I’m not allowed to but new books. I’ve told myself this over and over because I have stacks of them that I haven’t finished reading. The university has finally switched to online-mode and I will only need to leave the house for work and to get groceries every now and then so I might as well take advantage of this time to get some reading done (a great suggestion from the writing community that I hadn’t actually thought of… despite the mountains of books being there).

Quick note: I am not in self-isolation because I have to be, it’s because it’s safer and now my only commitment outside of the house is work. I have respiratory issues that might be a problem if I get ill, and I don’t want to impact anyone who is immuno-compromised if I get ill.

I’m going to put a quick list here of the books I have that I haven’t read yet, and we’ll see how many I get through this semester. I don’t quite have high hopes because I think I will be writing a lot more, but I do want to get back into reading, and if I’m just doing it for half an hour a day, even if I’m not flying through books, that’s okay with me.

• Dracula, Bram Stoker
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
• Persuasion, Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
• Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
• The Inheritance, Robin Hobb
• A Song for the Dying, Stuart McBride
• The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
• Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
• The Fork, the Witch and the Worm, Christopher Paolini
• The Roving Party, Rohan Wilson
• The Martian, Andy Weir

Now, there are more laying around, of course, but I figured I should just try and focus on these for now. The list is as big as I thought it would be, but at the same time, I didn’t realise I had so many building up.

I’m going to separate the list according to the reasons why I bought them, and then sort them into a schedule that alternates between these categories because I’ve found that working through the hardest with little bits of the easiest has started to suit my working style.

‘Classic’ /Recommended| I’m Interested | Trying for Variety

• Dracula, Bram Stoker
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
• Persuasion, Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
• Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
• The Inheritance, Robin Hobb
• A Song for the Dying, Stuart McBride
• The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
• Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
• The Fork, the Witch and the Worm, Christopher Paolini
• The Roving Party, Rohan Wilson
• The Martian, Andy Weir

Reading Pattern: Red | Green | Red | Green | Red | Purple

I think I’m going to try and tackle it in this order:

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. A Song for the Dying
3. Jane Eyre
4. The Roving Party
5. The Handmaid’s Tale
6. The Fork, the Witch and the Worm
7. Dracula
8. The Inheritance
9. The Book Thief
10. The Martian
11. Persuasion
12. Memoirs of a Geisha
13. Anna Karenina

I’ve tried to give consideration to the sizes and genres to lessen the chances of me getting stuck. Which is why Anna Karenina is at the bottom because that is a big-ass book.

Normally (albeit scarcely), I’ll post about my readings on here once a fortnight. I will probably do short posts on my thoughts about what I’m reading and then bigger ‘review’ posts once I’ve finished them. If you’ve read any of my ‘reviews’ before, you’ll know they’re not really critiques of the work but just what I enjoyed about them and didn’t.

You’ll be able to tell how well the readings are going based on when my first post about Pride and Prejudice comes out.

Cue terribly reading positions and complaints about how much my back hurts.

Although, I’m thinking of incorporating morning walks/writing/ reading into my morning routines, as long as it keeps me away from people. It’ll depend on the weather though. I’m like the opposite of a lizard. The heat dries me out and irritates my skin and causes me to glare at everything. Chilly mornings let me bundle up and relax… technically it still dries my skin, but I can put cream on it without worrying about it melting off so… Yeah.

Although I don’t feel like I’m at risk by walking around the neighbourhood, it might be better for me not to walk around and sit down at park benches to read and write. Sometimes I can’t tell if it’s a matter of just being cautious or if it’s paranoia. I guess we’ll see. Even though I would describe myself as an introvert, as my mental health keeps going up, I find that I do start to get a little restless if I’m stuck inside too much. I could probably just do laps in the backyard with my cat. I can just pretend it’s more interesting than it is. That’s what I’m good at, isn’t it?

The only book that should be on here that isn’t is Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. If you’ve read my previous posts on reading the first book, Children of Blood and Bone, you’ll know why this isn’t on the list, even though I’ve been talking about reading it.

I won’t vow that I won’t buy more books during this pandemic but I will promise that I will try. I also won’t vow to finish the books. If I find them to be absolute garbage, I probably won’t be able to progress and so I’ll either adjust the schedule or just burn it. I’m joking, I’ve never lit a book on fire before. I treat even novels I hate with decency. I just imagine burning them.

That’s the plan. Bring on the books!