A Different Sort of Peach Days

It’s that time of year again: Peach Days. Friday night I met up with my family and we went to the Peach Days carnival. The kids still like going and it’s fun to hang out with the family, even if there are a bunch of other people. I think people are figuring out that Friday night is less crowded than Saturday. There were a lot of people. I hate to think what it looks like today. And then for the first time in quite a few years, I didn’t go up to Brigham at all for the Saturday part. My sister doesn’t have any kids in the parade this year and I just can’t see going up for any other reason. They did go up because my niece had to work at Peach City. I won’t say I’ll never go again, but the big parade doesn’t hold a lot of interest for me as an adult. I was only going to cheer on my nieces and nephew and be with family. I probably could have gone to the quilt show and a few other things and just missed the parade, but there is always next year. 

I slept in and did a little cleaning, then I drove to SL to hit up an indie bookstore I’ve been meaning to go to for a while. Lovebound Library is a romance bookstore, although they do have a little bit of general fiction. It’s a cute store and they do have a nice selection of books, though they are mostly contemporary and romantasy. I picked up 3 new books and spent some time rearranging some of my bookshelves to fit them in where I wanted them. 

It has been fun visiting indie bookstores this year. I still have more to go to than months left in the year but that’s ok. Most of those that are left are going to take some planning to get to. I’ve bought a lot of books I wouldn’t have bought if I weren’t trying to support them. And I’ve got some favorites to go back to. The biggest problem is that none of my favorites are really that close to me and it’s still easier to get my books from bookshop.org or Barnes and Noble. 

I have a little bit of cleaning left to do and I’ll be making a new soup for dinner tonight. But I’m in for the day and am planning on reading. LOL I’m having a bit of book anxiety again with all the shiny new books waiting for me to get to them, plus I keep adding to my KU list. I’ve just got to let it go. I have more books than I’ll ever possibly read and new ones come along constantly. This is just the way life is.

Anyway, it’s been a nice weekend so far. I’ll be seeing family again tomorrow for family dinner. The weekends are always too short. 

Indie Book Day

Saturday was Indie Bookstore Day. I went with my sister and the twins. Even if I had gone by myself, I knew I wouldn't get that many stores in, so I did not print the map for the book crawl. And that's ok and we totally had fun. I got a couple books for the twins and a couple books for myself. I had a list of books that I wanted to purchase, hoping that would make me not impulse buy a bunch of books, but I didn't need to worry. It was too crowded and I was distracted with the kids so I didn't do a lot of browsing on my own.

Our first stop was The King's English in SLC. I only get there about once a year or less and it's just so much fun. Lots of people there and the space is small so we spent most of the time in the kids section. I did find a book on my list and got a few things for my sister-in-law's birthday. 

Then we went to Weller Bookworks in the old Trolley Square Mall. Even if there's not many retail shops in there any longer, it's still a fun, old building. I did not find anything I wanted to buy in there, but my sister got a few books. I did find a store with stationary and fancy soaps so I finished my sister-in-law's gift shopping. 

We took a break and ate lunch at Liberty Park. It was such a nice day to be outside. 

After lunch and playing around outside, we started for home and made our last stops. The first was the Bountiful D.I. because the kids love going there and getting cheap toys. Then our final bookstore was The Book Garden. It's actually one of my favorites. Again it was busy and I didn't get to browse a lot, but I did get one more book and a candle. I want to go back there soon with a bunch of books I've purged from my library and see if they will buy them. You get store credit and I do like to shop there. 

And then we came home. It was after 5 when I got home so a very full day, and we didn't even get to the indies in our own city. It's ok and they are on my list and I will get to them eventually. 

And today I stayed home to work. I didn't sleep well, but also its raining and I'm loving sitting where I can see and hear the rain. Even if it got warm really fast a couple weeks ago, we've had a few cold days as well. Spring is really glorious. Maybe this coming weekend, I can finally plant flowers!

Officially Spring

It’s officially spring, but I’m not sure the weather agrees. I ran errands today and it was hot! I think SLC was to hit 81 today? We might have even hit 80 at home today. I was hoping for a slightly wet and 60s spring, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I guess I’ll see. 

Today, I ran a few errands and then got on the freeway to SL. I decided to go to another indie bookstore to cross one off my list for March. This one was the 1974 Bookstore and it was pretty easy to find and park at. The owner was really nice. It’s a very small store and doesn’t have a ton of stock. I did find some fun covers on books that I already own and did actually pick up 2 books, mostly because I was trying to spend money there, not because I actually needed those books. I ended up with the UK cover of Rebecca Ross’s Wild Reverence which is very pretty and I don’t mind reading since I loved another one of her books. It just wasn’t something I had planned on buying. And then I bought a weird little book called A Magical Girl Retires which has been translated from Korean and it could fit in my back pocket. Who knows? It could be really fun. I don’t really see myself going back to that particular bookstore. Maybe if I’m in the area, I could stop in? But it’s not a destination bookstore in the normal course of things. I think next month I might try and hit up one of the indie stores in Park City or Midway. Both of those places would be good for spring or fall trips. They are a bit more of a drive, but I could make a day out of it. 

Reading

Wow, I have made it through a lot of library hold books. Seven of them so far. I have 1 more checked out that hasn’t been read and 3 on hold. I feel that 3 is a manageable hold list LOL. I even snuck a book I own in there. That’s 11 books and it’s just past halfway through the month. I think I need to take a breather and slow down a bit. I’ve neglected some other things and have eaten like crap over the last week. 

Tonight after work, I’m going to clean my bathrooms, do the dishes and practice the organ/piano for Sunday. I have to play 3 songs I’m not completely comfortable with. Once I do all that, plus my eye mask, I can read something if I want. But also I could do a puzzle or finally get started on that Easter wreath that’s sitting on my table. Choices, choices. 

Books and More Books

Ok - I’m getting book anxiety. LOL I meant to be working on a few projects, but I had 10 books on hold at the library and they have all started coming up. Some of the books were stuff they still were in the process of buying as new releases so I got my name on the hold list early, but did not expect them to all come up at the same time. I had 1 paper book and then an ebook come up. Then the next day or so, 2 more paper books. I’ve managed to read 2 of the paper and the ebook. But another ebook came up, I’ve still got one more paper at home, and the library has one ready for me for pickup. But I can see on my list that one is in transit, which means only a day or so before they notify me again. LOL 

I’ll take 2 back tomorrow and pick up whatever they have for me. I have 3 weeks to read them all, but it is really starting to get to me. It’s not like I have to finish them all and if any of them don’t hold my interest, I’ll put them aside. But so far, they’ve been good, so I’ve been trying. Plus, it’s not like I can’t borrow them again. So crazy to feel it, but that’s the mood as of the last week. 

Heyer Collection

I had it in my head that I wanted to go to The Book Garden, a used bookstore in Bountiful. It’s not that far, but far enough that it’s not just somewhere I can drop in.

 

Of course, on the way there I told myself there’s a Barnes and Noble closer, in fact 2 of them. But I decided to keep going, since it was in my head to go to The Book Garden. Sometimes, when I get ideas stuck in my head, I have to do them before they go away. LOL

Turns out it was a good idea and I’m glad I went. I picked up 3 used Georgette Heyer books that I don’t have and the 2 Agatha Christie’s that were on my want to read list. I ended up getting 6 books for $35.00 and supporting a local bookstore so I was very satisfied. With these 3 Heyer books, I’ve pretty much completed my collection. Not that I have everything she’s written, but I have everything on my list that I wanted to read, plus a few extra. And I have the romances in used book editions that are fun and sometimes a little campy, and not the boring Sourcebooks editions.  I’m pretty happy with the collection I’ve put together from library books sales, used bookstores, and online bookstores. 

If only it would snow. Ha ha we just survived the 10 darkest weeks of the year, although I prefer to say I thrived through them, but we still haven’t truly had a winter here. 

Outside of books, the real world is depressing and I'm composing a letter to my senators. Once I make that phone call, I can go back to books for a bit. 

Best Books of 2025

Here we are again at the end of the year and I’m listing my favorite books. It has been a good year for them. I finished 83 books. My top 5 genres were Historical Mystery, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy/PNR, Fantasy Romance, and Nonfiction. The majority of the books were purchased but I did also borrow from the library and from KU.  Fifty of the books were paper, which is not surprising since I love the look and feel of an actual book, and I do purchase more books that I borrow. 

My only real reading goal was to read 12 books purchased before the year started (and even better if they have been on my shelf for more than a year) and I divided it between 8 paper copies and 4 kindle copies. It was nice to finally read some of the older ones so I think I’ll do 12 more in 2026, but maybe mostly paper and not worry about the ebooks. 

The books I own paper copies of

Here they are in the order I read them: 

Agony in Amethyst - AM Stuart - The final book in the Harriet Gordon series did not disappoint. I’ll be re-reading my favorite parts of the whole series for sure.

How to Steal a Galaxy - Beth Revis -This was book 2 in the series and I loved it. Book 3 was good but not as good as the first 2, IMO.

Challenger - Adam Higginbotham - Really enjoyed this nonfiction. I want to read another of his books in 2026.

Any Way the Wind Blows - Rainbow Rowell - The 3 books series was wonderful, and I read the whole thing in a few days. So glad I finally picked these up off my shelf. 

Everything is Tuberculosis - John Green - Another nonfiction that was just so good.

The King’s Messenger - Susannah Kearsley - I re-read my favorite parts twice already, it really ticked all the boxes and is exactly the kind of historical fiction I like.

The Enchanted Greenhouse - Sarah Beth Durst - I dipped into “romantasy” this year, even though that name is dumb. This was a follow up to The Spellshop, which I read last year and loved as well.

Chained Knight - Lilith Saintcrow - The surprise of the year. I bought this on a whim and absolutely adored it. I’ve even re-read it a few times. 

Legends and Lattes - Travis Baldree - I had wanted to give this series a try and it was such a fantastic cozy read. I read the prequel Bookshops & Bonedust as well.

All of Us Murderers - KJ Charles - A wonderful gothic mystery with a gay romance. It was so good and has such a fantastic cover. 

Turns of Fate - Anne Bishop - I was excited to read this, even though it’s a new series and not part of The Others. It was really good. Definitely feels like The Others, but it’s own story too.

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald - John Bacon - This one got in at the last second, but it was very good and I couldn't put it down at the end.

Honorable Mentions:

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales - Heather Fawcett - Really wonderful ending to the series.

Into the Ice - Mark Synott - another nonfiction that was really interesting. I do love his books.

Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion Vol 8 - Beth Brower - This is one of my favorite series and it was a bit heart wrenching and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

A Woman in the Polar Night - Christianne Ritter - Another nonfiction! About living on Svalbard in the early 1900s. I had so many questions about all kinds of things she didn't include. 

Replaceable You - Mary Roach - I always laugh and learn from MR. I love her writing.

Night Shift - Charlaine Harris - Started this series on a whim because of something I saw on GoodReads and the library had all 3. I devoured them right before my trip and then borrowed them again after my trip. Book 3 was my favorite.

At the moment, I have a list of older books on my shelves that I want to read in 2026. We'll see what I'm in the mood for once the calendar actually turns over. Goodbye to 2025 and hello 2026! 

Book Anxiety

The book anxiety is happening because I have so many books to read and not enough time to do it. I went on a little book binge this month. I only bought 6 books, but 4 of them were complete impulse buys. Plus, I have 10 books on the hold list at the library. Two of them have come up and I just haven’t been able to read them right then so I sent them back to the hold list. The anxiety will fade and I’ll be left with a bunch of books I haven’t read, and probably won’t get to for a while. Ha ha this isn’t the first time. 

I am feeling pretty good about book purchases this year. I’ve actually borrowed 14 books from the library. Since I’ve been tracking, my yearly amount has only ever reached 18 so I’m very much on track to surpass that. One book that was on my buy list was at the library and available so I borrowed it and it ended up being a little bit of a disappointment, so that turned out to be a good decision. Once the 2nd book comes out, I can decide if I like the series well enough to own, but for now I’m very happy to have borrowed it. 

I’ve also gotten on the “Romantasy” bandwagon lately. It’s a silly title, but no worse than Fantasy Romance, I suppose. But since it combines 2 things I love, I’m all in. I have not really been interested in contemporary romance for a long time, and even historical romance only interests me for a few authors. I’m also loving the cosy aspect of some of the Romantasy. Not that they are all that way, but I’ve found a few lately that have just been nice and easy and calm and that’s good for the mental health. 

I have a few things to do this week, but I can dedicate one evening just for reading. If I make a dent in at least 1 or 2 books, maybe I will feel better about the stacks. 

 

Lady Bugs & Bookstores

Well, I made it to Saturday. It’s been a really good day.  I met my sister and the twins at the library this morning. They were doing their annual lady bug give away for Earth Day. This year they even gave me my own packet of lady bugs. I also got to switch my library card from a really old one to a new one that is blue and has lady bugs on it. Then I came home and watered my flower garden, which is mostly still dirt right now and put my lady bugs in it. I have a couple perennial plants that are starting to bloom but that’s all. Hopefully some of the lady bugs stayed. It’s still fun. In a few more weeks, I will be able to plant some  annuals and some coleuses. 

Then I headed down south to watch another niece in her soccer game. It’s windy today, but it was still warm enough and it felt really good to be outside in the sun. I’m trying to appreciate this and enjoy it before it gets too hot. Amy and the twins met me down there and we went to lunch afterwards. 

Then because it’s indie bookstore day, I went to a bookstore I’ve never been to in Bountiful. Since I was over half way there for the soccer game, I thought it would be fun to go. It’s called The Book Garden. I found 3 Georgette Heyer books that I don’t have. I’ve been collecting them, but I like the old covers and these 3 were perfect. I also found a small journal that is the same type as one I already have and am using for a travel journal. I’ve almost used it up and was so excited to find this one. It’s got a different cover (both are floral) but same publisher and you can tell they go together. 

Honestly, I did’t know Utah had so many indie bookstores. Now that I’m not buying books at Amazon (print ones anyway) it’s nice to know I have a lot of choices, besides Barnes and Noble. We even have 2 romance only bookstores and one is in Salt Lake. I just didn’t want to go all the way down there today. I’ll get to it soon, I hope. 

So yeah, it’s been a fun day. I did all my cleaning and chores earlier so I could come home and not have to worry about it. The other thing I’ve been doing is that I started a gratitude journal. I have a cute little notebook with books and bookish quotes in it, but it’s not really the right size for journaling or for work so I am now using it to write 1 thing I am grateful for everyday. Or 1 way that I saw God in the details of my life. I’m only about 5 days into it but it really is helping my mental self focus on good things. Or at least be aware that they are there in spite of stressful days at work. 

Snow Day!

Almost exactly a year ago I posted a picture of me sitting in my library and when I found myself in the same spot today, I had to take another picture. 

I have been waiting for a wet weekend to do a little shelving project in my library and today we finally got some snow. So I went through a couple shelves and got a stack of books to purge and then rearranged the shelves. Then after lunch I sat down with a mug of cocoa and finished my book. 

I went to my aunt’s funeral yesterday. It’s just that part of life I am in, I guess. My cousin said some really nice things about how lucky we are to have these types of connections that we get to grieve. Not that it’s easy but how wonderful is life because we love people enough to grieve when they are gone.

As for the new year, it came with no fanfare at all. I was only awake because my cough was keeping me up. I didn’t even think of resolutions or new beginnings and I simply don’t care. There is a lot I’m looking forward to, but it’s also just another year gone by and another one starting. 

Best Books of 2024

Wow, 2024 has been a year, and not one that I want to repeat! I think it turned into a year of comfort reading and I like that. Comfort is one of the great things about reading. Looking back at my goals from last year, this year was supposed to be a “free for all” year so I guess I succeeded. I think I had hoped to read a few more of the books I already own and I’m not sure I did that, but whatever. 

I read a respectable 80 books. My top genres are Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Historical Romance, Romantic, and Historical Mystery. Then a tie for 5th place between Contemporary Romance and Nonfiction. I read 9 nonfiction books this year, which is a record for me. And 15 books by Georgette Heyer, which is why historical romance is so high. I definitely found comfort in her books this year. They are just so charming and feel-good. I’m a big fan. Other stats: 68% of the books were paper vs 32% electronic, and 60% were purchased vs 40% borrowed.

So here are my favorites for the year in the order I read them. 

Jane & Edward - Melodie Edwards

This retelling of Jane Eyre really hit the spot.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett

Emily drives me a little crazy but I found this series this year and really loved it. Bought the first 2 books and am waiting for the final early next year. 

The Talisman Ring - Georgette Heyer

A hilarious farce. Heyer does the comedy of manners so well. 

The Blond Identity - Ally Carter

This one may not be great literature but it was light and funny and I read it when I really needed that. 

When Among Crows - Veronica Roth

A very interesting urban fantasy. It’s a novella with a completely fleshed out world and I would love to read more of. 

The Toll-Gate - Georgette Heyer

Another really fun book. I’ve already re-read it as well. 

The Spellshop - Sarah Beth Durst

Cozy, low angst and just a feel good book all the way around. It has cottages, mer-people, unicorns and magic in it. 

One Dark Window, Two Twisted Crowns - Rachel Gillig

I don’t follow booktok and generally stay away from books hyped that way, but saw them on GR and downloaded them from Kindle Unlimited and read them on vacation. Not without flaws, but I haven’t been so sucked into a fantasy for a long time. 

The Witchwood Knot - Olivia Atwater

A delicious dark fairy tale. I read 2 of Atwater’s fairy tales this year and can’t wait for more. 

Life on Svalbard - Cecilia Blomdahl

This one is such a fun look at life in a small remote northern city. The pictures are fantastic and you can tell the author really loves it there. Makes me want to pack up my life and move there as well….or at least travel somewhere fun. 

Full Speed to a Crash Landing - Beth Revis

I do love a good space romp and this one delivered. I’m making myself borrow the series from the library, but I may cave and buy them when book 3 comes out next year.

I’ve decided to have fun with my reading goal for 2025. I have 8 bookshelves in my library and on every single one of them I see books I haven’t read. So the goal is to pick a book I haven’t read from every bookshelf. If I get really ambitious, I’m going to try for every single shelf on the 8, but we’ll see. There are actually individual shelves where I have read all the books. LOL

Reading Update

I remember last year at the end of the year I was excited for a smaller reading goal and I was ready to tackle some of the books that have been sitting on my shelves for years. Then February happened. Now the year is more than halfway over, and I’m looking at my reading. It’s no surprise but this has turned into a year of comfort reading. Lots and lots of re-reading favorite parts of books. No surprise there. What has been a little surprising is that my comfort reading has turned into a Georgette Heyer binge.

I have always enjoyed the Heyer books I had read in the past so it was no surprise to me to enjoy Venetia in January. It had been sitting on my shelf for a while and it seemed like a good time to read it. But that started my interest and I bought a few more of her books in old editions. Then I proceeded to re-read some of my favorites from years past and started reading the ones I had recently purchased. Then I purchased more. And read more. I’ve finished 55 books this year and 14 of them are Heyer. That’s 25% devoted to one author this year. And it doesn’t even include the re-reading.

One of them is a mystery and the rest are the “romances” which is a term I use loosely. Many of them seem to be very short on the romance and turn into a comedy of errors. I’ve enjoyed them immensely. There’s just something really comforting about the polite society manners and carriage rides and all the crazy situations and funny dialogue that has had me returning over and over again.

Now, I have succeeded in reading other things: the other 41 books on my list. However, many times I’ve been staring at my bookshelves and taking down other books just to turn around and put them back and reach for a Heyer. I think with this 14^th book (also 3 in a row) I am ready to reach for something else for a bit. I’m not ruling out another Heyer this year, but maybe not for a couple weeks. Ha ha 

Reading Blues

When this year started, I had some high hopes for reading some of the bigger books on my shelf and was looking forward to where the mood would take me. Well, the mood has taken me to re-reading old favorites instead of new stuff. With everything else that’s going on, I’m just not in the mood to start new books. I only read 3 new to me books in March and one of them was a novella with only 87 pages. 

Ha ha ha I had put only 24 books in my Goodreads reading challenge because I didn’t want any pressure from numbers and it looks like that’s a good thing. I had a great January so I’m still at 15 books read, which is still one book a week on average and still better than what a lot of people read in a year. Plus, the fact is that I am reading and sometimes I’m reading a lot. It’s just not full books or new books.

I am a little antsy about it though because my brain knows this really isn’t normal, even though I know it won’t last. I just can’t settle on what book to read. Hmmm maybe I’ll just watch some k-dramas instead.

Best Books of 2023

I’ve read some really good books this year! I finished at a respectable 89 books and I met both the number of books and the book challenge goals. Top genres are sci-fi romance, fantasy/sci-fi, historical mystery, YA, and romance adjacent (which includes a variety of genres with a small romantic subplot; many of my books are in overlapping categories). The YA is a bit of a surprise, but it includes the Spy X Family manga that I borrowed from my nephew. 61% of the books I read, I purchased. And 58% were paper vs electronic, which is opposite from last year, but I did read a bunch of stuff off my shelf so that could be why. 

I decided against listing any web comics this year. My favorites were on hiatus most of the year and others I loved have completed. I’m still reading them, but have gone back to waiting and reading multiple episodes at a time rather than following daily/weekly. It worked for me this year. I’ve learned that anything I think will happen for next year, will probably not, so I’m just rolling with it.

The ones I own in paper

And here’s my list for 2023:

The Wonder Engine and Thornhedge - T Kingfisher - She’s just one of my favorite authors and I love her books. Her writing is comforting.

Spy X Family Vol 8 - Tatsuya Endo - These manga are just consistently cute but I really loved this one. I love the anime as well.  

Know My Name - Chanel Miller - Hard to read but so worth it.

Annapurna: A Woman’s Place - Arlene Blum - Such an interesting look at an expedition to Annapurna. Told from a woman’s perspective, since the whole team were women, it really got into details I’m always curious about, but books by men never mention: logistics, being away from family, etc. 

Float - Kate Marchant - I found this book through the webtoon that is being drawn right now. It’s not perfect but it hit the spot so much and I loved it. Perfect book at the perfect time.

Sally-Ann - Susan Scarlett -I discovered Susan Scarlett (a pseudonym for Noel Streatfeild) this year and this was my favorite. Such a cute, old fashioned romance. I read it multiple times. 

Evil in Emerald, Terror in Topaz - AM Stuart - I just really enjoy this historical mystery series, and Emerald had a real-life character that I might be related to. I’m so happy that she’s decided to self publish another book. 

The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Sea - Susan Casey - I loved this non-fiction book about the depths of the ocean. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

The Bookshop on the Shore - Jenny Colgan - The male lead bugged me a bit, but I got over it pretty quickly and it turned into another perfect book at the perfect time. 

Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross - I saw this on GR and saw it was included with Kindle Unlimited so I downloaded a copy and then didn’t read it. And then I decided to just check it out and I wasn’t even 20% when I bought the hard cover and pre-ordered book 2. Loved it!

Honorable Mentions:

Dragonsong - Anne McCaffery - This was a childhood favorite that I re-read. I still love this book. Wasn’t really a fan of the other Pern books, but this one I read many, many times. 

Circe - Madeline Miller - This one frustrated me and made me think and I’m still thinking about it. And the ending was just so perfect.  

Lavender House - Lev AC Rosen - This was a great mystery and I ate it up. 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare - Another childhood favorite. It’s simpler than I remember, but what from childhood isn’t? I still love it. 

 

Book Goal: Finished

I completed my book reading goal today, officially. I met my # count a few books ago and today I’m at 82 books read so far this year, and all of my different subsets complete: 7 nonfiction, 3 “classics”, 10 paper books I already owned, 5 non-romance, 5 diverse authors, 6 kindle already own, and 5 childhood favorites. I have some thoughts on the whole thing. 

At the beginning of the year it seemed like such a fun challenge and I was excited to find books to fit in each of the categories. It ended being a bit of a bother because I felt I couldn’t always read exactly what I wanted to stay on track with the goal. Hitting 78 books was never really the problem, but getting them in the categories did end up taking some thinking about and pushing off other books. 

I have 958 books on my kindle currently and a lot of them are unread. Going through my kindle was like taking a trip back in time and I can see periods of my life in those books. A lot of books I have read had forgotten about and others I remember buying them and thinking I absolutely had to read them and now I look at them and my tastes have changed and I’m not interested at all. I didn’t even look through all of them to pick out stuff to read so I know there is probably so much I have completely forgotten I have there. 

I do have quite a few paper books sitting on my shelves that I haven’t read and some of the books I really thought I would read this year, just never really appealed. And a couple of them felt like a huge weight was lifted because I finished them. I finally read Circe by Madeline Miller which I had purchased, purged, and repurchased. And now I’m keeping because it was so good and gave me things to think about. LOL

I really like reading non-fiction and will keep reading it. Finding diverse authors was interesting. I did have to make an effort, but there is so much out there to choose from. I initially thought that finding 5 non romance would be hard because I gravitate to having a little bit of romance in the majority of the stuff I read. Turns out it wasn’t that hard. 

I picked some good childhood books to re-read and a couple of them I still love so much. I was surprised to find that Harriet the Spy had a good bit of fat shaming in it which I never noticed it as a kid. I still have all the nostalgia but not sure that one really holds up so well. 

I did find myself looking for smaller books, just so I could keep up, especially with the classics. I didn’t want big tomes this year. It kind of feels like cheating although there is nothing wrong with books of any size. 

So I’ve decided next year there are no goals. It’s going to be a free for all and I want to see where it takes me. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try new things, but I want to feel free to put books down if they aren’t working, or pick up a really big novel that takes me a month read. I still have a bunch of books on my shelf that I never purge because I’m going to read them “one day”. Well maybe that day will come next year. So my Goodreads goal will probably be somewhere between 12-24 books. Very small just because I like to click on that link and look at my books but I don’t want it to feel restricting at all because I just want to read whatever, whenever. 

Now I’m going to spend this snowy, wet evening with my Christmas lights on and re-reading comfort books and celebrate that I hit my goal and it was good for me to do this year. I found new books and authors and old favorites, which was really the whole point of it all. 

Sitting in the Sun

It’s Sunday and I’m sitting in my favorite place to be on a Sunday early afternoon: my library. The tree outside my window is a mixture of green and yellow and the tree next to it has already dropped all its leaves so the sun is coming inside. My plants are loving it and I’m eating it up as well. I’m trying to absorb all I can. I don’t get seasonal depression, but I definitely feel it sometimes that I’m not getting all the light I probably should be, as I go from home to office to home again in the dark. 

I’ve seen a few people with Christmas decorations already up and one of the radio stations is playing Christmas music 24/7. It’s still a little early for me for that, but I’m actually feeling quite positive about the holidays this year. I’m looking forward to them. If this stays with me, I’ll probably even put up my Christmas tree this year. I have this week for work and then I’m on vacation the entire week of Thanksgiving and am looking forward to it for sure. 

I’ve got 5 books left to read to meet my reading goal (and 2 books to read the # of books for the goal) and I’m feeling pretty good about it. There are 7 weeks left in the year and I’m halfway done with a book that counts towards the 5. The goal started out pretty fun, and I’ve been pretty happy with the books I’ve read because of it, but it has made me feel a few times that I couldn’t read what I wanted to, or that I had to read something else to stay on track. So I’m playing around with the idea for next year that I read one of the old classics or massive historical-fiction tomes sitting on my shelf and leave it at that. Just have a free for all and not really care what I read. Sometimes that makes me more adventurous, sometimes not. I’ll see what I feel like as 2024 gets closer. This year I found a new non-fiction writer that I want to read more of for sure. 

Reading Goal Update #2

We’re on the downside of September. I’ve had my windows open in the mornings when I’m at home and it’s been so nice. I had moved all my long sleeve shirts, sweaters and cardigans to the back of my closet. I had to go find a cardigan this morning. I love this time of year!!!

I’ve got 13 more books to read for my book goal, and finishing that will also put me at my number of books for the year so I’m doing pretty well there. I haven’t finished any of my categories, but I’m really close. 

• Nonfiction: 6 of 7 finished
• Classics: 2 of 3
• Already Own Paper: 6 of 10
• Non-romance: 3 of 5
• Diverse Authors: 3 of 5
• Already Own Kindle: 5 of 6
• Childhood Favs: 3 of 5

I have some ideas for October/Halloween reading that would check off a couple more if I go that route. I’ve enjoyed finding some interesting books from diverse authors that I might not normally have read. Plus, it feels so good to have finally read a few books that have been sitting on my shelf for years.

Reading Goal Update

Well, the year is almost halfway over and I’m looking at my book reading goals. So far, I’ve read 39 of 78 books so I’m pretty well on track. My mood to read new books has really come and gone quite a bit this year so I actually don’t know if I will hit that goal. I’m feeling a bit ambivalent about it. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of web comics and re-reading both comics and other books.

I’ve read 21 of 41 of my actual reading goal, so I’m doing well in that regard as well. Surprisingly, I have almost completed my non-fiction goal. I’m happy to have discovered my love of non-fiction. It was just a matter of find the right kind of non-fiction. Diverse authors is where I’m struggling. I've got 1 out of 5 there. Then classics and childhood favorites are also lagging behind. Funny, because I thought non-romance would be my hardest to fill and I’m halfway on that one. I’m still enjoying trying to make this goal. It’s been fun to look through my bookshelves to see what catches my mood. 

My Library

I think my library is finally at its endgame. There will probably be tweaks to the plants and random things on the shelves in the future, but I think it's set up exactly the way I want it and has all the shelves it is going to get. My last piece came in the mail today and it's a painted sign that says Library. I got it from a shop on Etsy and I love it. LOL I had a gap on the wall and needed to fill it and now it's perfect.

Don't mind the snow outside. It's coming down like...well I don't even know. It's been snowing since sometime last night and hasn't stopped. I'm guessing another 6-8 inches where it's laying. It's pretty wet. 

Look at that empty shelf space, though. :) Plus, a couple stacks are being purged, I just haven't done it yet. 

I've got a picture of Anne and Diana, a quote from Jane Austen (both also from Etsy), and JW Waterhouse's The Lady of Shalott on my walls. All literary references. A comfy chair and foot rest. Minky blanket. Plants. I especially love the teacup plants I have scattered about. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. I foresee some happy evenings spent there in the future. 

Grrrrrrrrr

I'm kind of unhappy with myself right now. LOL I get things in my head and get so impatient. It's a stupid thing. While setting up my new bookshelf, I broke my one small bookshelf. It's fine and still works but I didn't want it broken. So I hurried up and bought myself a new, small bookshelf. I finally set it up last night and I don't like it. It's nice and it looks fine, but it doesn't fit the books like my other one did. And now I realize that I could have gotten a smaller bookshelf that exactly matches my big ones in exactly the sizes that I wanted. I'm making myself be patient and go home and re-measure everything again before I make any more decisions that cost me more money. But I'm probably going to get other new bookshelves and give the currents ones to family. My library is one room where I make it exactly how I want, down to the blanket I use. 

I guess in other book news, I'm doing a pretty good job with my reading goals so far this year. I have read  books in every category except childhood favorites. Already, I've read some fun and interesting things and I feel like it's going to be a much better reading year than last year was. I'm excited to keep going.