The Killing Moon, by N.K. Jemisin
This is Not a Test, by Courtney Summers
Nobody’s Hero, by Katey Hawthorne
An Artificial Night, by Seanan McGuire

Still slow, but it’s picking up–especially considering three out of those books aren’t YA. I know. I’m confused, too.

The reason I didn’t put up a post for September was, frankly, there wasn’t much to post about. I made fantastic headway on my TBR pile early in the year; getting caught up was actually within reach!

Then I did three things:

1) I sold a book, which killed all ability to focus for a good long while.
2) I decided to move and renovate the new apartment, which killed all my free time for a good long while.
3) I bought more books, which killed all, um, managability? Of the TBR pile.

That last one doesn’t work so well, but let’s just leave it at that.

Anyway, these past few months I’ve been making wild promises of getting back into the swing soon, which hasn’t happened, so I’m trying to be a bit more realistic. Once I’m settled into the new apartment I’ll need to edit, write a new book, edit some more…

It’s going to take a while. As long as I’m consistent, though, I’m going to try not to beat myself up over it.

So, for September:

Elfangor’s Secret (Animorphs: Megamorphs #3) by K.A. Applegate
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan

That’s it. Told you it was embarrassing.

October was a slight improvement:

Devilish by Maureen Johnson
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise #3 by Gene Luen Yang
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Asunder by Jodi Meadows

So, what do *you* do to crawl out of a reading slump? Advice would be sorely appreciated!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Blackout by Mira Grant
Kraken by China Miéville
Scripped by K.V. Taylor

Another slow month. This ‘moving’ thing is a whole lot more time-consuming than I thought! Thankfully, the *actual* moving will start very soon. The previous tenants will hand the key back in tomorrow or Tuesday, so I expect to be settled in by next month, when a frantic dash towards catching up can begin.

Also that thing where I write a book. That part will be fun, too.

I expected to get some reading done during my vacation. I figured, hey, I’ll have lots of time on public transport, on various flights, before bed…

… I was so naïve.

Here’s what my list for June looks like:

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Let It Bleed by Jeri Smith-Ready

End of story.

(Well, I also read the first two or so trades of Ultimate Spider-Man while at K.V. Taylor’s house. Miles is adorable! <3)

July was a different story. I spent half of it on vacation (Seattle and LA, baby!) and half of it at home, being beyond exhausted. Here's what I managed to read after returning:

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise II by Gene Luen Yang
Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready
Legend by Marie Lu

… plus the first two trades of Gotham City Sirens and the first two or two trades of the latest incarnation of Catwoman. (I am not best pleased. But I’ll save that for a later post…)

I’ve been very quiet lately, and I apologize for that. I hope to get back into the swing come August. I’m slowly picking up aspects of my life, but other parts are completely at a standstill, so I feel sort of stuck. Getting back into blogging and reading on a regular basis should help, I hope.

This is a little later than usual–I’m currently on vacation in the United States. (Shockingly, most of you picked up on that from my previous post. Perhaps I need to be more subtle next time.)

A Local Habitation, by Seanan McGuire
Insurgent, by Veronica Roth
Cold Magic, by Kate Elliott
Bellwether, by Connie Willis
Fear, by Michael Grant
Sagittarius is Bleeding, by Peter David
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

I did a lot better this month with my resolution to read more adult books. Score! I’m whittling that pile down more and more, and it feels great.

Of course, June and July are going to be slow on the reading front as I continue to tourist things up. There are worse reasons to put reading on halt, right?

Since my adult TBR pile is about twice the size of my YA TBR pile, I’ve been trying to read at least one adult book for every YA book I read. I thought I was succeeding.

Red Glove, by Holly Black
Crossing Over, by Anna Kendall
Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane
Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
Darkfall, by Janice Hardy
The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
Where She Went, by Gayle Forman

… evidently not.

In my defense: a) I’m working on two adult books right now, and b) new YA books are showing up at my house at a frightening rate.

This would be good–yay books!–but it makes it very hard to stay on top of things, especially since I’m leaving for my epic US trip in less than a month. Before that time, I need to:

• Edit a novel.
• Edit a novella.
• Edit a short story. (Probably.)
• Pack and prepare and irrelevant stuff like that.

It will come as no surprise that with that much editing to do, I’m really in the mood to do some rough drafting.

Maybe when I get back. In July. *cringe*

March was an unusually slow month. These numbers are slightly skewed, as I’m still working on three books that will probably end up added to April’s count.

Either way, I’m finally making my way through some of the books that have been on my shelves for years, and it’s great to see those stacks steadily shrinking.

Bareback, by Kit Whitfield
Raising Demons, by Rachel Hawkins
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress
Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins
Soulless, by Gail Carriger [DNF]

I think the reason for not reading is much is that I didn’t have much energy–between falling ill and having visitors over, I should probably be relieved I even made my monthly minimum of five books.

My choice in books didn’t help. Aside from Rachel Hawkins’s novels, all of the above went slowly for me, for very different reasons. Given my defunct attention span, though, the YA vs. adult factor is probably a significant one. I can’t remember the last time I blazed through an adult novel the way I regularly do with YA. Is that difference as blatantly obvious for anyone else?

Last month I read nine books, two of which are graphic novels, one of which I didn’t finish. Lots of great books in here–it was a good month to read.

Between a very looong book (by my admittedly questionable standards) and working on the novella, March is proving slower, but I hope to make a frantic dash towards ten books the moment I finish this draft of the novella. I am determined to make a dent in my pile of adult books, to be particular. Some have been collecting dust for years.

Anyway, in order of reading them:

Bleeding Violet, by Dia Reeves
Incarnate, by Jodi Meadows
Avatar, The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures, by… lots of people
A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness
Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Promise, pt. 1, by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru
Five Flavors of Dumb, by John Anthony
Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi
The World House, by Guy Adams [DNF]

If you’ve read any of these, do share your thoughts!

I’m a little late with this, partially because I’ve been really caught up with other things, partially because I’ve been trying to figure out if I want to continue with these mini-reviews. I’m having a more and more difficult time keeping it to one or two sentences only, and I don’t want these to grow into fully-fledged reviews.

I think I’ll keep posting a list of my monthly reads, because it’s nice to keep track that way.

In January, I read ten books, which is pretty decent. Since I didn’t finish one of them and several others were graphic novels, though, I’m not sure how valid that count is. *g*

The Spirit Thief, by Rachel Aaron [DNF]
Ash, by Malinda Lo
The Kingdom of Gods, by N.K. Jemisin
Supernaturally, by Kiersten White
A Million Suns, by Beth Revis
The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson
Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft
Pixu: The Mark of Evil, by Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Fábio Moon and Vasilis Lolos
Chew, vol, 1: Taster’s Choice, by John Layman and Rob Guillory
Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey

December was a step up from November, but not quite where I’d aimed for it to be. With edits upcoming in January, I’m not quite sure how that will change.

I set a goal of reading sixty books in 2012, though; I’m setting my sights high, but I managed a little more than that in 2011 (or exactly sixty if you don’t count unfinished books) and that’s with some pretty slow months in there.

So, here’s hoping.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon: This is a fat, dense, literary book; I didn’t think it’d be my sort of thing. I loved it. It’s got art and comics and superheroes and queerness and fantastic, real characters. Beyond heart-breaking. It’s 700 pages of please please please be okay.

The Escapists, by Brian K. Vaughan: Re-read. I liked it less now I’ve read K&C–it pales in comparison. I found the digs at fatness and autism disappointing, as well as a “not gay!” moment that’s extra awful given the book it spins off from. I do recommend this GN, but mainly as a love letter to comic books. Gorgeous shifts in and blending of art styles.

Riot Boy, by Katey Hawthorne: I blazed through this. Great characters, intriguing romance, and written in the smooth, distinct voice that makes all of Katey’s works so damn readable. If you dig smutty romance, read this.

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre: Some feminist concerns aside (I know, so not me *g*), this was a quick, gripping read, with fun world details. I won this in a contest and I’m glad I did.

Midnight Riot, by Ben Aaronovitch: This had a fantastic start–exactly my sense of humor. The rest of the book went slightly downhill, but stayed very enjoyable.

The Wolfman, by Nicholas Pekearo: Didn’t finish this. The protag tried cartoonishly hard to be an antihero badass. When you’re talking about “broads” and “fairies” while grunting your way through conversations, I have a really hard time taking you seriously.

Nightshade, by Andrea Cremer: I read this in one day, which says a lot. I even appreciated all ends of the love triangle–though not whole-heartedly. That ties in to some feminist/queer-related concerns, though I’m on the fence about those. Depending on how they’re addressed in the sequel (which I’ll probably read) I may forgive a lot.