read the books I have

I’m not happy with the book searches. Sometimes it comes up with the book I’m looking for and it has a picture, but it loses its picture when I add it to the list. Sometimes it comes up with lots of items for the same book, and I don’t know what to pick. I’m going to follow the siren song of Goodreads and see if I can use it without ending up with more books to read.

finally. one book. But I liked it! Blessing in Disguise, by Barbara Rommer. It’s near death experiences, and she includes what she calls “less-than-positive” experiences as well as the more well-known blissful ones. I like reading about NDEs a lot, ever since I discovered they existed a few years ago.

Still haven’t figured out if I should make use of goodreads.com yet. It seems like it might entice me to buy more (like Amazon does), and my goal is really to read the books I have without buying more.

One book. One, count it, one. Then I’ll only have 3,000 left to go. Or 300, I haven’t really counted them (should I?) On the super-plus side, I haven’t purchased any more since I chose this goal, and not for lack of wanting to.

Oprah had the author of Eat, Pray, Love on her show. So while I was knitting (good), I was coveting yet another book (bad). I’m trying to appease myself by putting it on my Amazon wishlist. So it’s safe, bwah hah hah….

It’s tied to other things I want, like becoming debt-free, and reducing clutter, and wanting what I already have, and being realistic about my time, and finishing what I start, and living more simply, and not being such a pig when most of the rest of the world lives on so little.

Well. That’s huge. I didn’t realize it was so important in so many areas. Now, I could also have a goal of using all the yarn I have before I buy any more, but I break out in hives thinking about that, so I’m going to start here. It’s only slightly less emotionally laden anyway.

I don’t really know how to go about this. In addition to the tons of books I own that I haven’t read, I have lots I’ve read one or two thirds of and then set aside when the new pretty book came along. Also, I’m wondering if starting a list on Goodreads.com will help, or if that’s just dancing around the edges. I don’t think I need to catalog them all first (ack!), but it might be nice to see them somewhere as goals by themselves. OTOH, I could just make a stab at something and not try for perfection. OK, I don’t need perfection, but I do need an approach that will work.

What doesn’t work: going to bookstores, surfing Amazon (darn those recommendations), responding to advertisments about sales (hurry! now! before it ends!).

I wonder if borrowing from the library is cheating….

But I really do want to read the books I have. I have them because I really wanted to read them (I’ve given away the ones I kept because someone else wanted me to read them, or they were purchased by an earlier, unrecognizable incarnation of myself). So the library really doesn’t help me accomplish the heart of the goal.

I’ve been told I over-analyze. Naw…. ;)

When I’ve finished ALL of the books I already own, then I want to read an Agatha Christie mystery and something by Hunter S. Thompson. After that I want to re-read all of Jane Austen’s stories.

I’m really going to have to find a way to stay awake past 9:30 p.m. if I’m to do all this reading before I go completely blind & senile!

Right now, at no great speed mind you, I’m reading both Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre, and Make Compost in 14 Days by Editors of Organic Gardening Magazine.

Both are very interesting. I just wish I could read more than a few words before I fall asleep with the book on my face!

I know I read this, or had it read to me, as a child, but I didn’t remember anything from the story.

This book was a wedding gift to my ex-husband and me a dozen years ago, and this morning was my first reading of it. (Well, truthfully, I tried last night to read it, but I managed only about one page before I fell asleep, light on, book open beside me on the bed.)

This morning is one of my favorite kinds of mornings. It is a no-jog day, so after I saw Marty off to work at 5:30, I had two gloriously unspoken-for hours ahead of me. As soon as I was alone, I took a big mug of hot tea with me and slid back under the covers to read The Velveteen Rabbit. It was lovely.

I have always been convinced of the secret souls in stuffed animals; this sweet tale simply confirmed my belief.

I finished The Pillars of the Earth on Sunday, as planned, in a hot bubbly bath. I was a bit surprised by the way it ended – sort of anti-climactic, and with some ends tied up too happily, if you know what I mean. It wasn’t an entirely ‘happily ever after’ type of ending, but there was more of that flavour than I expected.

And then there were a few ends that were left completely hanging, which is more in keeping with what I expected, and yet I was disappointed to not know where those characters/story lines ended up.

No matter – still one of the best reads ever. I’ll revisit it one day, for sure. I wish I was better able to describe how and what about this story moved me so much.

I decided some time ago that after Pillars, I’d take a break from fiction for a while. I want to let the story simmer in my mind; it deserves to stand alone for a bit.

I am just over half way done this book, and holy moly is it ever amazing!! I can think of only two other books that I have loved this much, all the way through: Shes Come Undone (sorry, my apostrophe key isnt working) and The Outsiders (gimme a break! I was in grade seven!!)

I think Im averaging about 15 pages a day, but if I had more time, Id do little else but read and savour every last word.

Love it, love it, love it!! (and Marty loves that I love it too, which makes me happy :o)