Hello, internet people. It’s been a couple of posts since we’ve had an edition of Amanda Reads, so I figured it’s about time we check in with what’s been going on. As a contrast to my speed reading in the earlier months of the year, I’ve been in the middle of quite a book slump lately. As such, I’ve decided now is a good time to pause and take stock of the reading year so far. Therefore, I’m updating you all on my progress in the Book Riot read harder challenge.

In the earlier parts of my challenge, I paid VERY close attention to the books I was choosing and how they fit into the challenge. However, once the book slump began to set in, I started picking up the same old types of things I always have. Nothing quite saved me in my book life like Saint Anything, even if it in no way fits into the challenge. This taught me the very important lesson that your entire book life cannot be prescribed to fit any sort of standard–you need a little fun, too.

Still, I’ve been having a lot of fun with branching out in my reading life. I read Mr. Fox, for instance, because it is a fairy tale retelling and also because it came in my Quarterly box from Book Riot. It wasn’t the sort of book I would normally choose on my own, and yet I ended up loving it. Similarly, multiple recommendations of Everything I Never Told You inspired me to read a book that centers around a death/potential murder–another thing I wouldn’t typically do. Side note: I just met Celeste Ng, and it was awesome! She liked seeing the numerous sticky tabs I’d put in her book to track character development.

On the other hand, I still haven’t managed to get through the romance novel I picked (it’s a period romance, as per the Book Riot box, and I’m starting to think period romances are NOT my thing). I did finish a romance novel, but I counted it as “guilty pleasure” considering it was fairly poorly written and very much not something I’d want people to know I was reading as I sat in the hallway while my mother took her college entrance exam (which I did).

Technically, I’ve read “a YA novel” several times over, considering the fact that I’m currently working my way through The Princess Diaries series again so that I will officially be caught up and ready for Royal Wedding  (more on that later in a dedicated post).

One of the most interesting things I’m noticing about my reading this year is that the percentage of eBooks and audiobooks has gone way up since I got a Kindle and started working full time, giving me 30 minutes per day in the car to focus on book listening.

I’ve still got most of the more difficult reading challenge books ahead of me (in terms of finding something to read), such as indigenous cultures, etc, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. Let’s hope my Princess Diaries cleanse gets me back in the reading spirit–especially since I’m about to have a lot more time to read since summer hours have started at work.

As summer settles in, I look forward to lounging by the pool or on my porch, reading through challenge and non-challenge related books.