Revisiting An Old Post: Do I Read What I Say I’m Going To?

Hi all!  It’s Sabrina and as some of you may know, I used to run a book blog on my own called Sabrina’s Stories.  I stopped blogging in early 2016 but to be honest, the end had been coming for a little while before that.  Anyway, today I thought I would revisit one of my old posts and tell you if I followed through on my plans!  If you like it, let me know and maybe I will do more revisits in the future.

PS.  The original post was a Top Ten Tuesday back when it was hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

Posted on 7^th July 2015 : Top Ten Hyped Books I’ve Never Read

I specifically explained in the introduction of this post that the books I chose were all ones I actually had the intention of picking up.  Unfortunately for me, I have only since picked up four out of the ten books I mentioned.  That’s not even one for each year since I posted it. Still, I’m going to go through all the books I chose and tell you about why or why I haven’t read each.

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GRACELING 
by Kristin Cashore
✅ READ 
I loved this book – so much so that I bought it and now have my own copy (it’s got a shiny sword on the cover and I love it).  I got my dad to read it not long ago too, and he seemed to enjoy it as well even if he was annoyed at the pacing in the second half.  However, I haven’t gone on to read the companion novels (Fire and Bitterblue), so I guess this only counts as half a success.

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ERAGON
by Christopher Paolini
❌ NOT READ
You may recall I shared a story earlier this year about someone telling me I couldn’t consider myself a reader until I picked this book up.  Funnily enough, I noticed I spoke about this incident in this post too – a mere week after it happened. I kind of don’t want to read this one anymore either, but it’s still possible.

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THE FIFTH WAVE
by Rick Yancey
❌ NOT READ
I very quickly lost interest in this book, even with the movie release.  I just realised it wasn’t going to be to my taste. I’ve even removed it from my Goodreads TBR which is pretty rare for me.

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UGLIES
by Scott Westerfeld
❌ NOT READ
In the end, I just couldn’t get myself on board with this concept, no matter how good everyone was telling me the series was.  Plus, there are so many books!  I couldn’t start the series knowing how far I had to go – especially with people saying later books weren’t as good as the first.

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ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
✅ READ
Another book from this list that I read and enjoyed.  I’d thought I was going to find it long and boring, but it was long and impactful.  Okay, and a little bit boring, which is why I only gave it 4 stars.  It’s one of the books I credit with convincing me to pick up more realistic fiction.  I still remember finishing this book in the library while waiting for my dad to come pick me up after uni, trying not to cry in public.

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A GAME OF THRONES
by George R.R. Martin
❌ NOT READ
Honestly at this point, I don’t think I’m ever going to read this, but we do own the box set, so it’s still on the table.  When I wrote this top ten list, I didn’t know much about the series except that it was adult fantasy.  However now I know that there is content in there that probably just isn’t going to sit right with me.  Plus, I know how the show ends (even though I never watched that either) and I don’t think I want to dedicate so much time to a series that ends… like that.

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THE FINAL EMPIRE
by Brandon Sanderson
❌ NOT READ
I still want to read this book, lol.  I can’t believe it’s been so long that I have been meaning to pick it up – I’ve even been told by a family friend that I need to read it and watched one of the author’s series on Youtube about writing so I don’t know what’s holding me back.  Actually, I do: it’s a series of long books that everyone seems to love, so I ridiculously feel a lot of pressure to enjoy them.

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READY PLAYER ONE
by Ernest Cline
✅ READ
This is another book that I now own a copy of….And have lent to my dad.  I loved this book when I first read it (again, enough that I bought my own copy).  It was like nothing I had read before, had so much action and an overall exciting atmosphere.  I’ve since heard some things (and seen the movie) which make me wonder if I would still like it if I read it today.  Unlike with Graceling though, I don’t think I’m going to reread it any time soon.

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THE PROGRAM
by Suzanne Young
❌ NOT READ
I’ve actually taken this book off my Goodreads TBR, so I guess that answers the question of what my intentions toward it are now.  I remember almost all the bloggers I was following at the time were raving about this book, so of course I wanted to read it.  However, particularly knowing this is a part dystopian-part romance, I don’t think I would enjoy it if I picked it up now.

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VICIOUS
by V.E. Schwab
✅ READ
This book… *deep sigh*  I feel so frustrated toward it, because I know I could have loved it, but I did not.  I gave it two stars.  It was much too boring for what it was and I didn’t connect with the characters in the way I had hoped to.  I felt as though there should have been more time spent in the past chapters rather than the present chapters so I could have cared more.  Alas, it was not to be for this book.  On another note: I said in my old post that I had intentions to pick Vicious up in particular very soon… I read it last year 🤣

What do you think?

Do you reread your old posts?  Do you follow through on your TBRs?  Should I really read the books on this list that I haven’t yet?  Let me know!