Changing my reading plans

I seem to be in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, which is frustrating. (I'm in a total stitching slump to the point I packed my project away, which is also frustrating.) As a result, I keep tweaking my TBR list as I change my mind about books, take things off and add things on.

I'm currently reading The Farseekers by Isobelle Carmody, which is the sequel to Obernewtyn. I'm actually really enjoying it, but the problem is that I'm emphasising with the main character to the point I keep taking a break because I'm worried about what is going to happen next. Objectively, I know this is silly. I know she'll survive as she's the heroine of what is technically a YA book - and she's still the heroine for several more after this one. But I can't help worrying about her. So on one level I want to read the series straight through, and on another I keep wanting to put the current book down.

(It's also kind of embarrassing to realise that my behaviour is basically exactly the same as that I try to help my four year old overcome. He gets so caught up worrying about what's going to happen in his kids' TV shows that he runs out of the room or comes to hide behind me. "Who's going to win?" I ask him and when he admits the heroes of the show will, I point out that he doesn't need to worry then and he can keep watching. Hmmm, sound familiar?)

Back before it came out, I put Christopher Paolini's Brisingr on my holds list at the library. While I acknowledge the books aren't exactly ground breaking, I thoroughly enjoyed the reads for Eragon and Eldest. Brisingr turned up for me last week. I looked at it tonight and read through the synopsis of the first two books. (I love books that have a quick "story so far" in the beginning. With my faulty memory I can never remember all that much of what happened before and it's nice to have it there for me. Why can't more books do this? It's only a few pages extra.) I looked at the thickness of the book and decided I really didn't feel like 750 pages of more of the same. Sigh. I did like the first two and maybe I would like this one too, but I totally don't feel like it now, so off the TBR list it goes.

Of course, being me, while I took one book off the list, I added on three more, so instead of reducing the total number, I actually increased it. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is waiting for me at the library and Eifelheim by Michael Flynn is in transit. Both are the January reads for my [Beyond_Reality] book group, so hopefully I will be able to pick both up on Saturady and take them with me when we head down to Palmerston North to spend Christmas with our families. Of course, with the way things are going right now, whether I read them or not remains to be seen (and let's not forget The First Betrayal by Patricia Bray which is the December read for [FantasyFavorites]).

Maybe I'll just suck it up and keep reading Isobelle Carmody.