1st quarter book update: Challenge craziness is over!

Hello April!   Goodbye Challenge Craziness!  

The first quarter of the year has been rather hectic and my reading has slowed down considerably.  I've read 13 books this month and managed to review 3.

 March 

1. The Scarlet Lion - Elizabeth Chadwick (review book)
2. Spin - Robert Charles Wilson 
3. Hothouse Orchid - Stuart Woods 
4. The Cold Room - J.T. Ellison
5. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
6. The Third Circle - Amanda Quick
7. Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs
8. Nausea - Jean  Paul Sartre (class)
9. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne  (read aloud with James)
10. The Scarlet and the Black - J.D. Gallagher (non fiction)
11. Young Bess - Margaret Irwin (review book)
12. Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway  (class)
13. Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show - Frank Delaney (tour book)

The same for February:

1. The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
2. Shimmer - David Morrell (review book)
3. Cold River - Carla Neggers
4. Cold Pursuit - Carla Neggers
5. Under the Dome - Stephen King
6. The Mayo Clinic Diet (review book) 
7. M is for Malice - Sue Grafton 
8. Keeping the Feast - Paula Butturini (review book)
9. The Gatekeeper - Michelle Gagnon 
10. Don't Look Behind You - Lois Duncan
11. Double Eagle - Sneed Collard (review book)
12. The Bible of Clay - Julia Navarro
13. Untraceable - Laura Griffin

 

So, after reviewing all the challenges I so optimistically joined at the beginning of the year, I am dropping out of all of them.  Besides the challenges I'm hosting, I'll continue with Spring Reading Thing, Ireland Reading Challenge and the U.S. President's Reading Project.  They are low stress, casual challenges.  And I've almost completed the Dare challenge with two more movies to watch and a vlog to do.  I seriously doubt I'll find time to watch Xena.  

I just don't have time to figure out which book goes with what challenge and I keep forgetting to link my reviews anyway.    I am behind on reviewing several books I received for review, some I've read and others are still waiting patiently on the shelf.   I'm going to continue with my buying ban and not buy any new books until I'm whittled down my TBR pile.   I've done pretty well and only bought two in the past couple months.  And I'm trying to behave myself when it comes to accepting books for review. 

It's all becoming a bit stressful and overwhelming and that's not what reading is supposed to be about. Reading is as necessary to me as breathing. It's my pleasure, my relaxation, my escape.  I love this quote:

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
~ Francis Bacon ~

I love diving into new worlds, discovering new or new to me authors and being entertained.  I'm getting back to reading deliberately and decided to slow down, relax and enjoy what's already on my plate.