If you take out the Read-a-Thon, October was another relatively slow reading month around these parts. I finished 10 books total, but four of them were part of the Read-a-Thon. In months past, I’ve finished 10 books easily, but since moving and taking the new job my reading pace has slowed pretty dramatically.
How long do you suppose it will take for me to admit that I’m read slower now and start to accept a new normal book-finishing pace?
Anyway, enough with the whining. Here’s what I finished in October (with reviews linked when finished):
- Big Girl’s Don’t Cry by Rebecca Traister
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
- Monsters in America by W. Scott Poole
- Tension City by Jim Lehrer
- Badasses by Peter Richmond
- Ghost Hunters by Deborah Blum
- Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham
- The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell
- When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
- The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker
Overall, that’s a solid month of reading. I like that there was a mix of fiction and nonfiction, and a mix of “required reading” and things I just wanted to try. It is, however, light on review copies, which might have to change and I have any hope of getting caught up on the massive pile I’ve started to accumulate.
As for November, I’ve decided not to actually make a reading list. I do have a pile of books pulled out that I’m thinking about reading, but I’m not going to limit myself to those choices if I feel like reading something else.
I am, however, going to try to read more of my own books this month. I’ve been using my local library a lot since I moved, but I want to start getting through the books I already have because the unread piles are starting to stress me out. I counted yesterday morning and I have more unread books that read books on my shelves, and I have more unread books than I can possibly finish in a single year. Even if I spent all of 2012 reading just my own books, I wouldn’t finish them all.
This has never been something that really bothered me until I started getting addicted to home organizing and minimalist living blogs. Don’t even get me started on how many of them I read and what they’re doing to my brain other than making me see my stuff as oppressive rather than a joy. I did a big clean out of my read bookshelves on Saturday and got rid of some that I don’t see myself re-reading or passing on, but I can’t bring myself to purge the unread books without giving them a shot first… so that’s a priority for the rest of 2011.
What are your reading plans for November and December? Can you believe it’s almost 2012? That’s ridiculous!
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Based on reading 100 books per year, I could spend the next two years reading nothing but books-I-own-but-have-not-read and I think I would still have some left. Like you, this never used to bother me, but now, I get frustrated thinking about it. I’m probably going to have to have another massive clean-out like last year when I got rid of about 350 books in two days.
Wow, that’s so many books! I did a decent clean out of my read books, but I have a hard time getting rid of unread books — so much potential awesomeness, leaving my house! I may have to do it sometime though.
I know exactly how you feel about unread tbr piles! It is stressful but I never thought to blame it partly on the blogs I read. I’ve given away more than 100 books so far this year and I’m still not satisfied. There’s just so many reading piles! 😀 My reading plans for the rest of the year is to read more books from my unread stacks especially the ARCs that I still have. I would love to get every ARC read by the end of the year.
What are a few of the design blogs you subscribe to?
So many piles! Fininshing every ARC is a great goal. I’m not sure I could do that, but I could certainly give it a try.
I had to stop reading blogs about organizing and decorating because nobody seem to have the same love of personal libraries I did. (They usually encouraged people to get rid of paperbacks and wrap hardbacks in pretty paper.) I hate having a cluttered home but getting rid of my books seemed silly.
That’s true — I haven’t come across any of those blogs written by someone with an extensive library. That’s a bummer! I haven’t read about getting rid of books though. Wrapping books in paper? Weird!
Minimalist blogs can definitely get in your head! Now that I’m thinking about the future and having to eventually move my enormous stacks of books from one place to another, it’s stressing me out. Like you, I could spend all of 2012 reading the books I already own and still have tons left to read. I’m trying harder to get through my own stacks and purge the books I haven’t touched in years and/or just aren’t clicking with. It’s much better for my emotional health, that’s for sure!
They really do. I will have to cut back at some point soon, I think. I got rid of quite a few books before I moved a few months ago, but I’ve acquired a bunch since then. I should get rid of the older ones soon.
Like Trisha, I could stick to just reading unread books that I own for the next few years without running out of reading material. You had a really good month. Here’s to both of us finishing out this year strong!
Yes, here’s to that ! I’ve had a great reading week, so I hope it continues.
I am great at keeping only my favorites of fiction reads and nonfiction reads I think I’ll go back to… but purging unread books really is impossible isn’t it?!
I’ve been getting better at only keeping books I love. It’s the unread books… so hard!