It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Jan. 4, 2016)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Other Than Reading...

I had a quiet week at home reading, blogging and trying out some new recipes. Snowy weather kept me inside (as if I wasn't already planning to be inside!) on Monday and Tuesday but I did get out for a quick trip to Rochester for grocery shopping and errands on Wednesday.

I spent a lot of time with my calendar planning my reading. I slot in review books as I receive them and then fill in the remaining spaces with books I want to read from my TBR mountain. I have been filling in the spaces in February and March since I have finished all the books I'm reviewing in January. At least, I had finished all the January books until my three most recent arrivals. Now I have them to read to finish January.

When I am looking for the next book on my reading stack, I look at my calendar and read the one that is coming soonest. February has a lot of adult books that I read a while ago because, when I get new review book, I decide the best day to review it and I move the post that was already scheduled for the day to my next open day. This means that, unless it is a review book, posts can be moved and frequently are. Three adult review books that arrived this week meant more calendar rearranging and changing the dates of the scheduled posts in Blogger.

Choosing my next book based on what's coming next on my calendar means that, after I finish my three new review arrivals, I will be reading more young adult books than adult books for the next little while. I like to alternate an adult book with a young adult book but my calendar has gotten off balance.

Again this year, I am making no resolutions and joining no blogging challenges. While some of the challenges sound interesting and match with what I am already planning to do, joining them just means more work for me and one more thing to keep track of. I have seen so many different challenges that I could join - many about reducing TBR mountain, many about reading review books especially from NetGalley and/or Edelweiss, many about reading the books you buy. All of those are things I intend to do anyway. I don't need the additional incentive or stress of keeping track of titles for a challenge. As for resolutions, I have never been able to keep one past the end of January and don't want to set myself up for failure. Each day provides enough opportunity for change as it is.

2015 in Summary

I read 315 books in 2015 with a total of 107,004 pages. I read 136 that I owned and 149 review books.  I read 147 YA books. Mystery/Suspense was the genre I read most this year with Fantasy and Urban Fantasy/Paranormal coming in second and third.

I added 432 books to my collection this year with 151 still on my TBR stack. While this is still a large number of additions to my stack, it is better than 2014 when I added 599 and 2013 when I added 712. My goal for 2016 is a book a day or less. I want to add 366 or less including review books.

In 2015, I set a personal goal of reading all the adult books I added to my collection this year. I failed. I still have 73 that I haven't read. Most of those were Kindle Daily Deals and/or additions to series that I just didn't get to.

I also went through my physical TBR mountains and removed books that I am no longer interested in reading and set a new goal. I want to read or donate those books that I added to my stack in 2008. I have 99 of them.

I noticed that I am reading more ebooks each year. This year I read 201. In 2014, I read 148. In 2013, I read 98.

Read Last Week

Dragon's Fire by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey was an excellent science fiction adventure that had been languishing on TBR mountain since at least 2008. It is one of the novels that Todd collaborated on with his mother. These take place about 500 years after Landing when Pern is going through some growing pains. My review will be posted on February 3.

Known by Kendra Elliot is the most recent in her Bone Secrets series. This romantic suspense story makes stars out of a couple of side characters from earlier books in the series. It is filled with action, adventure, danger, secrets and has a really nice romance too. My review will be posted on Jan. 13.

Currently

Even the Dead by Benjamin Black arrived in Saturday's mail, and because it will be released on Jan. 12, moved right to the top of my reading stack. This is the seventh book in the Quirke series which are literary mysteries. It will be the first in the series that I have read. The publicist who pitched to book to me says it stands alone well. We'll see...

Next Week

Next week is all review books.

Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer was my Kindle First pick for January and looks to combine two of my favorite genres - mystery and paranormal. It will be released on Jan. 12.

Fighting Dirty by Lori Foster and The Infamous Heir by Elizabeth Michels are repeats from last week. I wasn't expecting to add three other books that needed to be read before these which will be released on Feb. 23 and March 1 respectively.

Reviews Posted

• Here I Stay by Barbara Michaels
• Haunting Investigation by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Shadow Bound by Rachel Vincent

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Yes, I know the goal is to get books off TBR mountain and not add to it. But... This series ended in 2012 and I just have a few more books to go to complete it. I can't help it. I'm a compulsive complete-ist. If I start a series, I want (no, need) to finish it. I added these two to my Kindle and ordered a couple more from Amazon Marketplace.

• Sky Dragons by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey.
• Dragon's Time by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey

When I saw A Touch of Midnight by Lara Adrian offered for free for my Kindle, I decided to get it. It begins the Midnight Breed series of which I have a number on TBR mountain. If I don't like this one, I will know that all the others can be placed in my Donate Pile.

Bloody Mary by J. A. Konrath was a deal from my BookBub daily newsletter. I have the first book in this mystery series on my Kindle already. It is an 8 book series and I'll be getting them all if or when they go on sale. 

I got more review books this week too.

Known by Kendra Elliot is the latest in the Bone Secrets series and will be released on January 19.

Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer begins a new series that combines mystery with paranormal. It was a Kindle First selection for this month and will be released on February 2.

Even the Dead by Benjamin Black arrived in my mailbox on Saturday. This is the seventh book in the Quirke literary mystery series. It will be my first. It moved right to the top of my reading list because it will be released on Jan. 12.

To see what Young Adult books I have been reading and plan to read, check out Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.