if I’m ready yet. Maybe when I get to hold the book in my hands. All this worry will disappear like smoke.
I’ve been doing my Shiritori about one book a month, and that’s not exactly my intention. HRCYED runs for a whole year, so I don’t need to keep a good rhythm to finish it. I have time. I’ll continue reading Sister of Mine throughout the month, but I’ll finish it whenever I do. I have my next read already planned and ready for when the time comes, even after doing a little switcheroo. While filling out the form to track my reading progress, Q asked for the book titles to be written in English no matter what language it was read in. This is so the stats can reveal the true amount of books despite the various editions there might be. However, I was doing my Shiritori based on the titles of the editions I own, mixing English and Portuguese. But to fill out the form with only English titles, the Shiritori would break. So I looked at my TBR again, in search of a book starting with the letter E and found The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. So now, this is the book I shall read after Sister of Mine.
Since October is the spooky month, I think it’s time to finally read, once and for all, House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. I’ve tried at least twice to read this book, and I know the first 200 pages are the hardest to get through – yes, you read that right. It’s also one of the Goodreads challenges for Fall, so it’s time. I would also like to try The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien. This is the season for such a book, but with the end of the year approaching, some books will take priority. And I’m still not sure how I would count both books for HRCYED. We’ll see what the month has reserved for me.
