March Reading plans 1

 We are going to completely overlook February. I did read a decent amount of books. Quick overview on how that went:

20 books in total, 2 rereads and another one was a DNF. Overall we have 42 books read for my 2021 reading challenge. I will try to do a few reviews later this month to share my thoughts and what I read. I am not making promises of that really.

I hope to do much better in March.

Reading challenges or group book clubs I am intending to participate in this month:

Buzzwordathon

Duration 1-7 

Hosted by Keyla from BoosandLala you can find the full description for each month's challenge here https://www.booksandlala.com/blog/buzzword-readathon-reading-challenge.

This can be seen in several ways, you can use the vibe of the Buzzwordathon and read several books in that week that have the word in the title or series name. It can be done each month or only the specific month you actually have words that can be used depending on the prompt. The second choice is to do a year-long challenge and use a single book to complete the prompt each month. I am going to be doing the year-long challenge, at the end of the year I would have read 12 books for this. I will try to first use books I already have on my bookshelf to try to lower my unread TBR pile.

Prompt: Time

Possible options: 

The time ships by Stephen Baxter. 

This is marketed as the continuation of the time machine. It is a sci-fi story I know nothing about but it's available in Scribd as an ebook. So it the first choice.

As I am also trying to get into more nonfiction I also found this other option for this week

Tick Tock time management by Instafo. It really does not need much more, pretty self-explanatory. A book to try to improve my management of time as you can see that is a very real struggle for me. 

Then the other option in the same topic is Time control: how to stop time destroyers by Justin Byers.

I really need this or maybe I just need something that helps me keep focused and inspired to complete tasks and things I start. I have been struggling for a few years with a random period of lack of motivation to do anything in life or hobbies. I am trying to get out of that, I need to keep going and pick up my life a bit.

Side goals:

Try to do normal adult things like housework, cooking, eating at least 2 meals a day, and try to focus on positive aspects of life. Do not give up on everything so try to get back into clarinet practice and get back into reading for fun and updating my thoughts in here. I hope to be able to do it.

I am allowing myself to take a break and redo my goals as we go. In that topic, I am giving up on the project of reading John Grisham in publication order. I will have that in the background and pick it up later when I am up for taking on more challenges on myself. In the coming months if my mental state does not improve I might give up on TBRs overall. I will see how we go in the next few weeks.  

Back to the initial topic. 

Read your bookshelf challenge

Create by Chantel, you can find the full details of this challenge here: https://anintentionallife.me/2021-read-your-bookshelf/

We have a specific prompt for each month so I am planning on picking a single book to read for each one. Again my first choice will be from books already in my owned TBR.

Duration: Month-long.

Prompt: Recommended by a friend

Book picked for this: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. This is going to be doubled up. This is the book pick in a read-along so it is recommended by another person, I would not say a friend because they don't know I exist but I am counting this. 

Book description from the back of the cover: Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.
Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.
In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

The book is picked by the Witchlandsalong, here you can find the announcement video. The published books in the series so far in preparation for the next one coming out in June. I have only read the first book of the series so I will use this opportunity to try to tackle another of my many-started series.

Literally dead book club

Created by Kayla from Books and Lala.

The details can be found in the Good Reads group found here. Basically, we have a book read a month and a live show happening at the start of the next month to discuss it.

March book pick: The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I am a bit confused about what this book is about so I will simply place here the few sentences that make sense from Good reads description: a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. 

I am hoping to love this book as I just ordered from Amazon, I´ll wait for it to arrive and start it right away. I am not sure if it's a fantasy or horror story but I remember I was very intrigued by it but I can't remember why. 

#AYearAThon

This has been going on for a while all the information can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/123987-ayearathon

Duration: March 8-14

Prompt: Standalone

Book selected: Thinner by Stephen King 

Book description: Billy Halleck, good husband and loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American good life: He has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer...but he is also fifty pounds overweight and edging into heart attack country. 

With this, I am not sure what to expect. But as you can guess if you have been around for a while I'm doubling up with another of my personal projects-Read Stephen King books. 

For now, I will leave it here, I am going to read more books on my own but these are the ones I am trying to read along with a group of people online in case anyone else wishes to join any of the book clubs feel free to join! 

I'll be back to share the rest of my TBR a bit later today or tomorrow.

See you, stay safe!