February 1 kicked off a challenge in which I could only read the books I own. No library books. No buying new or used books.
The day after I announced the challenge, I found out my local library branch would be closed the last 2 weeks of February. How's that for a sign?
When February began, I still had 8 books out from the library. I stopped requesting new books mid-January but there's no way to predict the speed of the reservation list. My plan: renew as many of the books as I could and read them in March, with a few exceptions.
First, I needed to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers (our March read) and another secret-for-now book for The Red Couch. Second, a few books could not be renewed due to a wait list. I didn't want to get back on the wait list. For this reason, I read The Husband's Secret, The Elite (book 2 in the delightful Selection trilogy), and Winter's Tale.
A couple of weekends ago, I thought I'd stop by McKay Used Books to sell books I no longer want. But then I stopped short. It would be too painful to be around all those treasures and not buy anything. The book selling could wait until March. March 1 to be precise. Oh, yes I did.
As I worked on my stack, I wasn't really tempted to buy another book. The Challenge had transformed me!
And then February 24 happened.
Matthew Quick, author of Silver Linings Playbook, came to Parnassus Books for Wine with the Author. He gave one of the most insightful, thought-provoking talks I've heard in a while. Of course I had to get a copy of his new book The Good Luck of Right Now. But take heart: it didn't really count.
See? I wasn't using my own money. And who could turn down the chance to get the autograph of an author they admire?
Let's take a look at the books I read in February.
- Saffron Cross- J. Dana Trent (3 stars)
- Glitter and Glue- Kelly Corrigan (5 stars)
- (not pictured) Notes From A Blue Bike- Tsh Oxenreider (4 stars)
- Books Started But Not Finished: To Be A Friend Is Fatal- Kirk Johnson, Found (not pictured)- Micha Boyett (available April 1)
- Books Already In Progress Before February 1 (not pictured): Hazardous (Cyzewski), The Gift of Being Yourself (Benner), Where Many Rivers Meet (Whyte)
I didn't get around to The Soul of a Chef (Ruhlman) or Death by Suburb (Goetz). When your friend sends you an ARC of her forthcoming book and you have to read library books, things get shifted around.
I read a book from my February Stack for every library book I read- and then some. But Winter's Tale opened my eyes to the kind of reader I've become. I have a hard time quitting a book. Sometimes it pays to keep reading but not always. Winter's Tale never redeemed itself.
This riled me to no end. I took a good hard look at the rest of my library books and, aside from the books mentioned above, returned them all.
A couple I'll read eventually but they're not a priority. I've gotten in the bad habit of hearing about a book and promptly requesting it from the library. While these books might be worth reading (and some reading promptly), I rarely think about what they prevent me from reading. Namely, the towering To Read stack.
I selected more books from the stack to read in March and beyond. The restrictions are over but I want to be more intentional about what I read and when. I want to follow through on re-reading old favorites. I want to make a bigger dent in my To Read list.
Bachelor Girl (Israel), In Defense of Food (Pollan), Amazing Grace (Norris), The Tipping Point (Gladwell), Jesus Land (Scheeres), Refuse to Drown (Kreider), The Signature of All Things (Gilbert)
I'm never going to give up the library. It helps me work on my To Read list (I could never afford my reading habit) and it's a service to the community. But I am going to think twice about what books I'm reading. Thanks, February Reading Challenge.
If you participated in the February Reading Challenge, link up a post or let me know how it went in the comments. The link-up will run through next Monday March 10.
Disclosure : Amazon Affiliate links included in this post. If you click through to Amazon, any purchase you make supports this site.
