Today’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share The Last 10 Books I Abandoned.

This is a problematic category for me, because sometimes I put a book down for years and then come back to it, pick it back up where the bookmark is (or start over again — it depends on how much story I remember), and plow through to the end. And other times a book lingers on my currently reading list before I reorganize and dump it back into the to be read category. I mean, I have a list of more than 4000 books I’ve either read or mean to read on Goodreads and only 12 are listed on my “couldn’t finish it” list. And often, if a book doesn’t catch my fancy, I just don’t ever note that I started it. So… I cannot tell you what the ten books I last abandoned are.

So, how about I look through the 44 books I have marked on Goodreads as “currently reading” and tell you ten that are no longer in the house with me?

1. American Street by Ibi Zoboi — I am something ridiculous like 5 chapters from the end of this YA novel. And I can’t bring myself to keep listening. I keep thinking I’d just pull it off the shelf at the library and read the final pages in print, but so far I haven’t found myself at a branch where it’s in stock.
2. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders — This is no longer on my currently reading list, but I kept getting bored by the award-winning, full cast audiobook. I’ve heard from some others who also usually like audiobooks that they recommend trying it in print. Maybe.
3. Little Fires by Celeste Ng — Another book where it got stressful and I decided I didn’t feel like contuing on into the stress. Not sure if it’s a for now or a for always decision.
4. The Body Papers by Grace Talusan — Written by the sibling of someone I was at college with, this memoir talked about having survived incest. I know it’s am important topic, but I just couldn’t bring myself to keep reading. When someone else put a hold on it, I let it go.
5. Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me and You by Lin-Manuel Miranda — I got bored. If I’d owned it, I would have completed it eventually. But when a hold came up, I took it back unfinished
6. Insomnia by Marina Benjamin — The writing detailed living through insomnia. So, I decided, why do it twice?
7. There, There by Tommy Orange — I tried. I kept plodding ahead. I even read the ending, which I absolutely never do, in the hopes that it would allay the feeling of dread. But it did not. I had similar feelings to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I abandoned decades ago, which I did not think boded well.
8. Creative Quest by Amir “Questlove” Thompson — In the end, while it was more interesting than I expected it to be, particularly in audiobook form, it was still a self-help book and I didn’t want to waste my reading time listening to it when there was fiction to be consumed.
9. Girl Squads by Sam Maggs — This was a cute nonfiction look at specific women’s friendships. In the end, it was a little too cute and felt very young, despite focusing on super interesting women. Again, if I’d owned it, it’s quite possible I would have dipped into it periodically and would have finished it.
10. Glad Tidings by Debbie Macomber — This is cheating a little bit, because technically it’s still in the house. But one of these days I’ll remember to take it to the local Little Free Library. I suffered through the first of two Christmas-themed novellas (it got better, but then it got stupid again at the end) and then I remembered I had freedom of choice not to read past the first irritating, sexist chapter of the second novella.

What have we learned here? Stressful moments in books will cause me to put them down and I may not want to pick them up again. Nonfiction, particularly episodic nonfiction, often bores me. Audiobooks are way easier for me to let go than print. And if you piss me off, I’m probably going to punish you by shutting the cover on you.

How about you? What books have you let go recently?

Day Two of Bout of Books 28 invites us to play the “If this, then that” game, wherein I suggest books you might enjoy reading based on certain criteria.

I am currently listening to Louise Penny’s The Cruelest Month and Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed. (The Penny is what I was listening to today.) I thought I’d give you a recommendation for each:

The Inspector Gamache novels are set in the Quebec village of Three Pines, a Canadian Cabot Cove, if you will. If you like mysteries with a very distinctive setting, then you may also enjoy M.C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series (Death of …) set in the Scottish highlands. Beaton’s books are cozier than Penny’s and it doesn’t particularly matter in what order you read them. But the sense of place is very strong. (As it is in her other series, Agatha Raisin.)

Yes, No, Maybe So is told in alternating points of view. I often like books in spite of this stylistic approach, not because of it. However, if you like books told by two main characters, you may also like Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare, a charmingly fluffy book about two Londoners who share a one-bedroom apartment (one of them gets it during the day, the other at night) that actually takes on some decidedly non-fluffy issues in a sensitive and not mawkish way.

Once again, I’m signing up for the Bout of Books. This is their 28th version, and I’ve taken part in about half of them.

Today’s challenge is to introduce yourself in exactly six words. Here are the ones that seem most pertinent these days:

Surprised books aren’t enough right now.

Might that be how you introduce yourself, as well, as many of us enter week 8+ of social distancing?

But wait! What is Bout of Books you ask? And how can you join us?

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, May 11, and runs through Sunday, May 17, in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are daily challenges, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For Bout of Books 28 information and updates, visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

Sign up at the above link by the end of the day Tuesday.

I’m up finally halfway through the leg of my Smock Madness sock. I definitely feel like I could be through the heel this weekend, unless I’m actually so productive that I come away with a clean apartment instead of half a sock. Seems unlikely…

I’m about halfway through The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman and am finally mostly enjoying it. I’m about a quarter of the way through listening to Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed’s Yes, No, Maybe So, which seems especially enjoyable right now since portions of our living space has been turned into a satellite campaign office for the candidate Rudi is working for. And tonight Rudi and I started listening to the Stephen Fry rendition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on Audible. It’s free to listen to for the next while, and Fry’s Hermione is far less annoying than Jim Dale’s. Rudi listened to several hours, but I napped through it intermittently, so I’ve been relistening since he went to bed. I think I can get caught up tomorrow night.

Want to see what other people are reading and crafting? Head to As Kat Knits for the roundup.

As always, I’ve been lazy about sharing what I’ve finished reading this year. Let’s take the next step toward getting caught up. I read five books in February, but am just going to share the first two with you today, since they unintentionally share a theme:

Words in Deep Blue, by Cath Crowley

In this Australian y.a. novel, Rachel has just moved back to the city where she spent most of her growing-up years. She, her brother, and her mom had moved out to the coast a couple years earlier, but tragedy has struck and Rachel has returned to live with her aunt after high school. Adding to the stress of big life changes and their accompanying seismic waves is that, just before she’d moved, she’d declared her undying love for her best friend in a letter. And he’d never responded. Now, her aunt has agreed that she’ll help her ex-BFF’s family catalogue their bookshop’s inventory, including the room of books with letters tucked inside for various recipients, including the one she’d written Henry. She’s not going to mention it, though; nor is she going to share what drove her to move back.

Henry’s longtime girlfriend just dumped him, shortly before a trip they were going to take around the world. He’s devastated, particularly since it’s clear that at least part of the problem is that his life goals — to work in his family’s shop — and thus he are not ambitious enough for her. When Rachel walks back into his life, he’s delighted, particularly since he doesn’t know why she’d severed ties with him after she moved. But she seems to have changed, and there seem to be a number of things unsaid between them where there didn’t used to be barriers.

I really loved the idea of a bookstore with space devoted to books that meant something to two people, that published words can be so intimate as to constitute a shared experience. This was a heartbreaking read, but also a heartmending one, and I recommend it.

Pages: 288. Personal copy.

Do Fish Sleep?, by Jens Raschke, with illustrations by Jens Rassmus. Translated from German by Belinda Cooper.

Ten-year-old Jette’s brother, Emil, has been sick since he was a baby. He’s been in and out of the hospital with cancer. And, then, a year ago, he died, leaving everyone bereft, but without the capacity to talk about it. Their mother is particularly hard hit, leaving Jette to wonder if she’d loved her brother more. But Jette and Emil have talked about some of the big questions, such as whether fish sleep or not and how to come to terms with questions you might not be able to prove the answer to.

It doesn’t feel like we have a lot of fiction for younger kids coping with loss of a sibling. There’s a lot of genuine emotion in this book, but it deftly deals with the subject matter and lightens the emotional load a bit with accompanying pen and ink illustrations, so that it doesn’t end up feeling like an Afterschool Special. Recommended for young families.

Pages: 64. Library copy.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday at This Artsy Reader Girl, Things I’d Have at My Bookish Party, would have exhausted me in a pre-pandemic world. But right now? Can’t even begin to contemplate. So, I’m going with a variation on a theme (this was also my approach in college, when I couldn’t answer an essay question on an exam: answer a related question instead of the one actually assigned): Ten Books I’ve Read with Parties That Sound Fun:

1. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia: The costumed, funeral party on Boston Commons
2. Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory: Christmas tea for the royal family’s staff
3. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: The royal wedding at the beginning, at least until the wedding cake crashes to the floor
4. P.S., I Still Love You by Jenny Han: The dance Lara Jean throws at the retirement home
5. Caraval by Stephanie Garber: I think it would be fun to observe Caraval (half Amazing Race, half Carnival, but I don’t know that I’d want to take part
6. Geekerella by Ashley Poston: I’ve never been to a Comic Con-like event, so this one is tempting
7. Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J.K. Rowling: Harry’s first Christmas at Hogwarts (I thought about making it Harry’s birthday/Bill and Fleur’s wedding in Deathly Hallows, but that does end with Death Eaters, so in the end, I’d probably rather not… And the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire was also a consideration…)
8. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli: Their prom involved way more walkways through trees and fairy lights than mine did
9. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein: The library’s opening night
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: The Netherfield ball

Come tomorrow I’ll remember a half dozen village fêtes, masquerades, and beach parties that I should have included, but this works for a start.

Have you ever wanted to attend a party you read about in a book?

I have just one more evening of reading The Flatshare. I reached a moment of peace, where everyone was still relatively okay, and decided to put the book down for the night. I looked at the chunk of pages left, then ticked off five separate story elements left to be resolved, and decided that was too many for 50 pages and that it must be 75. Turns out it was 80, including the acknowledgements. I look forward to the fast resolution.

I’m also nearing the end on my audiobook, Size 12 Is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot. Former pop star turned assistant residence hall director Heather has figured out who the murderer must be, but she has to convince Cooper still, not to mention, the N.Y.C. police.

I’m not quite as close to finished with my second Smock Madness sock, but I have memorized the pattern, so that has to be something, right?

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are crafting and reading.