We recently bought lots of bookcases from a friend who is moving. I am almost happy enough with my library to take pictures and blog them. Since we were moving every book we own, I wanted to make sure that we put them away as organized as possible. That was definitely a big undertaking, but I am about satisfied with the results.
As we put away the books, we got to thinking that there are quite a few of them that we have not read or that we have not read in a really long time. I decided to challenge myself to read every book we own. Let me tell you, that is a lot of reading! I have been struggling to finish my one book club book each month, so it is a bit of a stretch as far as a challenge goes. Luckily, there is no timeline. I expect to finish before Brishen only because he will eventually move away to go to college, and I will still be reading. Brishen is pretty sure we are going to be quite the smart family because of this challenge. We have the most amazing books and room on our shelves to add more.
Today marks the 1 month point of our challenge, and I have made a true effort to read as much as possible. For me that usually means reading while I feed The Baby his bottles. I have noticed that when Edison sees me reading he takes it as a cue to bring me books that he wants me to read to him, so that slows me down but is a great side benefit of the challenge. I really want my children to see me with a book in my hand more often than they see me scrolling on my phone.
Here's our tally:
Melani-7 books
Brishen-9 books
Basia-16 books
Keep in mind that I read 7 books in one month. That's huge! Now also keep in mind that one of those books was Raggedy Ann, since children's books are definitely a part of our library. When I notice I am getting too far behind Brishen, I shoot for a short book that I can finish pretty quickly. Brishen is keeping the full list of books on his computer, but I'll try to remember some highlights.
Freakanomics--this is one I have wanted to read for a long time but finally got to do this month. I love books like this, and I know Brishen will enjoy it, too.
Tolstoy and the Purple Chair--this was our book club book this month. The author of this book challenged herself to read one book each DAY for a year. Yikes! I can't do that, but I did find this book inspiring as she shared how so many of the books inspired her.
The Foundling: and Other Tales of Prydain--I chose this book by Lloyd Alexander because it was the first book in our children's literature section. I read quite a bit of it before the lovely men in my family informed me that I should have read the whole series before reading this book. I knew there was a series, but I didn't realize we actually own the series and that this book should not have been read before the series. Oops.
Minutes From the Great Women's Coffee Club--This is a book of great quotes from even greater women. I am trying to become a better person based on these quotes. I would love to be worthy of being in the company of those women!
Well, that's 5 of the 7. I can't remember the others off the top of my head. Brishen read one of our previous book club books, The Queen of Katwe. I love that he loved it. I love that we are going to connect over reading the same books. I also love to see Basia challenge herself to keep ahead of us on the tally. She is reading more than I have ever seen her read before. This is my kind of challenge! Does anyone want to guess how many years (decades) this challenge is going to take to complete? I'm going to love the journey, so I don't mind the duration!
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