Books I'd Like To Read, But Probably Never Will...

Yep, still no hauls here! We have bought the odd book throughout the past 3 months, however, because we are continuing to be house-bound we are obviously limited to online shopping. With no charity shop visits in sight, I've got an available week each month to write a post for!
I've had an ongoing list of 'Posts I'd like to write, but never get around to...' so here is one of them haha.

Be it from those long lists of books to read before you die you see floating around online or mentioned in shows and movies, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has accumulated a few mental TBRs that probably won't ever end up being read! Here are some of mine below.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 1867

I first heard of this on Sabrina the Teenage Witch of all places. It's not my type of genre or anything but if it's studied in schools there must be something about it worth reading. In the long run, it's far too long and boring for me to spend my time reading when I have a never-ending TBR of exciting books to read haha.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville 1851
This I've thought of since childhood and all because of Matilda! All I knew was it was about a whale until recently when I learnt the true subject of the book...I don't know if I could stomach it anymore!

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 1877

Another by Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina is probably the newest addition to this list. It was a suggested read because I had read Anne of Green Gables, Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Chronicles of Narnia. However, on further inspection that couldn't be further from a good recommendation! It seems this is more along the lines of Austen novels and the type of classics I just can't get into.

Watership Down by Richard Adams 1972
 Goodness knows where I first heard of this, but who hasn't? It's classed as a Fairy tale, Fantasy Fiction, Adventure fiction and is about rabbits - right up my street! Or maybe not seeing as it's not a happy story and I can't deal with the demise of animals...

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy 1895

So, I did say many of these were because of their inclusion in tv shows or movies and this is another from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I literally had no idea until looking into it for this post what this was actually about. To me, it sounds a similar plot to Great Expectations which I did not like and this makes me wonder why on Earth these books are used to teach in schools.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1960
Taught in schools, amazing reviews, showed up in my Goodreads recommended feed, the plot doesn't sound too insanely boring or depressing. I just don't think I'll ever take the time to get around to this.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin 1996 - Present
The most modern entry on this list might come as a surprise to some. It's certainly in my reading genre tastes, I watched the show from its premiere and we own most of the series but it's something I just don't see my self getting around to especially seeing as we have so many other long fantasy series to read that aren't shows.

After putting together this post and reading more into what a lot of these books I've been interested in for years, I have definitely realised I'm not as interested anymore! Have you read any of those I've mentioned in my list? Am I wrong in my initial feelings and should I give them a chance? Let me know what is on your 'Books I'd Like To Read, But Probably Never Will...' list!

Pages Per Day // June

June! So 2020 is already over halfway done and it really has been a great 6 months of reading. I've finished 31 books, Mr H has finished 24 and that means we've both already read more than what we read in the whole of 2019.
Our TBR totals for this month were 914 pages and 1,013 pages so have a look below to see if we've been able to stay on track with our reading and complete our TBRs...!

Days 1 - 7 =  313

Days 8 - 14 = 262

Days 15 - 21 = 320

Days 22 - 28 = 282

Days 29 - 30  =  56

Monthly total = 1,233

319 pages over my goal total! Not as good as last month but still not shabby. I'm super pleased to be able to even read 1000 pages over the month and the main thing is I am reading every single day, with the lowest daily pages being a minimum of 10. 

Days 1 - 7 =  253

Days 8 - 14 = 404

Days 15 - 21 = 217

Days 22 - 28 = 329

Days 29 - 30  = 40

Monthly total = 1,243

I'm pretty happy with my total this month considering that I've been back to work and not getting to read on a morning or during the day at all anymore. I'm hoping to get myself into a routine of reading when I finish work but at the moment I'm happy with the amount I'm getting read.

What Mrs Hallow Read This Quarter [April - June]

6 months?! Halfway through 2020?! Whaaaattt?! Considering the worldwide situation and having been at home since the end of February, it really feels like the year is completely flying. Talking of said lockdown I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that as social recluses and bookworms, it was great to have even more time to read haha!
Come check out what I managed to tick off the never-ending TBR pile in April, May and June!

April

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

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A book that Mr H picked up for me from a charity shop back in January ended up being my favourite read of the month. As we've mentioned before, we do judge books by their covers usually and this wasn't exactly an appealing cover to me. However, being set in Edinburgh and about the paranormal, I knew I would like it!

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

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I stumbled upon the audiobook versions of the Pooh books on Youtube and thought I'd add them to my 'to listen to' list. If you saw my previous quarterly reading roundup, you'll have seen I listened to 'Winnie the Pooh' at the start of March. Obviously they are classics and even listening as a 29-year-old, they really hold up.

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

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I think I also listened to this one! We have all the books in hardcopy and I read the first two, but as we had been busy doing lots of work in the garden so with Audible having their free books during lockdown I thought why not kill two birds with one stone! Both Mr H and I love this series so obviously, it was good.

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

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Another series I had started, The Inheritance Cycle. I read Eragon back in 2019, so was excited to get around to the second book, which I actually enjoyed more so than the first! Hopefully I can squeeze Brisingr in soon...

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

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So you see the first book at the top of this post? I enjoyed it so much that ordered the sequel and read it in the same month haha! This one was set in the Paris Catacombs so although I don't have direct experience of the area it was still something that has been an interest of mine and I loved the plot surrounding it.

The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

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Following the trend of starting multiple series, I'm slowly working my way through the

May

The Too-Clever Fox by Leigh Bardugo

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As we have Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse on our bookcase and this was free to listen to on Audible Stories I thought I'd give it a go. The reviews on Goodreads were amazing and it was said that it had nothing to do with the trilogy so you could read it without having read those, but my goodness! It has fully put me off wanting to actually read the Grishaverse trilogy! I hated it. Not my thing at all.

The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders

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I love following a 1-star rating with a 5-star rating and I am adoring middle-grade fantasy right now. There was a good mix of whimsical fun, childhood magic and tear-jerking pulling of the heartstrings. This story appealed to me in particular because even now I have a ridiculous attachment and feeling of sympathy for certain inanimate objects (this isn't a rare thing! Google it!) and have since early childhood.

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship by Chris Priestley

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It was alright. Hence the average score star wise. It seemed a little pointless during the reading process...I'm not the biggest fan of lots of short stories in one book. But the ending definitely bumped this up a star.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

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So looking back to December last year when I read the first book in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials series, I have no idea how I gave it 3 stars...it should have been 2 maximum. I hadn't been looking forward to picking up The Subtle Knife because I really didn't enjoy Northern Lights and it is so hyped, but thankfully it was a little better than it's predecessor.

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Novelization by A.C.H. Smith

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I was super excited to eventually get around to reading this. Like many people around my age, Labyrinth the movie has a special place in my heart and being the novelization of the movie this was sure to too. It was great, the addition of Jim Henson's notes and sketches at the end was a fan's dream, the only reason I knocked it down a star was because of a few scenes that seemed muddled compared to my knowledge of the movie and the very weird portrayal of Sarah and Jarad's relationship.

Cora and the Nurse Dragon by H.L. Burke

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I'm not sure how I found this, but I do know it was a free kindle ebook and it was about dragons so I snapped it up. It was a different approach to other things I've read involving dragons and although parts were sad it brought up an important point that can be translated to other animals and the exploration they face due to humans. Oh and a lovely ending.

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

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Mentioned within The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders, I ended up adding this to my wishlist and ordering a secondhand copy from eBay. It wasn't what I was expecting, but having already read things by George MacDonald and being a fan of children's books from the late 1800s and early 1900s I still really enjoyed it.

June

A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison

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Fantastic! Another middle-grade fantasy, this was full of magic, adventure and love.
The sisters' relationship, the magical items, the time periods, just the overall atmosphere it was one of my favourite reads of the year so far.

The Scent of Magic by Cliff McNish

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Still making my way through series' I finally got a copy of The Scent of Magic in the cover I wanted!
I've just checked and apparently I rated the first book, The Doomspell, 5 stars and I was about to say I think I enjoyed this one more than that...I guess I didn't! haha

The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

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Originally Mr H and I thought there were 3 books in the Artemis Fowl series. Apparently not! We have both now read the first three though and I think for now we'll leave it there. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, I just don't think I can commit to 10 more when there is so much on our bookshelves.

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

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The last time I read anything by E Nesbit was April 2018 so I really enjoyed getting into the Psammead Trilogy. Due to the age of these stories, written in the early 1900s some language used can be shocking and I don't agree with it even if I do love Nesbit's stories on a whole.

A Sprinkle of Sorcery by Michelle Harrison

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Thankfully I already owned the sequel of A Pinch of Magic! I don't know if there are going to be any more but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on Michelle Harrison because I love, love, love her writing. 

 18 total, 3 of which were audiobooks and 1 that was an ebook, averaging out at 6 per month! I'm now sitting on 31 finished books this year by the halfway mark. That means if I carry on the way I'm going I'll hopefully manage to finish over 60 books! That is 24 more than my initial goal and I'm actually really proud of how well both Mr H and I are doing at not only buying and collecting books...but actually reading them too!

To see what I read in the previous quarter, click here.