Current Reads & Update | Why am I reading 5 books at the same time?

I’m sure most of you experienced this before, when you start a new book just to realize that you aren’t in a mood for it, and then slowly fall into the reading slump. I’m not quite in a reading slump yet, but it’s getting closer and closer. I’d love to finally feel excited about reading! 

This year has been weird in terms of reading. I’ve had some very high “highs” and some low “lows”. Meaning that sometimes I read tons of books, review them all, etc. And other times, I can barely manage to finish one book. 

September hasn’t been great so far, reading and blogging wise. So I thought I’d do a quick update of what I am up to and why the heck am I reading so many books at the same time!

I’ll be talking about these books in the order I’ve been adding them to my GoodReads:

1 – David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Nigerian God-Punk – a powerful and atmospheric urban fantasy set in Lagos.

Since the Orisha War that rained thousands of deities down on the streets of Lagos, David Mogo, demigod, scours Eko’s dank underbelly for a living wage as a freelance Godhunter. Despite pulling his biggest feat yet by capturing a high god for a renowned Eko wizard, David knows his job’s bad luck. He’s proved right when the wizard conjures a legion of Taboos—feral godling-child hybrids—to seize Lagos for himself. To fix his mistake and keep Lagos standing, David teams up with his foster wizard, the high god’s twin sister and a speech-impaired Muslim teenage girl to defeat the wizard.

I started this book on July, 21st! This Sunday it will celebrate its 2 months anniversary for remaining on my “currently reading” shelf. And guess what? I’m only 10% through this book, with the last update being on July, 22nd. After that point, I just haven’t picked it up. 

July was a great reading month for me, mostly because of the Reading Rush read-a-thon and the fact that I picked up some great books that (1) were easy to plunge through and (2) kept me glued to the pages. 

If any of you read this book, please let me know what you thought about it. The first 10% definitely wasn’t bad. The whole God and demi-gods concept is interesting, but I just felt like putting it down at that time. And I refuse to DNF it or remove it from the “currently reading” shelf because I feel like I need the motivation to actually read it. 

2 – Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

THERE’S MAGIC IN HER BLOOD.
Arrah is a young woman from a long line of the most powerful witch doctors in the land. But she fails at magic, fails to call upon the ancestors and can’t even cast the simplest curse. Shame and disappointment dog her.

When strange premonitions befall her family and children in the kingdom begin to disappear, Arrah undergoes the dangerous and scorned process of selling years of her life for magic. This borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal and a danger beyond what she could have imagined.

 This was one of the ARCs I was the most excited to read! But for some reason, it doesn’t pull me back in. I feel fine putting it down and never, which is not acceptable! I’m currently 30% through, the book is slightly confusing, there is a lot of world-building happening and just general explanations of how things work. That and the fact that the main character is the most underwhelming YA protagonist doesn’t appeal to me as much I hoped it would. 

I will still finish it. But I can already say that it won’t be a 5-star read I hoped it would. 

3 – Dear Lily by Drew Davies

Dear Lily,

It’s me, Joy, your much wiser and (very slightly) older sister. I thought I’d start a new tradition of letter writing – now that we’re long distance.
On the plane over here, I began to cry in seat 21C. I think the magnitude of it finally hit me, after everything that happened…
I haven’t even unpacked yet – the only thing I’ve taken out of my suitcase is Harville, your beloved childhood teddy. Sorry for stealing him, but I need him more than you do.

At the beginning of September, as I was feeling myself slowly falling into the reading slump, I picked up «Dear Lily» in the hope that it will be an easy, fun and fast read. And maybe it is! I’ve only read a couple of pages on September 7th and… that’s it.

I’m struggling to find the book I’m in the mood for, hence there are so many books I’ve barely started on my “currently reading” shelf on GoodReads.

4 – Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free.

This is another book I’ve started on September 7th, but probably the only one I’ve actually made some progress in. Basically, on that evening I didn’t know what I wanted to read, so I tried a few different books and «Ruin and Rising» definitely worked better than «Dear Lily». 

I’m really enjoying the Grisha Trilogy but, still, for some reason, I put this book down just to pick up another one.

5 – Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.
For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead.

You might remember from my September Goals post that I was planning to read the first book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series this month. Elliot Brooks is hosting the buddy read for this book, there is even a whole Facebook group dedicated to it. 

I specifically purchased «Gardens of the Moon» to read in September together with everyone else who’s participating in this buddy read. It sounded like a better way to dip my toes in this epic fantasy series, especially because I’ve heard how confusing the first books are, and that it requires at least 3-4 books to actually get into the story. Which is a lot to ask for! 

With my reading slump happening and tons of things going in my life, I didn’t start this book at the beginning of the month as I hoped to. But I didn’t want to fail. So I finally got the courage to pick it up on September 15th. This means that I have to read at least 50 pages EVERY SINGLE DAY to finish this book on September 30th. 

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing since then, always prioritizing Malazan over other books. 

Fifty pages a day might not seem like a lot, and it’s not. But considering that I do most of my reading during the weekend, it’s very difficult to make time during the working week to actually read those pages. More often than not, I’ll pick it up when going to bed and read until midnight or a little longer to make sure that I’m getting the required number of pages. 

To my big surprise, I’m actually enjoying it a lot, even with all the “forced” reading. This is probably the first book in many months that I’m very eager to pick up and keep reading.

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Long story short, I need to finish these books, get them off my “currently reading” shelf and hopefully pick up something I’m actually excited about! 

What are you currently reading? Did you read any of the books I mentioned? Let me know in the comments below! 

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