I received a few questions that I thought might be best answered out in the open because others might be asking themselves the same things. So, got a question? Leave it in the comment section or send it in and it’ll get answered because I’m an open book. (Wink. Nudge. Book pun.)
Here’s the first five.

Not all the books you read are part of the reading challenge. Why is this?
While the reading challenge is leading, there are some books that don’t fall into any of the categories of the list. The reasons I still read them:

• they are “you need to read this!”-books borrowed from friends and I don’t like to keep borrowed materials too long because it feels like overstaying a visit
• I was next in line on the library’s waiting list
• they were on my TBR pile and suddenly call out to be read.
  (This is why I won’t do well in a book club: my prioritization is all over the place.)

So far, you’ve checked ten books from the list and we’re well into September. Do you think you’ll be able to finish the reading challenge?
Yes! Because I’m optimistic to a level where it might be considered naïve. (My glass isn’t just half-full; there’s a bottle standing next to it to keep it topped up. Honestly, it’s my biggest flaw. At the same time, it’s my biggest strength.)
Also, I only started the reading challenge in May so I’ll come up a few months short anyway. I’ve been trying my best to catch up though: I’m currently in the process of reading another four books for the list. Besides that, deadlines might be crucial in work-life, but this is my private life, my reading life. Deadlines are flexible here.

PS It’s September. September! Did someone press fast forward on the time button?

I also don’t get the Nicholas Sparks vibe; maybe we should start a club. What was your biggest reading disappointment?
First of all: glad to know I’m not alone out here! And if we start the club, can we get buttons?

In regards to the reading disappointments, I’m sure there have been other and worse disappointments, but the first that comes to mind is Luckenbooth (Jenni Fagan, 2021). I bought this as a souvenir in an amazing bookshop in Edinburgh last year and it had all kinds of rave reviews. I so wanted to like this: it was set in one of those typical Edinburgh tenement buildings and spanned several stories over a hundred-year period. I was expecting a historical novel, but this turned out to be fantasy / horror. It was rough and out-there and weird, and I like weird and odd and out-there, but this was just too much of it all. For me this book was the equivalent of thinking you’ve got a glass of water in front of you and then you take a sip and it turns out to be vodka. When something is not what you expect it to be, it might be tough to swallow.

What is your favourite genre to read? And what’s your least favourite?
Historical fiction is my favourite: I love when the past is brought to life.
Horror is my absolute least favourite: I don’t like freaky stuff or a gore fest, they give me the heebie-jeebies.

Why don’t you use stars for your reviews?
I’m afraid that if I did, it would end up all being three and five stars. Giving ratings with stars feels so…definite. Which gives you a glimpse into my commitment issues.
Or I would compensate with weird two-point-forty-one stars or something because I would feel bad about a one or two star rating. Which tells you a little something about my guilt complex.
(Likewise I don’t buy or get into anything based on stars as they don’t give me enough information. Which reveals my problems with control.)