Can you believe that August is almost half over? I cannot. 

The good news is that I have finished three books so far, and am almost finished with two more. The bad news is that there are still ten more books on my list to finish all five of my N.E.W.T.s. I had better get reading. 

I did mention that this month is black belt testing. Reading is more of a side project then an objective at the moment. Which could explain why I keep changing my TBR list. Yes - I changed it again. 

Although it is only a small change this week. 

I started reading Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. It is the second book by Ann Patchett that I have read, the first being Bel Canto. At first I did not enjoy the book. Although, I ended up bing listening to it and find myself drawn in. I will hopefully finish the book today.

The last book I have to finish is A Court of Mist and Fury. Like Commonwealth, I was put off at first but find myself enjoying the book as it got more involved. 

Next I will move on to All Systems Red - the last book I need to finish Transfiguration. Then I will move on to finish all my A's. This includes The Raging Ones, Educated, and The Invention of Wings. The Invention of Wings is another book swap. It is replacing The Nothing Girl for Care of Magical Creatures. It is due back to the library in two days - so I will need to read it fast. 

I am at 99 books for the year. 

Yes that is one book (actually less then 30 minutes) away from reaching my goal of 100 books for the year. It is not even August yet. 

This has taught me one very valuable lesson for next year.

Slow Down.

I want to read everything and I want to have read it all yesterday. Yet looking back I see so many books that really were not worth the time I put into reading them. I feel horrible saying it, but it is true. 

There are so many wonderful books to read that I do not have to try to rush through all the junk to get to the gems. My goal for the rest of the year is to reach out for the books worth reading.

It is ironic that I am saying this on the verge of the N.E.W.T.s Reading Challenge. I have 15 books planned to read in the month of August. Looking at all of them I can tell you that there may be a few adjustments. I plan to allow myself to start "DNF," or not finishing, books that are not grabbing me. 

I started this adjustment with Girl Fights Back. The writing had promise, but when the plot became ridiculous I just could not finish. I then finished Peak (I still need to write a review) that is a life changing book on the psychology of expertise. I highly recommend this book! I finished out the week finishing up a book for work called Degrees That Matter a book about measuring learning in higher education. 

In total I added six reviews this week. Two were brought over from the old blog, and four were new reviews. What is even better is there are some really good books this week. I feel like I had the best reading week so far this year. There are some amazing books below!