One more week down, again a very busy week in work but thankfully with far less worries. Life My last couple of months were very busy with work, since I started a new project. While there's more coming up over the next few weeks, I am also hoping that maybe I have passed the point where it stops being a part of every waking moment and allow me to be able to read without interrupting thoughts fluttering around in my head. We'll see. We got enough snow yesterday for the kids to be able to play and make a snow man. All the snow melted by noon but we are getting more overnight so hopefully there's more snow fun to be had. Reading After not being able to stay with a book long enough to be pulled into it for the past couple of weeks, I was desperately looking for a book that was both a fast read and also one that I would love. That was a high bar to meet even under the best of circumstances, but luckily, yesterday morning, I found just the book. I devoured Meichi Ng's Bare
Well, I wish my home library looked more like that.
Even with only a fraction of those books, I have more books that I haven't read than those I have. I buy or receive more books a month than I could possible read in two months (at least). And, I know this all too well. And no, I do nothing to fix that (It doesn't really need fixing, snigger).
Last month, while I was boxing all the books, I found I kept needing more boxes to put all the books in. At one point, when I get a larger box and feel relieved that maybe now all the books will be in, bam! there's still another stack hiding in another part of my apartment, yet to be packed. Believe me, after spending hours at that, I finally realized that I did have more books than I needed, and that wasn't a good thing, well, for the books that is, because one unread book is one more mystery yet to be unraveled. At that point itself, this idea was forming in my head, to read only books on my shelf (as on the last day of August) this month. It's a tough nut to resist, especially with all the wonderful new books flitting into my wishlist every day. And I am including review books as well into this list, only because I own them, I find it difficult to pick a review book when a book I bought is sitting next to it, and also because I have to read a few this month anyways.
Disclaimer: The above mission statement for September does not abstain me from buying new books. (Just thought I should mention that... ya know...)
I already started with The Passage by Justin Cronin (which, by the way is really engrossing), and I have several more titles planned for this month, such as Finny by Justin Kramon, Stealing Lumby by Gail Fraser, Russell Wiley is out to Lunch by Richard Hine, How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson, and Todos Santos by Deborah Clearman. It's the long weekend, and what better to do during the next three days than read and get drunk on books! Nothing gives a better kick than a book in the hands.
On another note, I'm also reading James Joyce's Ulysses this month. The read-along already started last week at Michelle's blog, Literarily Speaking, but I kind of forgot about it, so my posts will be a week and a half late. I'm not setting it into stone because I seriously think I am crazy to attempt that book. While I was splitting it into sections, I read a few passages hither and tither, and my neurons went helter-skelter at not understanding anything. We'll see how that goes - for the first time after high school, I'm going to need a Cliff's note or an equivalent.
So that's how my September looks. Is anyone doing something challenging this month?
Comments
That lasted maybe a week :p
I still haven't read of the books I own. I keep borrowing books and putting mores on reserve...
I did take a big bag of books to a local hospital recently and plan to go through some more and do it again soon. Of course, all of those were books I've already read.
Lisa, I have that same feeling as well. Considering that I don't read too fast, I feel that I should slow down in my book acquisition. Since that's hard to do, I end up thinking of another book while I read some other title.
Danielle, sigh, it sure is a never-ending battle. It's an addiction that I hope doesn't come to be taught in schools to students along with alcohol and drugs, lol.
Christa, at least you tried! :) I hope I can also say that by the end of this month - maybe even more. 170 books... that too after opening the boxes 3 years later... that would alternately give me a heart attack and a whoop!
Kathy, that is so awesome of you to do - I am looking at ways to donate books to Asia, I wanted to do that before I moved, but didn't have time to check out the details. I should have that worked out soon.
Amanda, that's great! That's more or less what I want to target! I hope I get there too.
Juju, I agree - nothing better than moving to put things into perspective. :)
Ash, I hear ya! I'm trying to hold back on buying books too. If I add more to my collection, I'll either have to give away some of them, or buy a new bookcase.