September Reading Challenge

I have loved books and have loved reading for as long as I can remember. But for the last few years I've read fewer books than I ever have in my life and I've been thinking about the reason why. Whilst there have been other reasons for choosing **enter alternative activity choice here** instead of reading a book (I've been going out/been too tired – yep that old chestnut – wanted to watch TV instead), I've identified two constant contributing factors:

• My journey to work: As much as I hated the journey to and from work, the silver lining was a choice of either catching up on some zzzzzz's, or catching up on a good book. Now that I no long have a 90 minute train journey every day I no longer have a good chunk of "dead" time in the morning and evening to read in. Inevitably those 90 minutes are spent either sleeping as I can get up later each day, or pottering around at home doing teeny tiny chores when I get in from work.

• The internet: I discovered Pinterest and found blogs that I loved so much that I ended up following on a daily basis and even read the archive posts for, and Instagram and Bloglovin'. And so I found myself reading posts and pinning to my heart's content in lieu of reading and actual book. Before I knew it weeks had passed since I'd read my last book. Weeks turned into months and months turned into years.

I've seen a quite a few posts on my Bloglovin’ feed lately about various reading challenges and sponsored book reviews and I must admit I felt a pang of.....something I can’t quite put my finger on actually. Perhaps it’s a longing for all those books I could see stacked up in the pictures that accompanied their blog posts. Or maybe it was jealousy that the girls had all those books to delve into, all those characters they were going to meet, the lives they would learn about, the journeys they will travel. So I've decided to set my own challenge: Three books in 30 days.

I have three, (hopefully) good books sitting on my book shelf waiting to be thumbed through, enjoyed, talked about. And that is exactly what I intend to do. 

I know that three books in 30 days is not a challenge for the devout book worms out there but for one who has fallen by the wayside recently like me I will be happy if I manage all three by the end of the month.

The three books I will be reading are:

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafron

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I think I will start with The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul. It’s about five women whose lives intertwine. And although it’s based in Kabul, “one of the most dangerous places on earth”, it seems the most “friendly”. So I will see how I get on and where I go from there will depend on how I’m feeling afterwards. If it’s too sad I might have to take a trip to my nearest bookshop to pick up a good girl-meets-boy-they-have-an-arguement-but-get-together-in-the-end sort of book as a pick me up.

I'm apprehensive to read And the Mountains Echoed because I can remember all too keenly how A Thousand Splendid Suns, and The Kite Runner made me feel. And if this book is anything like those two.... well at least I'm not in danger of crying on the train again like I did last time!

What are you reading now and would you recommend it? I'd love to hear in the comments section below.