K.L.’s
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(group member since Dec 22, 2024)
K.L.’s
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from the Mount TBR Challenge 2025 group.
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CinCO wrote: "Hope you and your doc get a handle on the migraines soon."Thanks so much, CinCO! I started the preventative medication at the beginning of the week, and it already seems to be making a difference. I've only had one headache this week, and I didn't feel like it was bad enough to warrant taking even an over-the-counter rescue medication. It's too early to say for certain, but I think we may have found a solution. And if so...that's definitely something I can be thankful for this year.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!I finally had my appointment with the neurologist this week, and I am pleased to report that I do not have anything to worry about where the headaches are concerned. My doctor did not feel like we needed to go through the hassle and expense of an MRI, since my symptoms really haven't changed since the last migraine flare up I saw her for a couple of years ago.
She has prescribed a daily medication that will hopefully prevent the migraines entirely, but is also working on getting insurance authorization for me to start a new migraine rescue medication. I could be waiting for up to a month for that authorization to come through, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the insurance won't fight her on the necessity of the prescription. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.
As far as reading is concerned…
This has been a pretty good reading week. I had the opportunity to read 4 additional titles for Nonfiction November this week, bringing my total for this readathon to 11 books! All but 1 of these books were from my 2025 TBR list, so I'm also continuing to make really good progress on my TBR quest.
📚Physical TBR: 140/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 187/961 (19% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 187/150 (124% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
None
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Lady Sapiens: Breaking Stereotypes About Prehistoric Women — Although this turned out to be a bit of a slow read for me, I did find the subject matter very interesting. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐
~Don't Look Behind You!: True Tales of a Safari Guide — This travel memoir focuses on the author's time as a safari guide in Africa. It's a great companion to his earlier book, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide, but you don't need to have read that book (though it's definitely worth reading) to enjoy this one. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Peter Allison is a great storyteller, and many of his exploits had me laughing out loud. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
~The Science of the Earth: The Secrets of Our Planet Revealed — This was a very interesting book, but the amount of scientific jargon made it a much slower read than I'd anticipated. The photographs are gorgeous though. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I currently have about 51.5 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — I'm currently on track to finish this book by the end of the month. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Medieval Warrior: Weapons, Technology, And Fighting Techniques, Ad 1000-1500 — I haven't had a chance to read very much of this book yet, but I think it's going to be an interesting read. 📚
Although I will be continuing the titles I am currently reading, next week I plan to take a break from Nonfiction November to focus on reading new releases. I currently have only 2 books to read before I'm caught up on my "New Books" list, but I know that number will be changing on Tuesday, because the 18th is a huge day for new releases. I'm really excited about reading the books I've already bought (and the ones I'm planning to purchase on Tuesday), so I should make pretty quick work of playing catch up with my "New Books" list.
Of course, once I have finished all of those books, I will be returning to Nonfiction November and my TBR reading.
While I would normally post a TBR update next week regardless of what my reading plans might be, I have decided to take a break from posting Mount TBR updates until the end of November. This will give me a chance to not only get caught up on newer titles, but will let me focus on celebrating the upcoming holiday with my family. It will also give me a chance to spend some time evaluating my goals for the final month of the year (which is coming up far more quickly than it should). I will be posting my last regular challenge update for this month on November 29th, and will follow that with this month's wrap-up on the 30th.
Since it will be a while before my next post, I'd like to take the opportunity to wish everyone who will be celebrating a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday!
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!My windshield was replaced on Monday afternoon, and I'm so glad that it's fixed. I didn't really feel comfortable driving with part of my vision obstructed, so I'm thankful that I could get it taken care of so quickly.
I did have a couple of headaches this week, but fortunately none of them managed to reach migraine level. I have an appointment with a neurologist next week, so hopefully we'll be able to figure out what's causing them…and find a better solution for pain management when I have one. Ibuprofen just isn't making a difference.
In reading news…
In last week's update, I mentioned that I am getting really close to finishing 20% of this year's TBR list. I'm currently only 9 books away from that 20% goal, and I'm feeling really good about the progress I've been able to make on my TBR over the past week.
That being said, there is a huge part of me that really wants to push myself to reach 25% completion of my TBR list before the end of the year. I know it's a huge time commitment, which is why I'm not sure if I'm ready to make it an official goal. I think I'm going to keep an eye on my progress with Nonfiction November over the next couple of weeks to see how realistic it would be.
Speaking of Nonfiction November…
My nonfiction reading continued this week, and I'm feeling really good about what I was able to accomplish. I had a chance to read 7 titles for the readathon this week, and all of those books came from my TBR list! I had planned to finish a couple other titles this week, but ended up getting somewhat bogged down with the technical details in two of the books I selected from my shelves. I am still making progress on them, so I am not planning to DNF either one, but I may decide to add something a bit faster-paced to the reading line-up later today. We'll see how I'm feeling later on.
📚Physical TBR: 137/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 184/961 (18% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 184/150 (120% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
None
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark — I thought this book would be the perfect bridge between FrightFall and Nonfiction November, and it was. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Cassandra Peterson is an extremely funny person, and her life is absolutely fascinating. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Seeking Spirits: The Lost Cases of The Atlantic Paranormal Society — This was a very interesting collection of T.A.P.S. cases that never made it onto Ghost Hunters. Along with the cases themselves, Jason and Grant discuss some of the equipment used in their investigations, their investigative methodology, and recommendations for people who are interested in doing some ghost hunting themselves. It's definitely a worthwhile read if you're interested in the paranormal, or if you just like the Ghost Hunters television series. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This week I also had a chance to read several books from the See Through History series. This series was created for children, so the information is very much tailored for a younger audience. They're also very quick reads, and include a lot of pictures and artwork. Even though I was not the intended audience, I found all of the books I read from this series very interesting. I especially like the see-through scenes. Each one shows the interior of a different building, with a transparency overlay showing the exterior. It's a very cool concept, and one that I've only seen in this particular series of books. The books I read from this series include…
~Ancient Egypt — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Aztecs — I actually remember reading this book as a kid, and it was very cool to have a chance to read it again as an adult. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Celts — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Forts and Castles — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~See Through History: The Middle Ages (Cased) by Sarah Howarth — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I currently have a little over 58 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — I am continuing to make pretty good progress on this book. I'm currently reading around 20-25 pages per night, which has gotten easier as the stories in this section have gotten more exciting. I'm still on track to finish this one by the end of the month. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Lady Sapiens: Breaking Stereotypes About Prehistoric Women — I've had a bit of a slow start with this book, but I'm still hopeful that it will turn out to be an interesting read. 📚
~The Science of the Earth: The Secrets of Our Planet Revealed — This book is very interesting, but because it contains a fair amount of scientific jargon, it has not been an easy read. The photographs are gorgeous though. 📚
Next week I will be continuing my reading for Nonfiction November. Once I finish my current reads, I will probably move on to either a true crime book, or a travel memoir. I guess we'll see what I'm most in the mood for when I finish my current books.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!This week did not go according to plan at all. I was originally supposed to have two doctors appointments this week (both routine, nothing serious), but had to reschedule one of them. Unfortunately, the appointment I had to reschedule was with a specialist, who now cannot get me in until March. It's a good thing there's nothing seriously wrong, because that's a bit longer of a wait than I was hoping for.
I was able to keep my other appointment, and it went really well. My test results have already come back, and everything is looking great.
Unfortunately, the migraines also came back with a vengeance this week. I did manage to schedule an appointment with my neurologist, so I'll hopefully be getting some answers about the headaches soon. I did end up napping a lot this week because of the headaches, which meant that I accomplished very little in the way of household projects. I also missed out on seeing all the kids' costumes during Trick or Treat, since I didn't feel up to handing out candy. All I managed to do on Halloween night was watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" and then go to bed early.
As if that wasn't enough, on my way home from the grocery store on Halloween, the windshield of my car was hit by a rock with enough force to not only crack it, but almost shatter it. If it hadn't been for the fact that the windshield has a protective coating on it, I probably would've gotten hit in the face by both the rock and any broken glass that managed to travel with it. I'm fine, but I was still shaking by the time I got home. The damage to the windshield is bad enough that I need to have it replaced, and I already have an appointment scheduled to get that done.
As far as reading is concerned…
FrightFall officially concluded this week, and I am pleased to announce that I was able to read a total of 23 titles specifically for the readathon. (My total would have been 24, but I wasn't able to finish my last book until yesterday evening.) All but 5 of the books I read for FrightFall came from my 2025 TBR list, so I have also made a significant amount of progress on my quest to finish all the books I already own. I had a really good time participating in FrightFall, and I'm already looking forward to taking part in the readathon again in 2026.
Although FrightFall has ended, I'm certainly not done with readathons for the year. Yesterday morning marked the start of Nonfiction November. I've really been looking forward to this readathon, because I have a tremendous number of nonfiction titles on this year's TBR list. I've already started my first book of the readathon, and I'm really enjoying it.
Of course, I won't just be reading nonfiction this month. There are quite a few new titles being released in November, several of which I will be picking up as soon as they come out. I'm also planning to continue The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2, which was put on the back burner for most of last month. I should be able to finish this book before the end of the month, if I can read at least 20 pages per day.
While I did do a considerable amount of reading over the past week, most of the titles I read were new purchases, so they unfortunately don’t count toward my TBR quest.
📚Physical TBR: 130/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 177/961 (18% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 177/150 (118% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga — Despite technically being fantasy, this anthology of stories about Baba Yaga turned out to be a great match for the spooky season. It included a wide range of stories, featuring Baba Yaga in many different roles (including surrogate mother, sister, mentor, and monster). Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Dracula — I thought this was a pretty good book, and I'm glad that I finally got around to reading it. That being said, the book is very much a product of its time, and some elements haven't aged particularly well. The narrative pacing is also quite slow at times, which kept me from tearing through it the way I did with the other horror books I read in October. This is one of very few times that I will say this, but I actually prefer the movie adaptation to the original novel (the one directed by Francis Ford Coppola, rather than the Universal Studios monster movie). Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Shining — This book was actually a re-read for me, but it had been a very long time since I last read it, and I wanted to re-familiarize myself with the original story before reading the sequel (which I now hope to read in December, since I didn't have enough time for it during FrightFall). I thought this was a very well-written book, and really liked the characters of Danny and Mr. Hallorann. I also thought that King did a great job of creating the atmosphere of the Overlook. That being said, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the book when compared to its movie adaptation. There are quite a few differences between the two, which I know really bothers some of King's fans. But there were several movie-specific moments that I really wish had been part of the original story. Ultimately, I can't decide if I like the book or the movie better. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I currently have a little less than 62.5 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — Now that November has arrived, I have officially returned to reading this book. I am currently reading a total of 20-30 pages per day, and will hopefully finish it by the end of the month. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark — I thought this book would be the perfect bridge between FrightFall and Nonfiction November, and I am loving it so far. Cassandra Peterson is an extremely funny person, and her life is fascinating. I'm currently only a couple of chapters into this book, but I'll still probably finish it this afternoon. 📚
Next week I will be continuing my reading for Nonfiction November. I did consider the possibility of focusing on one specific nonfiction topic for the entire month, but ultimately decided that I need the flexibility of hopping from subject to subject. So, once I finish my current memoir, I will be shifting my attention to reading about ancient civilizations. From there…who knows? There are over 100 nonfiction books currently on my TBR list, so I have a lot of options to choose from.
On the fiction side of things, I am planning to focus primarily on The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 next week.
I will also be listening to the new full-cast audio edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is being released on Audible on Tuesday. Even though I listened to the entire series earlier this year (read by Stephen Fry), I'm really looking forward to experiencing the full-cast edition. I'm especially excited to hear Hermione's dialogue, as she is one of my favorite characters, and I've heard that she is voiced by the same actress who will be playing her in the upcoming HBO series.
After doing a little math this morning, it appears that I am currently only 16 books away from finishing 20% of my current TBR list, and 64 books away from finishing 25%. I should be able to reach the 20% mark by the end of the year without too much difficulty, but there's a part of me that really wants to shoot for 25% completion by December 31st.
Based on my performance on this year's Mount TBR Climb, do you think this is a reasonable goal? Or should I just keep reading at my current speed and see what I manage to accomplish before the end of the year?
October 2025 Wrap-UpHappy Halloween, everyone! It’s the final night of October, and time for my monthly reading update!
The following stats cover all of the books I read during the past month, including titles from my TBR list, “New Books” list, re-reads, and library loans.
October Goals Update:
During the month of October, I had one goal that I wanted to accomplish, which was to read all of the books I purchased in October before the end of the month. I had originally planned to purchase only 4 books this month, but ended up buying 14. Oops! So much for having self-control.
Despite purchasing more than three times the number of books I'd planned to, I was still able to read all of the books I purchased. So I’m 100% caught up on my “New Books” list for the second month in a row!
Here’s what my reading looked like during the month of October…
Total Number of Books Read in October: 32
Number of TBR Books Read in October: 18
Physical Books: 32
Ebooks: 0
Audiobooks: 0
This month I read the following genres…
~Horror: 13
~Thriller: 2
~Fantasy: 3
~Nonfiction: 3
~Manga: 7
~Graphic novels: 1
~Comic books: 3
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
TBR Books DNFed in October: 2
New Books DNFed in 2025: 1
Library Books DNFed in 2025: 1
Total Number of Books DNFed in 2025: 7
I did DNF a total of 2 books in October, which were…
~Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen — While I thought the subject of this book was interesting, I found the writing somewhat dry. As a result, I got stuck partway through the first chapter. I may continue this book at some point in the future, but I won't be finishing it this year. 📚
~The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society — I got one chapter into this book before deciding to DNF. I just wasn’t a fan of the author’s writing style, and didn’t feel like I was going to be able to connect with the main character. 📚
Since I spent most of the month focusing on the FrightFall readathon and the rest of it reading new releases, I’ve decided to separate my top three books of the month into two categories: FrightFall reads and non-FrightFall reads. My top three books that I read specifically for FrightFall are:
~The Hitchcock Hotel, by Stephanie Wrobel
~Carmilla, by Sheridan Le Fanu
~Bird Box, by Josh Malerman
My top three non-FrightFall books for the month are:
~Nights with a Cat, Vol. 6, by Kyuryu Z.
~The Casting Call, by Delemach
~The Keeper of Magical Things, by Julie Leong
Readathons:
My main readathon for the month of October was FrightFall, which was hosted by Seasons of Reading. This was my third (possibly fourth?) year participating in this particular readathon, and I had a marvelous time.
The only requirement FrightFall has is that participants must read one scary book. I actually ended up reading a total of 23 books for this readathon. (It would have been 24, but I ran out of time to finish The Shining.) My original plan for the month was to focus almost exclusively on horror novels and horror-adjacent nonfiction books, but I ultimately decided to branch out a bit further in my book selection. I ended up reading a combination of horror, nonfiction, dark academia, dark fantasy, and thrillers. I also had a chance to read some comic books and manga.
Although I did take some time away from this readathon to read some new releases (and continue to make progress on the 2 titles I was reading at the end of September), I spent most of the month focused entirely on my reading for FrightFall.
This month I also had a chance to participate in the Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon. I’ve lost track of the number of times that I’ve participated in this readathon over the years (though it must be close to a dozen by now), but I always have a great time.
While I originally planned to spend 12-16 hours reading, I was only able to read for a total of 7 hours and 40 minutes. I was able to read 2 books from cover to cover during that time though, and made progress on several others. So even though I didn’t read for quite as long as I’d hoped, I feel like the readathon was a success.
Next month I plan to participate in Nonfiction November. The goal of this month-long readathon is to read as many nonfiction titles as possible. I have a massive number of nonfiction titles on this year’s TBR list, including books in the following categories: autobiographies, memoirs, biographies, anthropology, history, science, paranormal research, cryptozoology, philosophy, psychology, travel, behind-the-scenes books focusing on movies and video games, and true crime. So I will definitely have a chance to read books on a wide range of topics.
While I will be focusing primarily on reading nonfiction next month, I do plan to read some fiction titles as well. I will be finishing The Shining over the weekend, and then continuing The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2, which I am determined to finish before the end of this year. Of course, I will also be reading any new titles I purchase during the coming month.
November Goals:
My only goal for the month of November is to read all of the books I purchase prior to the end of the month. November is a huge month for book releases, so I will definitely need to exercise some self-control and stay on top of my reading if I want to accomplish this goal.
Even though it's not an official goal, I will also be spending most of my reading time focusing on titles from my physical TBR. I'm really excited to see how many nonfiction books I can cross off my TBR list before the end of the month.
Overall, I thought that October was a fantastic reading month. I had a wonderful time with both of this month’s readathons, and I’m really pleased with the amount of reading I was able to accomplish.
Good evening, everyone! Happy Saturday!I had a little extra time on my hands this evening, so I thought I'd go ahead and post this week's update.
This week has been super productive…just not in the way I'd originally anticipated. I've been having some issues with my desktop computer for about six months now. I figured I could probably get a couple more months of use out of it, but I've known for a while now that I would have to get a replacement sooner or later. On Tuesday morning my dad surprised me with a trip to the Apple store, where he got me a brand new desktop. I have the best dad ever!!! I've spent the rest of the week getting all of my files and pictures transferred between machines. It's been a lot of work (and an alarming amount of screen time), but I am loving my new computer!
I'm going to have to get back to working on my other household projects next week though. I've got an awful lot of things that still need to be done around here, and the laundry is starting to pile up again.
My reading for FrightFall continued this week, and I had the opportunity to read 4 additional titles specifically for the readathon. That brings my total number of FrightFall books up to 19, all but 4 of which came from my 2025 TBR list.
In addition to (and as part of) my reading for FrightFall, I spent a lot of time reading newly purchased books this week. As a result, this week's update is going to be on the shorter side.
📚Physical TBR: 127/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 174/961 (18% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 174/150 (116% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)keep — I thought this story was pretty good, but I have to confess that I just did not like the main characters. I kept hoping that they would grow on me, but they didn’t. I didn’t realize that this book was the first in a trilogy when I bought it, and while part of me would like to find out what’s ultimately going to happen in the world of the book, I’m not invested enough in the characters to continue the trilogy when the next book is released. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I currently have around 66 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — As expected, I have not made any progress on this book since last week, but I will be returning to it at the beginning of next month. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Dracula — I am continuing to make pretty steady progress on this book, and will definitely finish it before the end of the readathon. 📚
~Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga — I'm currently a little over two-thirds of the way through this anthology, and will most likely finish it tomorrow afternoon. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
Next week is the final week of FrightFall, and while I do plan to continue reading spooky books right up until the readathon ends, I also have 6 newly purchased books that I need to read before the end of the month.
Unfortunately, that does mean that I'm not going to be able to read quite as many spooky books as I'd planned next week. I will definitely be finishing both of my current reads, but I was really hoping to knock a couple more Stephen King novels off my 2025 TBR as well. I just don't think I'm going to have enough time. I guess we'll just have to see how long it takes me to finish Dracula and Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga, as well as those brand new books.
I will also be starting my reading for Nonfiction November next week. This is another month-long readathon, and one that I’m really looking forward to. I’ll talk more about this readathon in Friday’s October Wrap-Up post, but starting on Saturday my focus will be shifting away from spooky reads to nonfiction. I will also start to make more consistent progress on The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2, as it will be one of very few fiction books that I pick up to read in November (apart from any new releases I decide to purchase, of course).
CinCO wrote: "Read Dracula as a buddy read, it was ok, but I didn't think it aged that well. But I had read The Historian a couple of months before and thought it was awesome!"I've been enjoying Dracula, but I agree that it hasn't aged particularly well, and I think it's the writing that's at fault.
It's been a long time since I last read it, but I really liked The Historian as well. Such a well-written book!
My favorite Dracula books were actually written by Fred Saberhagen. He wrote an entire series of Dracula stories, beginning with The Dracula Tape, which is a re-telling of the original story. My favorites in the series are An Old Friend of the Family and The Holmes-Dracula File.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!The migraines have continued this week, and I am so incredibly tired of dealing with them. Fortunately I had my annual physical on Monday, so I was able to discuss the issue with my doctor. She has sent in a referral for me to see a neurologist so we can get things checked out. She isn’t worried about anything being seriously wrong, but given my family medical history, she wants to be sure…which I really appreciate. Hopefully I’ll be able to get in with the neurologist soon, and we’ll be able to figure out what’s going on.
Since the migraines are an ongoing problem, I got very little done this week in terms of household projects. I feel like I spent most of the past week either napping or reading, which was restful, but definitely unproductive.
I am continuing to participate in FrightFall, and I’m still having a lot of fun. While I did read a wide range of titles this week, I really tried to focus on reading the scariest books remaining on my TBR list. The concept of “scary” is pretty subjective, so while I’ve found many of the books I’ve read this month disturbing or weird, I haven’t really been properly scared by any of them.
I had the opportunity to read 5 additional titles specifically for FrightFall this week, bringing my total up to 15 books. All but 1 of these titles came from this year’s TBR list, and I’m pleased to be making pretty steady progress on my TBR quest.
This week I also had a chance to participate in the Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon, which started on Saturday and ended this morning. As predicted, I did not read for the full 24 hours, and was actually only able to read for around 7 hours and 40 minutes. I was able to read a total of 2 books from cover to cover during this readathon, and also set aside some time to make some progress on The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2, which I’d been neglecting since the beginning of the month. As always, I had a really good time participating in the 24-Hour Readathon.
📚Physical TBR: 126/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 173/961 (18% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 173/150 (115% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~The Langoliers — I thoroughly enjoyed this book! While I didn’t find the story particularly scary, I did think that King’s writing was very atmospheric. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Ring — Of all the titles on my 2025 TBR, this is the one I was most apprehensive about reading, because my friends who have seen the movie adaptation all talk about how terrifying it was. I fully expected this book to scare me, and it definitely…did not. After all the hype, I found this book a bit of a let down. I didn't think it was scary at all, and actually got bored a couple of times while reading it. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️
~Bird Box — I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Even though it wasn’t the scary read I was anticipating, I could not put it down. I thought the author did an especially good job of creating a believably eerie atmosphere. The pacing was excellent, and the dual timelines really added to the story. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~The Hitchcock Hotel — This Alfred Hitchcock-inspired thriller turned out to be one of my most enjoyable reads for both the FightFall and 24-Hour readathons. The author did a great job of matching the atmosphere of a Hitchcock film, and managed to keep me guessing until the very end. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered — This is probably best described as a reference book for modern horror novels. I really enjoyed reading the author’s thoughts about why she included each book (or author) in this list, and was surprised by the number of titles and authors that I’d already read (or that are on my current TBR). I also learned about some new titles that I’d really like to check out. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I am currently on the book of Numbers, and I’m just in awe of Suchet’s narration. So many names to pronounce! I have a little over 71 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — I actually set aside half an hour during Saturday’s readathon to focus exclusively on this book, and managed to read a significant amount. I will be taking another short break from this one for the remainder of FrightFall, but it felt really good to make some progress on it this weekend. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Dracula — I’m currently about a third of the way through this book, and I’m really enjoying it so far. I will definitely be finishing it in the coming week. 📚
~Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga — I thought this anthology of short stories and poetry featuring Baba Yaga would be a good fit for the spooky season, and it certainly has been so far. I’m only a few stories into this collection, but I’m really enjoying it. 📚
~Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy, #1)keep — I’m currently about a third of the way through this dark academia book, and I’m finding it very interesting so far. I will probably finish it in the next day or so. 📚
Next week I will be continuing my reading for FrightFall. I’m planning to focus on finishing up my current spooky reads, but I will also be spending some time reading some of my newly-purchased books. I currently have 4 new books to read, 2 of which are Stephen King novels. At the very least, I’d like to get both of those books read by my next update.
Good evening, everyone! Happy Saturday!Tomorrow morning is going to be a bit busy, so I wanted to go ahead and post this week's update.
This has been a tough week. I had quite a few commitments on my calendar, and several things that I wanted to get done here in the house. Unfortunately, I spent most of the week dealing with migraine headaches, which severely limited what I was able to get done. I actually ended up having to reschedule my dental appointment not once, but twice, because I didn’t feel like I’d be able to tolerate the noise and light in their office.
I did manage to get my Covid booster and flu shot on Thursday morning, after which I came home and slept pretty much all afternoon. Apart from just a general sense of tiredness and some muscle soreness at the injection sites, I didn’t have any side effects. I could have gotten both vaccines earlier, because they did become available last month, but I wanted to wait until the start of cold and flu season in my area.
As far as reading is concerned…
FrightFall continued this week, and I had a chance to finish 7 additional spooky (or semi-spooky/paranormal) titles. In total, I have read 11 books specifically for this readathon, all but 1 of which came from my 2025 TBR list.
I’ve enjoyed most of the books I’ve chosen to read for FrightFall this year, but not all of them. In fact, I actually ended up DNFing a couple of titles this week.
📚Physical TBR: 121/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 168/961 (17% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 5
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 168/150 (112% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Horror Movie — I found this a very odd book. The book tells the story of the filming of a low-budget indy horror movie that never made it to the big screen, and the major film reboot that has been spawned by online fan interest. Narrated by the last surviving member of the original cast, the book jumps back and forth between past and present, gradually revealing just how horrifying the full story truly is. While I did read this book in a single sitting, I didn’t like it. The pacing was very slow in some chapters, and I did not like the main characters (especially the book’s narrator). I also found the ending very disturbing. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐⭐
~FantasticLand — This was a very interesting book, and one that I had a really hard time putting down. Since this book was written as a series of post-disaster interviews, rather than a chronological narrative, I do feel that the story loses its immediacy and, as a consequence, some of its potential scare factor. However, this choice really allowed the author to dig into the characterization, which made the characters seem more real…and actually made the situation they were placed in feel more likely. Ultimately, I feel like the book is best described as disturbing, rather than scary, which worked to its advantage. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter — I’m a massive fan of the shows Josh Gates has been involved in, so I was really excited to read this memoir from his time on Destination Truth. I thought this was a very interesting read, though I did feel like it was more of a travel diary than a monster hunting memoir. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
This week I had a chance to read all three volumes of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. I thought this series was very entertaining. The artwork was also very well done. The comic books do include a considerable amount of crude humor and innuendo, which is pretty on-brand for their main character. That definitely made them more comedic than spooky. The volumes I read include:
~Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Vol. 1 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Vol. 2 — Content Alert: (view spoiler)📚: ⭐️⭐️
~Elvira Mistress of the Dark Vol. 3 — 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
~Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen — This book is an in-depth look at the popularity of Dracula, from the inception of his character through his reign as a horror (and literary/film) icon. I got stuck on the first chapter of this book and just did not have any desire to continue it. While I think the subject matter is interesting, I found the writing very dry…to the point where I caught myself starting to fall asleep while I was reading. I might give this book another try at some point in the future, but I definitely won’t be finishing it this month. 📚
~The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society — I thought this was going to be a fun read, but I only got one chapter into this book before deciding to DNF. I just wasn’t a fan of the author’s writing style, and didn’t feel like I was going to be able to connect with the main character. 📚
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I currently have a little less than 74 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — I have not made any progress on this book over the past week, and probably won’t until FrightFall has officially ended. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Dracula — I’m currently only a couple of chapters into this book, but I’m enjoying it so far. 📚
Next week I will be continuing my reading for FrightFall, and plan to tackle some of the scariest horror novels on my TBR.
I will also be participating in my second readathon of the month. October 18th-19th is the Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon. I am not currently planning to pull an all-nighter in order to read for the full 24 hours, mostly because it will take me several days to recover if I do, but I do want to read for as many hours as I feasibly can. I’m aiming for at least 12 hours of reading on Saturday, but we’ll see how the day goes.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!The first half of this week was pretty rough. I ended up having stomach issues that lasted from late Sunday morning through Wednesday afternoon, which really hampered my ability to get things done. I’m still not sure if I had some kind of virus, or if I wasn’t feeling well because of a food allergy…or food poisoning, which is probably more likely.
Fortunately, I am feeling a lot better, and I was able to get some things accomplished during the second half of the week.
As far as reading is concerned, this has been a great week! FrightFall officially began on Wednesday, and I have to say that I am having a wonderful time. So far I’ve had a chance to read a total of 4 books for the readathon, all of which came from this year’s TBR list.
📚Physical TBR: 115/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 162/961 (16% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 162/150 (108% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Haunt Sweet Home — I thought this was a fantastic novella! I didn’t find it particularly scary, but I really liked the story and characters. The focus on renovating haunted homes really took the book in an interesting direction. My timing reading this book was also perfect, because I was also getting caught up on The Scariest House in America on Discovery+ around the same time. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
~Home Is Where the Bodies Are — I thought this was a really good story, but it was not the horror story I expected it to be. This book is probably best categorized as a thriller, though I have to confess that (view spoiler) Had I known that this wasn’t actually a horror book, I probably would have saved it for another time, rather than reading it for FrightFall. I did enjoy it though, and I found the main characters really interesting. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐⭐⭐
~Mister Magic — I honestly did not know what to expect from this book going into it, but thought it was a fantastic read! I really liked the main character, and got very invested in her story…to the point where I read almost the entire book in a single evening. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Life with the Afterlife: 13 Truths I Learned about Ghosts — This memoir focuses on Amy Bruni’s experiences with the paranormal throughout her life, including things she experienced while working on Ghost Hunters and on her and Adam Berry’s series, Kindred Spirits. I found the book really interesting! Since several episodes of Kindred Spirits are mentioned in the book, I decided to give it a try. If I tell you that I’ve already made it partway through season 3 in less than a week, does that give you an idea of how much I like it? It’s available to stream on Discovery+ if you’re interested in checking it out. 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I’m currently on the 40th chapter of Exodus, and have a little less than 76 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — Although I was able to get about one-third of the way through this book prior to the start of FrightFall, I have not picked it up since the readathon started. I do plan to continue reading it, but probably won’t make a significant amount of progress until the readathon has concluded. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen — This book is an in-depth look at the popularity of Dracula, from the inception of his character through his reign as a horror (and literary/film) icon. I’m currently still on the first chapter of the book, and while I’m finding it interesting, the writing has been a bit dry so far. I am planning to finish it, but will probably end up reading it in smaller chunks than the author intended (as the chapters are quite lengthy). 📚
~Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter — I’m a huge fan of the shows Josh Gates has been involved with, so I am very excited to have a chance to read this memoir, which focuses on his time filming Destination Truth. 📚
Next week I will be continuing to participate in the FrightFall readathon, and hope to finish at least as many titles as I did this week. I do have three new releases that I plan to read during the coming week as well (all of which are either volumes of manga or graphic novels), but I will be spending the rest of my time continuing to read titles from my TBR list.
September 2025 Wrap-UpHello, everyone! The final day of September is here, and it’s time for another monthly reading update! This month’s wrap-up is coming out a little earlier in the day than it normally would, but I know that I won’t have enough time to finish another book today, so I decided to go ahead and post.
The following stats cover all of the books I read during the past month, including titles from my TBR list, “New Books” list, re-reads, and library loans.
September Goals Update:
During the month of September, I had two goals that I wanted to accomplish.
First, I wanted to get caught up on all of the books I purchased in August. At the end of last month, I had a total of 5 titles remaining on my “New Books” list, and I am very pleased to report that I have officially finished all of them.
My other goal was to read all of the books I purchased in September before the end of the month. I thought this was going to be a very difficult goal to accomplish, because there were a ton of new releases coming out this month that I wanted to purchase. Fortunately, I was able to exercise some self-control and limited myself to only 5 pre-planned book purchases. Even after buying 3 additional unplanned titles, I still purchased far fewer books than the 14 I’d originally planned on for the month. If you’re shocked, you’re not alone. I was pretty surprised myself.
Since I did such a good job of avoiding overbuying and impulse-buying this month, I was able to complete this goal without any difficulty. I am very excited about this, because for the first time in months, I am 100% caught up on my “New Books” list!
Here’s what my reading looked like during the month of September…
Total Number of Books Read in September: 21
Number of TBR Books Read in September: 7
Physical Books: 13
Ebooks: 5
Audiobooks: 3
This month I read the following genres…
~Fantasy: 9
~Romance: 1
~Thriller: 1
~Childrens: 1
~Contemporary Fiction: 1
~Classics: 1
~Manga: 1
~Nonfiction: 6
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
TBR Books DNFed in September: 0
New Books DNFed in 2025: 1
Library Books DNFed in 2025: 2
Total Number of Books DNFed in 2025: 6
The only book I DNFed in September was…
~Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life — I read a little over one-third of this book prior to DNFing, hoping it would inspire me in my ongoing decluttering battle. Unfortunately, it really was written for people in different life situations from mine, so there was a lot of content that just didn’t apply to me. At least this book was a library loan, so I didn’t feel guilty for not finishing it. 📱
My top three books of the month are:
~This Inevitable Ruin, by Matt Dinniman
~Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
~Too Old for This, by Samantha Downing
Readathons:
While I did not take part in any readathons during the month of September, I will be participating in two next month.
The main readathon I plan to focus on is FrightFall, which is a month-long readathon being hosted by Seasons of Reading. FrightFall has only one reading requirement for participants, which is that you must read a scary book during the month of October.
One scary book isn’t enough for me, so I’ll be taking things a bit further. Apart from the new releases that I plan to purchase in October (which will be from a variety of genres), all of the books I will be reading next month will either be horror novels, or nonfiction books about horror.
Of course, I also plan to use the month to celebrate one of my favorite holidays by decorating the house, eating all the pumpkin-flavored things I can get my hands on, and watching my favorite horror movies…but the readathon will definitely be my top priority.
The other readathon I plan to participate in during October is the Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon. This readathon begins at 8 AM on Saturday, October 18th, and ends at 8 AM on Sunday, October 19th.
I’m really looking forward to this readathon, because it’s always a really good time. However, I value my sleep too highly to pull an all-nighter, so I will be aiming to read for 12-16 hours instead of the full 24.
While I probably will not take part in any of the online conversations or social media prompts associated with either of these readathons, I do plan to post some pictures on my own social media accounts. If you’d like to follow my readathon progress, you can find me on Instagram. My handle is @unapologbkworm.
October Goals:
I have only one reading goal for the month of October, which is to read all of the books I purchase in October prior to the end of the month. I actually think this will be a pretty easy goal to accomplish, as I plan to purchase only 4 books.
There are several other new books coming out that I am interested in reading, but since they are going to be available through my local library (either physically or as ebooks), I will be borrowing those books as they become available.
While it is not an official goal for the month, I will be continuing to make progress on my TBR list as well. I have quite a few horror novels and horror-adjacent nonfiction books on this year’s TBR, and I hope to get quite a few of them read before the end of October.
Overall, I thought that September was a really good month for reading. I had a chance to read a lot of great books, and it feels really nice to finally be caught up on the books I’ve purchased since the beginning of the year.
As we enter the final quarter of 2025, I’m really excited to see how many books I end up reading before the end of the year. I think October will be a great month, especially with two fun readathons to keep me motivated.
CinCO wrote: "I had an entire week off and got very little done. Since I didn't go anywhere, I mostly just felt like lounging around, reading and playing games. At least I went back to work with a bit more calm."That sounds like a lovely week!
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!Today's update almost didn't happen. I lost Internet service yesterday evening, and did not get it back until about an hour ago. Everything is working fine now, but I still have no idea why it stopped working.
This has been a super busy week! It’s also been an extremely productive one, which is a very good thing.
The office…is still not done, but I have reached a natural stopping point. It turns out that I can’t complete my office clean up until I tackle a couple of projects in other rooms of the house. Once those are done, I’ll be able to stop using a (now very small) corner of the office floor for storage. The important thing is that I can actually use the office for its intended purpose now.
My dad did come over this week to help me with a couple other projects, which was awesome! He helped me remove a couple of interior doors that are never used, and hung up some artwork in a couple different rooms. He also was able to hang up my swords in my game room, so that room is officially finished and ready for game nights! Everything looks awesome!
Believe it or not, I even managed to get some laundry done this week. The mountain range is finally shrinking!
I don’t know if I’ve managed to find the motivation I’ve been lacking over the past several weeks, but it felt really good to check some things off my list this week. I’m going to continue chasing that feeling, and we’ll see if I can’t get myself out of my motivation slump for good.
It was also an excellent week for reading. I had a chance to finish a couple of titles from my TBR list, as well as both of the new releases that came out this week. That may not seem like a lot of reading, especially in comparison to some of my other updates, but since the newest Dungeon Crawler Carl book was nearly 900 pages… It was definitely a big reading week.
📚Physical TBR: 111/731
📱Ebook TBR: 36/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 158/961 (16% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 158/150 (105% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Homeland — This is the first book in the Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms: Legend of Drizzt series. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I thought the story and characters were great, and really enjoyed seeing Drizzt’s character develop over the course of the book. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
~Tarzan of the Apes — This is the first book in the Tarzan series. I thought this was a pretty good story. It’s very different from the Disney movie, so if you think you already know Tarzan’s story, you may find yourself getting surprised. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📱: ⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I currently have a little less than 78 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — I have not done much reading of this book during the past week, since I was pretty distracted by new releases and the other TBR titles I was reading. However, I will be focusing on this book for the last few days of September, rather than starting another book before October's FrightFall Readathon. I hope to make a considerable amount of progress during that time. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
Beginning on Wednesday, I will be shifting my focus to reading the spooky books on my TBR list. I currently have a total of 40 books on my TBR that feel like perfect October reads, including: horror novels, comic books, nonfiction books about the horror genre, biographies and autobiographies with a connection to either the horror genre or paranormal research, and other nonfiction titles focusing on history, philosophy, and science.
Although I did consider including thrillers and true crime books in next month’s TBR, I ultimately decided against it. Many of the thrillers that currently remain on my 2025 TBR don’t fit the month’s spooky theme, and while my true crime books could possibly be described as real-life horror, I plan to add them to my TBR for Nonfiction November.
Of course, while I will be spending most of my reading time focusing on spooky books, I will also be continuing to read the books I am currently reading. I will also take time out to read new releases as I purchase them (or as my library holds come in.)
If you’d like to follow my progress during next month’s FrightFall Readathon, you can find me on Instagram. My handle is @unapologbkworm. I will also discuss the readathon each week when I post my weekly TBR update here on Goodreads.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!The lack of motivation continued this week, and I accomplished very little as a result. I did manage to finish the last of the shredding from my filing project, but the office is still a disaster, and the laundry pile is considerably larger than I’d hoped it would be upon ending the week.
I’m beginning to think that my only way out of this motivation slump is going to be some good old fashioned self-bribery.
While I haven’t been productive in my daily life, as far as reading is concerned, this has been a pretty good week. I had a chance to finish a total of 7 books this week! Most of the books I read were new releases, but I was also able to finish a couple of titles from my TBR list.
I also did a really good job of exercising self-control over my book purchases this week, and only picked up two new titles, both of which I have already managed to read. For the first time in months, I am 100% caught up on my “New Books” list! I know that won’t last long, but right now I’m feeling really good about it!
📚Physical TBR: 110/731
📱Ebook TBR: 35/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 156/961 (16% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 156/150 (104% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth — I thought that “On Fairy Stories” was an interesting read, but my favorite parts of this book were actually “Mythopoeia” and “Leaf by Niggle.” 📚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy — I thought this was a really interesting biography. Odette Sansom was an incredibly brave woman. While this book is from my physical TBR, I was actually able to borrow a copy of the audiobook from my local library, so I ended up listening to it on Libby. The narrator was really good. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. I did not listen for as long as I would have liked this week, so I currently have about 79.5 hours remaining. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — I am reading around 10-20 pages of this book each day (depending on my mood), and I’m making pretty decent progress. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Tarzan of the Apes — This is the first book in the Tarzan series. This has been a pretty good book so far. I’m currently about 8 chapters into the story, and will probably finish it sometime next week. 📱
While there are a couple of new releases coming out on Tuesday that I am very excited to get and read, I plan to spend most of next week focusing on reading titles from my TBR list. I’m currently planning to read a mixture of comic books and fantasy, and will either continue the Discworld series, or give The Legend of Drizzt a try.
Good evening, everyone! Happy Saturday!Tomorrow promises to be a very full day, so I thought I'd go ahead and post this week's update while I have a free minute.
I’ve accomplished very few of the things that I needed to this week, because I am currently an unmotivated mess. I’m having a really hard time finding any kind of drive to get things done. The office is still a work in progress, and the laundry pile has once again become a full-blown mountain range.
The only thing that wasn’t adversely affected by my lack of motivation this week was my reading. I did a tremendous (and possibly ridiculous) amount of reading this week! I was able to split my time pretty evenly between TBR and “New Books” list titles, which was great. I ended up finishing a total of 7 books this week, including 2 from my TBR list, 4 from my “New Books” list, and 1 library loan.
📚Physical TBR: 108/731
📱Ebook TBR: 35/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 154/961 (16% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 154/150 (102% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Of Curses & Beauty — I mentioned in last week’s update that I was thinking about DNFing this book, but I ultimately decided to give it a chance. I wasn’t super impressed with the writing, but I did enjoy the story. It ended up being a sweet romance with great characters. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📱: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
~Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age — I thought this was a very interesting book, especially because I had no idea that so many women were involved in the fields of archaeology and Egyptology during this time period. You usually only hear about the discoveries made by men. While this book was on my physical TBR, my library had a copy of the audiobook available, so I ended up listening to most of it on Libby. I thought the audiobook narration was really good. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth — I haven’t made very much progress on this book during the past week. I’m currently about halfway through Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories.” 📚
~NIV Audio Bible — This audiobook edition of The Bible is read by David Suchet. This is a reread for me, but it will be my first time listening to the entire Bible from cover-to-cover on audio. My goal is to finish listening before the end of the year, so I am listening for about 45 minutes each day. I currently have 81 hours left to listen to. 🎧
~The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2 — After an extended break and a soft DNF, I have officially returned to reading this book. I am aiming to read around 20 pages per day, with the goal of finishing before the end of the year. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy — While this book is from my physical TBR, I was actually able to borrow a copy of the audiobook from my local library, so I have been listening to it on Libby. I'm currently 63% of the way through this book, and hope to finish it before next week's update. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
~Tarzan of the Apes — This is the first book in the Tarzan series. I’m currently only a few chapters into this book, but I’m enjoying it so far. 📱
During the next week, I will be continuing to read all of the titles I am currently reading. However, I plan to focus most of my attention on reading titles from my “New Books” list. After this week’s trip to Barnes and Noble, I currently have a total of 2 new releases to read before the end of the month. That’s not very many, but with 2 more books coming out on Tuesday, I cannot afford to get behind on the new releases.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!Well, despite my best efforts, the office is still unfinished…
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but just haven’t had the energy over the last few days to finish cleaning and organizing. I’ve probably got about 4-5 more hours left to work before everything is done, so my plan going into next week is to work in the office for an hour each day…whether or not I feel like I have the energy to do it. I’m close enough at this point that I really just want it to be done so I can move on to something else.
I mentioned in last week’s update that I wanted to split my time evenly between reading titles from my TBR and “New Books” lists, ideally finishing a total of 6 books before today’s update. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to accomplish this (and I didn’t), but I was able to make some progress.
As it turned out, I was able to finish a total of 5 books since last week’s Mount TBR update; 1 of those books was from my TBR list, 3 were from my “New Books” list, and 1 was an audiobook I’d borrowed from the library.
📚Physical TBR: 107/731
📱Ebook TBR: 34/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 152/961 (15% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 152/150 (101% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
~Strega Nona — While this book was a re-read for me, it’s been decades since the last time I read it. I really enjoyed revisiting this story, and loved all of the beautiful illustrations. 📚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
~Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age — This book is from my physical TBR, but aside from a couple of sections that I actually had time to read physically, I have listened to most of this book on audio. I’m very close to finishing this book, and will probably do so this afternoon. 📚
~Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth — This book is a mixture of different pieces of writing by J.R.R. Tolkien. I am currently about halfway through his essay, “On Fairy Stories,” and I’m finding it pretty interesting. 📚
~Of Curses & Beauty — I’m currently about 4 chapters into this book, and I am really not impressed. I may decide to DNF this one, but I’ll give it a couple more chapters first. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📱
Next week I will be continuing to split my time between reading titles from my TBR and “New Books” lists. I currently have 3 new books left to read, all of which are on the longer side, and I’d really like to finish at least 1 of them before my next update. There are also 2 new releases coming out next week that I am planning to purchase, and I hope to have both of them read by the end of next week as well.
CinCO wrote: "Congrats on completing your climb this year!"Thanks so much!
Indy_Chick wrote: "Congratulations on summiting Mount Olympus! I'm so happy for you because you had a rough year last year. I'm sure you'll summit another mountain before the end of the year!! Also, great job on go..."
Thank you so much!
August 2025 Wrap-UpHello, everyone! The end of August is officially upon us, and it’s time for another monthly reading update.
The following stats cover all of the books I read during the past month, including titles from my TBR list, “New Books” list, re-reads, and library loans.
August Goals Update:
During the month of August, I had three goals that I wanted to accomplish.
First, I wanted to reach the summit of Mount Olympus. At the end of July, I had a total of 24 books left to read, and I was able to read them all in less than a month! Given that I was forced to abandon my Mount TBR climb in 2024 because of my mental health, I am really proud of myself for completing the challenge this year. I’m also thrilled that I was able to finish it with several months to spare.
Second, I wanted to read all of the books I purchased in August prior to the end of the month. Unfortunately, I was not able to accomplish this goal because the 4 books I had planned to purchase grew to a total of 17. In my defense, I was left unsupervised in a bookstore during my birthday month. We all really should have seen this result coming.
Even though I was not able to finish all of the books I bought this month, I did manage to read 11 of them (and DNFed 1), so my “New Books” list is currently 96% complete.
Third, I was determined to finish the last remaining titles on my “New Books” list that I had purchased prior to this month (specifically, books I’d purchased in July). I only had 2 books left to read, so this was a pretty easy goal to accomplish.
Here’s what my reading looked like during the month of August…
Total Number of Books Read in August: 40
Number of TBR Books Read in August: 25
Physical Books: 13
Ebooks: 22
Audiobooks: 5
This month I read the following genres…
~Mystery: 16
~Romance: 7
~Contemporary Fiction: 1
~Fantasy: 11
~SciFi: 1
~Manga: 2
~Nonfiction: 2
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 4
TBR Books DNFed in August: 1
The only book I DNFed this month was:
~The Library at Hellebore — This book was one of my impulse purchases during a recent Barnes and Noble trip, and I really wish I’d just left it on the store’s shelves and saved my money. I did manage to get about 50 pages into this book, but the combination of graphic, gory violence and unlikeable characters just destroyed any interest I had in the plot. I also found the frequent time jumps frustrating. I am disappointed, because this is the first book I’ve purchased and DNFed in 2025, but I have zero desire to read the rest of this one. Content Alert: (view spoiler) 📚
My top three books of the month are:
~Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher
~Shield of Sparrows, by Devney Perry
~Six Wild Crowns, by Holly Race
Readathons:
This month I decided to participate in the High Summer Readathon, hosted by Seasons of Reading. I really enjoyed this month-long readathon, because the only requirement was to read. It was a very laid-back experience, and one that I look forward to repeating in the future.
I will be taking a break from readathons during the month of September, but will definitely participate in a couple more before the end of the year.
September Goals:
I have two reading goals going into the month of September.
First, I want to get caught up on the books I purchased in August. I currently have 5 titles remaining on my “New Books” list, so I think I can accomplish this goal at the beginning of September without too much difficulty. Honestly, my biggest problem right now is deciding which of those books to read after I finish the Scholomance trilogy.
Second, I want to read all of the books I purchase in September before the end of the month. Unfortunately, September is a huge month for book releases. There are currently 14 books coming out that I’d really like to get, only 2 of which are new volumes of manga. I don’t know if I will purchase all of the books on my list of new releases, and I am going to try to avoid additional book purchases outside of that list during the coming month, but this could be a tough goal to accomplish.
I will definitely have to stay on top of my reading to accomplish both of my September goals, because I can’t afford to fall behind on those new releases now that we’re entering the final third of the year.
I will also be reading titles from my TBR list in September. But since I have already completed my Mount Olympus climb, I am not making this an official reading goal for the month.
Overall, I thought August was a fantastic reading month. Even though I only managed to accomplish two of the three goals I had for the month, I’m really pleased with the progress I was able to make, and especially thrilled to have completed the Mount TBR challenge.
Even though I have completed this year’s challenge, I am still planning to post weekly and monthly reading updates through the end of the year. I’m really looking forward to seeing how many additional TBR books I can check off my list before the end of 2025. If you want to follow my progress, my list of post-climb TBR reads can be found in message #74.
Good morning, everyone! Happy Sunday!I was hoping to start this week’s update with an announcement about my office finally being clean and organized, but it is still a work in progress. I’ve managed to get a tremendous amount done this week though. I’ve only got a few things left to do, so I should be completely finished before next week’s update.
Despite all of the time spent working on the office, this turned out to be an excellent week for reading as well. As I mentioned in my last update, I did go a bit overboard with the book buying the last time I went to Barnes and Noble, so I’ve spent this past week reading the books I just purchased.
Unfortunately, that means this week’s TBR update is going to be painfully short.
📚Physical TBR: 106/731
📱Ebook TBR: 34/218
🎧Audiobook TBR: 11/12
TBR Checklist Total: 151/961 (15% complete)
TBR Books DNFed in 2025: 3
Total Progress Up Mount Olympus: 151/150 (100% complete)
Here are the TBR books I finished this week…
Finished Reading (Fiction):
None
Finished Reading (Nonfiction):
None
Finished Reading (Manga, Comic Books, & Graphic Novels):
None
Finished Reading (Poetry and Drama):
None
DNFed:
None
Currently Reading:
I am not currently reading any books from my TBR list.
As of this morning, I have a total of 6 titles remaining on my “New Books” list. I’d really like to get caught up on that reading as soon as possible, because September is a big month for new book releases and I know I’ll be buying several more new titles.
That being said, I also want to get back into my TBR reading. So I think what I will be doing next week is splitting my time as evenly as possible between titles on my two lists. Ideally, I’d like to read 3 books from my “New Books” list and 3 from my TBR list, but we’ll have to see how much reading time I actually have next week. I’ve got quite a bit on the calendar, so I’ll have to use my free time wisely.
