I’m in one of the weirdest reading eras of my reading career. It’s not exactly a slump, but I can’t finish books. I keep growing my list of currently reading, and yet the books never graduate to the read shelf. And it’s becoming quite overwhelming. I can read multiple books at the same time, but I can juggle only a certain amount at one time. And looking at my spreadsheet, I’ve been like this for a while…

October

October was the month of the TBR Harvest readathon. I’ve missed a themed readathon even though I have a mixed relationship with them. This pushed me to finally grab a TBR veteran, Frozen Heat by Richard Castle. I had already decided not to continue with this book series. However, this book ended in the middle of a revelation. So obviously, I have to go read the next. Don’t you love it when finishing a book means you have to add another to your TBR? Book series, the gift that keeps on giving… more books.

Then, I read Mister Magic by Kirsten White, which I was very excited for. It was one of the best books I read last year. This is the type of horror I enjoy. The one that lets your imagination work and spooks you without anything specifically happening on the page. Although the month wouldn’t be over before also finishing The Woman in the Ship by Sapphira Olson. A sapphic romance set on a spaceship between an astronaut and an AI. I know it might sound weird, but once you know what this AI is, it becomes quite normal. It was a pleasant adventure and proof once again that queer romances are the way to go for me.

I also started a collection of short stories compiled by Alfred Hitchcock, but decided to DNF it. Anthologies and I have a very tricky relationship. It takes me a while to get my mind inside a story, and since these are all short stories, I don’t have enough room, so it ends up being quite a boring experience.

As part of the TBR Harvest, I started The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, the continuation of The Three-Body Problem I so desperately needed. To this day, I haven’t gone past the first two chapters. Victim number one. And also started Un Cuento Perfecto by Elísabet Benavent. This is my first novel in Spanish. While I was enjoying it, having to stop and look up words and expressions meant I was making very slow progress. I want to get back to it soon, but first I need to clear my current reading list. Victim number two.

October can’t be my birthday month without receiving new books as if the TBR needed more population. I got The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown as a birthday gift and bought The Myth of Normal by Dr Gabor Maté. The latter I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. The first time I heard about it was through Ally from the channel allisonpaiges. More recently, I’ve seen some shorts of a podcast interview with Dr Gabor Maté, and listening to him talking just reaffirmed my decision to read one of his books.

November

November marked the start of my Les Misérables reading challenge. I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas back in 2024, and it took me two months to finish. Since Les Mis is about the same size, I decided to give Victor Hugo’s masterpiece the same amount of time. My edition is divided into two volumes, and November was the month to finish the first one. I didn’t. I went behind schedule because while both books have a similar number of pages, they have very different writing styles that affect my reading speed.

In the meantime, I gave an opportunity to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Since I just bought it and it was such a small book, it would be a good contrast to what I was already reading. Sadly, this book wasn’t for me. The message might be pretty, but from where it comes, I couldn’t relate. I feel other people can share the same message, but in a way that I can relate more easily.

What was really a palette cleanser was Joy by Etsuko. A new edition was released in Portuguese this month, and I bought it straight away. It compiles both volumes that make up this manga series. It’s a BL or yaoi manga. Basically, more queer romance. And the cover was quite misleading. I was expecting a more serious-toned story, and yet it is quite bubbly. It was fun. I enjoyed my time, but I’m still craving a story a little bit more serious, to be honest.

December

I finally finished the first volume of Les Mis. Despite the time it’s taking me, I’m enjoying the story a lot. By this time, I already know I’m not finishing the second volume by the end of the year. The story can really slow down at times, making it harder to go through. And putting added pressure isn’t going to make my reading go any faster. Although there was one book that I had to finish by the end of the month: The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I started reading it back in September. So all the books I’ve talked about above in the post, in the middle of those, I was also reading The Secret History. This book isn’t that hard to justify taking so long, and doesn’t do any favour to the enjoyment either. Luckily, that didn’t diminish my opinion of the book. But next time, I need to finish it quicker.

With such heavy reading, I needed something easy, so I turned to YA romance and had a lot of fun. Simon Teen always does 25 free books in December leading up to Christmas, and I’m glad they did it this last year as well. They came to me when I needed them the most. As if they knew. I started with Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson and ended with Call Your Boyfriend by Olivia A Cole. Both stories were quite enjoyable and exactly what I needed, but the queer one was my favourite without a doubt. I need to stick to queer romance, period.

One book I made the hard decision to put down and probably never open again was The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. This was one of my most anticipated books of last year. I wanted to read it despite knowing that maybe it wouldn’t be my favourite, but I couldn’t. It was becoming a chore and an obligation. And what am I trying to prove here? I read all the others. I’ve read almost half of the book. It was a hard choice, but a good choice.

And what is December without gifts? I bought myself some Christmas presents. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Adèle by Leïla Slimani, and Racismo em Português (Racism in Portuguese) by Joana Gorjão Henriques. This book compiles interviews with black people from the Portuguese ex-colonies to highlight the impact the colonisation had on the people and culture. In school, we are taught that we were the good colonialists: non-aggressive, welcoming… and I don’t believe that. I want to see how it really was and nothing like voicing those who were its victims. I also received two books for Christmas: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante and Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, the sequel to Beartown that I’m yet to read.

January

New year, starting new books. January was the month of starting… because I didn’t finish anything. I started The History of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, We Need Your Art by Amie McNee, Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, and I’m still in the middle of them all. So victims three, four and five. I also started The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, but I had to put it down because I couldn’t concentrate on the story. I don’t know if it was me or the writing style. I need to give it another try to be sure. So it’s not counting as a true DNF. Just a false start. Let’s pretend I didn’t even touch it.

In a month where no books were read, I really didn’t need to buy more, but oh well… I got the next four books in the Hello Neighbor middle-grade series by Carly Anne West. I’ve been meaning to get these books for quite some time. Second-hand was my only option, and even that was quite hard to find. I found volumes 3 to 6 in World of Books and didn’t want to miss the opportunity. There’s still one volume left, but until it surfaces again online, I can read these six.

I’ve been reading every day, but it’s simply not enough time to finish all the books I want. I need to get serious about it. While I always end the day with a book in bed, I’m too tired to make any big progress. And this only matters because I want to finish all these books and want to start others. I’m enjoying my time. I simply need to give myself more of it to meet my needs. Sometimes, a 15-minute walk stops being enough, and the body craves more. In this case, it is my reading self that craves more attention. And I want to give in to it.

The TBR is rising again, but the best part is that I don’t plan on spending any money on books in the near future. My craving for new books is satiated, and it can only go down from here. I just want to finish all the books I’m currently in the middle of, so I can start on others that I’m really craving. It has never taken me so long to finish books.