The Inaugural 115 Books I already Own Read-a-Thon (or the 115 for short)

I admit it. I have a problem. A book buying problem.

You see, I like to buy books, and books prefer not to bought on their own. How lonely would it be for the poor little thing if it had to be in the bag by itself all the way home from the shop? It is too traumatic to contemplate.

But of course, the problem with buying so many books on such a regular basis, is that I will buy two, but only read one straight away. Then I will buy two more, and once again only read one.

This adds up.

Especially, if you factor in all the books that I haven’t bought, but have access to and would really like to read.

All in all this adds up to a lot.

To 115, in fact**.

Which means, that I could realistically not buy any books for the next five months and still be able to read at my current rate.

I don’t know how I will go in my attempt to read these 115 books. I tend to get stuck in genres and only want to read one particular kind of book, and actually the 115 books are quite diverse.

In a perfect world, I would be able to force myself to only read these books, but I hold out no hope that I’ll be able to do it.

The original challenge set by my sister is that I must read ALL of the 115 books before I’m allowed to buy anymore. During this time, I would be allowed to buy 5 books (to account for books coming out in the next five months), but I must read at least the first five chapters or around 100 pages before I give up on a book***.

But I’m going to try. Even if I buy other books, I am going to make an effort to read the ones I already have. After all, something about them made me want to read them in the first place.

So, here are the books:

1. The Blade Itself, Joe Abercombie
   
2. The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
   
3. Let the Right One In*, John Ajvide Lindqvist
   
4. A Place Called Here*, Cecelia Ahern
   
5. Cowl*, Neal Asher
   
6. Shapestone*, James Bibby
   
7. The Boy in the Stripped Pjyamas, John Boyne
   
8. The Devil You Know*, Mike Carey
   
9. Beauty Like the Night*, Liz Carlyle
   
10. Touch the Dark, Karen Chance
    
11. Charmed by Shadow, Karen Chance
    
12. Half Moon Investigations, Eoin Colfer
    
13. The Meaning of the Night, Michael Cox
    
14. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters*, G.W. Dahlquist
    
15. The Spook's Apprentice, Joseph Delaney
    
16. Dark Space*, Marianne DePierres
    
17. Dreamland*, Sarah Dessen
    
18. Someone Like You*, Sarah Dessen
    
19. The Memory Palace, Christine Dickason
    
20. A Northern Light, Jennifer Donnelly
    
21. So You Want to be a Wizard, Diane Duane
    
22. Spin Cycle*, Nick Duerden
    
23. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
    
24. Lord of Ice (2)*, Gaelen Foley
    
25. One Night of Sin (6)*, Gaelen Foley
    
26. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
    
27. North and South*, Elizabeth Gaskell
    
28. Looking for Alaska*, John Green
    
29. Across the Nightingale Floor (1), Lian Hearn
    
30. Grass for his Pillow (2), Lian Hearn
    
31. Brilliance of the Moon (3), Lian Hearn
    
32. The Harsh Cry of the Heron (4), Lian Hearn
    
33. The Fire and the Flame*, Mary Hooper
    
34. The Dream Merchant, Isabel Hoving
    
35. Notes from the Teenage Underground*, Simmone Howell
    
36. Hellhole, Geoggrey Huntington
    
37. Much Ado About You (1)*, Eloisa James
    
38. Kiss Me Annabel (2)*, Eloisa James
    
39. Taming of the Duke (3)*, Eloisa James
    
40. Pleasure for Pleasure (4)*, Eloisa James
    
41. 31 Dream Street*, Lisa Jewell
    
42. 13 Little Blue Envelopes*, Maureen Johnson
    
43. Devlish*, Maureen Johnson
    
44. The Jane Austen Club, Karen Joy Fowler
    
45. Do the Creepy Thing*, Graham Joyce
    
46. The Historian*, Elizabth Kostova
    
47. Swordspoint (1)*, Ellen Kushner
    
48. The Privildge of the Sword (2)*, Ellen Kushner
    
49. Troll Mill (1), Katherine Langrish
    
50. Troll Fell (2), Katherine Langrish
    
51. What's a Ghoul to Do?, Victoria Laurie
    
52. Magic or Madness (1)*, Justine Larbalestier
    
53. Magic Lessons (2)*, Justine Larbalestier
    
54. Magic's Child (3)*, Justine Larbalestier
    
55. To Distraction*, Stephanie Laurens
    
56. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian*, Marina Lewycka
    
57. The Boy Book*, E. Lockhart
    
58. The Boyfriend List*, E. Lockhart
    
59. Fly on the Wall*, E. Lockhart
    
60. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl*, Barry Lyga
    
61. Learning the World*, Ken Macleod
    
62. Mixed Doubles*, Jill Mansell
    
63. Staying at Daisy's*, Jill Mansell
    
64. Night Rising, Chris Marie Green
    
65. Property*, Valerie Martin
    
66. Romanatis*, Sophia McDougall
    
67. One Last Look, Susanna Moore
    
68. Finding Cassie Crazy*, Jaclyn Moriarty
    
69. The Riddles of Epsilon*, Chrstine Morton-Shaw
    
70. The Darkness Within, Jason Nahrung
    
71. Heritage, Judy Nunn
    
72. The Realm of Shells*, Sonia Overall
    
73. Sam's Letters to Jennifer, James Patterson
    
74. The Scent of Shaows (1)*, Vicki Pettersson
    
75. The Taste of the Night (2)*, Vicki Pettersson
    
76. Life as We Knew It*, Susan Beth Pfeffer
    
77. Trickster*, Tamora Pierce
    
78. The Bell Jar*, Sylvia Plath
    
79. Odin's Voice*, Susan Price
    
80. Stolen Magic, M.J. Putney
    
81. To Catch an Heiress (1)*, Julia Quinn
    
82. How to Marry a Marquis (2)*, Julia Quinn
    
83. Dead End Dating, Kimberly Raye
    
84. Silent in the Grave, Deanna Raybourn
    
85. Tripping to Somewhere*, Kristopher Reisz
    
86. Born in Fire*, Nora Roberts
    
87. Natural History*, Justina Robson
    
88. How I Live Now*, Meg Rosoff
    
89. Just in Case*, Meg Rosoff
    
90. Beyond the Pale, Savannah Russe
    
91. Beneath the Skin, Savannah Russe
    
92. Past Repemption, Savannah Russe
    
93. The Sweetest Thing, Fiona Shaw
    
94. The Awakening (1), L.J. Smith
    
95. The Reunion (2), L.J. Smith
    
96. The Fury (3), L.J. Smith
    
97. The Struggle (4), L.J. Smith
    
98. Dracula, Bram Stoker
    
99. Damsel Under Stress, Shanna Swendson
    
100. Shadowbrook, Beverly Swerling
     
101. Helloland*, Nick Walker
     
102. The Night Watch, Sarah Walters
     
103. Goonight Nobody*, Jennifer Weiner
     
104. The Last Days*, Scott Westerfeld
     
105. Uglies (1)*, Scott Westerfeld
     
106. Pretties (2)*, Scott Westerfeld
     
107. The King of Attolia*, Megan Whalen Turner
     
108. Bareback*, Kit Whitfeld
     
109. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
     
110. Tempting Darkness, Elileen Wilks
     
111. The Sun Witch (1)*, Linda Winstead Jones
     
112. The Star Witch (2)*, Linda Winstead Jones
     
113. The Moon Witch (3)*, Linda Winstead Jones
     
114. A Room of One's Own*, Virginia Woolf
     
115. Conrad's Fate*, Dianna Wynne Jones
     

I will add them to the side bar, and cross them off as I go.

Hmm, hopefully this will not take the fun out of reading. It can be my very own read-a-thon.

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* = book I purchased

** Yes, I counted. I actually went around the house and collected them all and sat them on the dining room table. Then, when the dining room table was overflowing, on the floor. It was kind of fun. Like being in a book shop, but in my house.

*** I guess she knew I was thinking I could just read the first page and say I didn’t like it and consider it ‘read.’