In my previous post, I confessed all about my nasty habits when it comes to hoarding books and not reading them. This post is even worse. Because it's been a particularly crazy year, I've started doing something I've never allowed myself to do before - I've started reading several books at the same time. Gasp. If that is something you do anyway, then this post probably won't even phase you, but if you're one of those readers who diligently finishes a book before starting the next one then I'm sure you'll relate to my tidings of woe. In order of when I started them, here is a list of the five books that I have on the go at the moment:
Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2) - Cassandra Clare - I was quite enjoying both this and Clare's The Mortal Instruments series and was reading them in order of publication. And then something quite untoward happened... I started to get sick of reading the same thing over and over again. And if you do read both series (and watch the Shadowhunters TV show) that's exactly what it is.
The Infernal Devices is the prequel to The Mortal Instruments but you already know what's going to happen a lot of the time because it is already history and fact in The Infernal Devices. And Tessa Gray is perhaps the least fun I've had with a protagonist in a long time. The problem is, I'm too invested in the series to not finish this, and so it remains on my "currently reading" list. 
Chains of Sand - Jemma Wayne - I started reading this ages ago and even featured an exclusive excerpt of it back in May. The book is set in Israel and London and I was a little unsure whether I would like it but I loved Jemma Wayne’s writing and her valiant effort to remain objective in a very heated topic.
It is so good and I'm enjoying it so much that I recommended it to my book club for our July read. Despite the pressure to actually finish a book I recommended, I still haven't finished it. And it's good. And I have no excuse. 
The Year of the Runaways - Sunjeev Sahota - not content with being a bad book reader, I decided to go out and find something I was worse at - going to gym. I downloaded The Year of the Runaways from Audible when it was a daily deal with the aim of listening to it at gym.
Despite having done so several months ago, I am still only 3 hours into the book. I truly am a terrible gym member.Nevertheless, the book is brilliant and the narration even more so and I'm determined to finish it. 
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood - at the end of June, the lovely Carolann from Finding Ithaka mentioned that she had read my very favourite Margaret Atwood book Surfacing. I was a massive Margaret Atwood fan in my 20s and read all of her books up to Alias Grace in 1998. And then the unthinkable happened - I bought The Blind Assassin and could not get into it. Time and time again in the past 15 years, I have tried and failed to read this book and because I am as pernickety as the day is long, that means that I haven't read her Oryx and Crake trilogy or anything else that came out since 2000. Inspired by Carolann's love of a book that I had loved so much, I decided to try again and am pleased to say that I am loving The Blind Assassin this time around. I just haven't finished it yet. 
Here I Stand: Stories that Speak for Freedom - Amnesty International UK - this is by far the best of the books I'm reading and most of the books on this list are superior reads. This is a collection of short stories from the likes of Matt Haig, Neil Gaiman and John Boyne about some of the most serious issues facing children today: trafficking, poverty, gender identity, racism and bullying. It is my sincere hope that this will be the first of the books I finish so that I can tell readers all about it! This was my sorry tale about being a bad book lover and a not-very-loyal one at that. I can only hope that by opening up, I am able to stage a one person intervention and bring my reading practices back under control.
Are you a one book person or do you keep many books on the go? What are you currently reading?
