February 2020 TBR | READATHIN

Back in August, I took part in read-a-thin and really enjoyed it. I didn’t manage to fully complete my TBR for the month, but I got through more books than I would’ve done otherwise. Now it’s February, which means it’s term time, and a lot of my time is committed to university. Because of this, I’m not convinced I’ll make it through my pile, but it’s certainly worth trying! I’m going to try to pick books that fit the challenges, though a lot of my book are at home, so I’m limited as to what I can choose.

The idea of read-a-thin is just to read books you already own, with some optional challenges thrown in. I like to aim to complete the challenges, though, because they help me pick out a TBR. The link to the read-a-thin twitter is here, if you want to find out more and participate.

The challenges this time round are:

Read a book in a genre you don’t normally read
Read the oldest book on your shelves
Read a thin book (under 250 pages)
Read a book you started but put down
Read a book that was gifted to you or from a book box
Read a book with red, pink, or white on the cover
Read a book you’ve been anticipating
Read 4 books you got before this year

I’m a bit mad I just read Solar, which would have fitted into a genre I don’t usually read, a book that was gifted to me, a book with red, pink or white on the cover, and a book I got before this year. As it is, my TBR for February is as follows:

Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes (a book in a genre I don’t usually read, a book that was gifted, and one I got before this year)
The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells (oldest book on my shelves, a thin book, has white on the cover, and a book I got before this year)
Labyrinths – Jorge Luis Borges (book I started but put down, book I got before this year)
The End of the Ocean – Maja Lunde (book I’ve been anticipating). This one isn’t in the cover photo because I took the photo before it had actually arrived!
Four Stories – Alan Bennett (book I got before this year).

I’ve also tailored this list to my university studies — the inclusion of two short story collections (Four Stories, Labyrinths) works well alongside my creative writing short story module, and The End of the Ocean is a book I want to read as research for my dissertation. By keeping the TBR to just 5 books, and making three of them super relevant to my course, I’m hoping to have a decent chance of making my way through the whole list. My February is already starting to look a little bit packed, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to read the two books that aren’t useful for my course, but I’ll certainly make an effort. I’ll be tweeting about my progress over at @elliesophie_, and I’ll be posting photos of every book I read this year on my bookstagram, @ells.library. I’ll also be posting on my blog instagram, @eleanorsophiewrites, with post updates as well as life updates.