I’m so excited to finally do an update on Project TBR Zero! I’ve spent the entire month of January counting the days to write this post. I want to look back and see my progress. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here is the first post where I introduced the challenge. My quest is to finish every single book I own. So welcome back to the second quarter update of Project TBR Zero.

The Second Quarter

October

For a quick recap of where my reading was standing in September, I had 81 books in my TBR. As I said at the end of the last post, I was in a reading slump. And I carried that feeling until the new year. It didn’t stop me from reading, but I wasn’t overly excited about what I was reading. Not even a reread of Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff helped at the start of October – maybe even made it worse! Then I jumped to a mystery novel, The Friend by Dorothy Koomson, because I couldn’t keep reading the Illuminae Files. I needed a break. The book wasn’t the most exciting thing to read. The story is a medium to slow pace, which I don’t prefer, but it wasn’t a bad book by all means. I just wished it was shorter.

Then I broke one of my rules. I bought a book. Well, I didn’t consider it to be breaking the rules because it’s the second volume of Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein. But the original story doesn’t come in volumes. The Portuguese edition split the novel into two books (a common practice for bigger novels). And since I already had the first one, it didn’t make sense to only have half of a novel. So technically, I’m not considering this as purchasing a new book because it’s the second half of the story.

I resumed my reading with The Book of You by Claire Kendal, a shorter story to break from the bigger books I was reading. And then I came back to the Illuminae Files with Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I already have a post with my thoughts so far on the series and why it might not be a good reading experience as I want to believe.

To finish off October, The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide before starting November with a book very similar to The Book of You: Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes. A story much more interesting, but still different from Claire Kendal’s book. Both talk about abusive relationships but in very different contexts.

November

With all these heavy topics and slower reads, I had to read something quick. And nothing like a YA thriller to clean the palate. Nerve by Jeanne Ryan was precisely what I needed. It was exciting, captivating, fast-paced, and a great discussion topic. The ending felt short, although I don’t believe any ending would feel right or appropriate to the story. So I’m not that mad about it.

And then I started reading The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie thinking it was one of Hercules Poirot’s novels. And it’s not. It’s a short story collection of Poirot solving different crimes resembling the labours of Hercules. On one hand, I appreciated how the short stories were all connected, but on the other, I don’t like short stories. I don’t know why. And short stories collection is even worse. It bores me. I still finished the book, but I wasn’t happy.

And now, for real this time, I broke the buying ban. Now hear me out! I have a perfectly good reason why I did it. I had in-store credit expiring soon, and I wasn’t going to waste it. So I bought Inferno by Dan Brown, the last book I haven’t read from the Robert Langdon series, Knock Knock by Anders Roslund, and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman, which I already read in January.

December

At this point, I had already started multiple books from different genres, and none was grabbing me. I was still in a reading slump picking up different books to see if they sparked any will to read. And wasn’t until Turning by Joy L Smith. A 2022 debut YA novel about an aspiring prima ballerina that saw her dreams crash after an accident. Even though the story is about the grief of a stolen future, it’s very humorous and hopeful.

Then I read Sinful by Katherine Hawthorne, which taught me that erotica can still have a mystery subplot actually interesting, and I finished the year with Freefall by Jessica Berry. It could have been a stronger finish, oh well… The plot was interesting, but I wanted a different execution.

January

New Year, same TBR. As I said, I read My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman. My first read of the year and a 5 stars. It was a delicious book to read. So sweet, so innocent, funny and imaginative. If this book is a good showcase of Backman’s writing style then I’m reading everything the man writes!

And the last two books that took the rest of January – which is actually just one book – were A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. I decided to reread the first book before continuing with A Clash of Kings (what I’m currently reading). And it’s amazing to be back in Westeros. Despite the length, it’s so interesting. The drama. The politics. The history. I love everything. Except for Ned’s faith. That… Is a hard pill to swallow.

To recap

I read a total of 10 books. Three books were rereads (Illuminae and A Game of Thrones volumes 1 and 2). One book I read from Riveted by Simon Teen (Turning). I didn’t DNF any books this second quarter, although I increased the TBR with 4 books (even though Stranger in a Strange Land doesn’t break my ban, I will count it as an increase in the TBR since I’m counting every physical book).

2nd Quarter	TBR	Read	Reread	Free Reads	TBR Increased	TBR Left
October	81	4	1		1	78
November	78	3			1	76
December	76	2		1	2	76
January	76	1	2			75
Total		10	3	1	4

So I’ll start February and the third quarter, with 75 books on my TBR. It seems like a lot of books, although the next time I write another update, it will mark a full year of reading my TBR. And then, I’ll see how much progress I made, and calculate how many more months it will take me to finish this project. Hopefully, not many…