Reached My Reading Goal and Other Stuff

source: source:christmas

The past few months have been a challenge for me in terms of reading whatever and whenever I want.  Starting school again in August severely curtailed my reading habits and I can confirm I've become a crabbier person because of this very reason.  Reading is my form of relaxation and meditation, and when the world is too much, I have to retreat and read!  

Well, the world has been overwhelming, going to school and work both full-time.  And now that Christmas is here, I'm in my final week of classes, with one take home final due on December 20th.  And being a manager at a bookstore means working extra hours before Christmas day.  I am running on coffee and the sugar from all the cookies people have gifted me this week.  Tired is such an overused word for me, but let me just say I'm beyond tired.  Stumbling around and misplacing things has become a regular occurrence!  I don't think I can have a coherent conversation with anyone anymore.

So, I am taking the next few weeks off on this blog to finish my semester of school and get through retail Christmas season #23.  Yep.  23 years of retail is enough to exhaust anyone.  This is why I'm going back to school.  I'd like to enjoy Christmas again.  

I'll be posting my favorite top ten reads for 2013 after Christmas, and before the New Year.  And I have planned many blissful hours of reading before I start school again in January.  Oh, I can't wait to see what's in store for 2014.  I've already got a huge list of 'must reads' compiled.  I'll be revealing that list soon, too.  

Have a wonderful Christmas.  I hope everyone receives at least one good book to read over the holiday season.  I've already purchased 6 new books (thanks to employee appreciation days) and downloaded heaps from Edelweiss onto my Nook.  I'll be a busy gal lounging around and reading.  Now all I need is a good blizzard!

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Reached My Reading Goal and Other Stuff

Giveaway Winner Is....And It's August, Too!

Well.  


No one responded to my giveaway of Heather Gudenkauf's novel One Breath Away. So--that means  I will gift this novel to someone in my family and friends circle. 


What the heck?  I guess I will have to think long and hard about trying that again.


August is here, and I am at 91 books towards my goal of 125 for the year.  It helps to have a few days off, hot weather, and central air.  Kept me reading this past week and making inroads in my gigantic piles of books.  


But not enough.


Somehow I think moving piles of books around from one spot to another will make them shrink.  This is not working.  They are still the same size.  


While I'd like to make a firm plan that I won't read anything new in the bookstore, this would last about halfway into tomorrow, when I see some great new reads at work.  Instead, I'm going to make about 75% of my reading for August come from those piles on the floor, those double and triple stacked rows on the bookshelves.  Uggh.  


And you probably wonder where I get all those books I have all over my house.  


I buy them.  


A few are ARCS, but mostly (90%) books I have bought.  So while I am appreciative of getting ARCS (saves me some money!) and love getting books from Netgalley and Edelweiss,  I do spend an awful lot on books.  I like to own them.  I don't like to borrow from the library, and I don't like to borrow from friends.  An employee discount comes in handy!  I don't get too many books as gifts.  Pretty much none.  My wonderful Bud does give me gift cards to B&N for special occasions, so that helps.  If I get an ARC for something that I won't read, I leave it for others to enjoy.  When I'm done with an ARC, if I don't want to keep the book on my shelves, I take them to work to pass onto other book lovers.  


But I still have a lot of books.  I think I may adopt the rule of:  For every one that comes in, I must take one out.  It may very well kill me, but I have to try!


Here's to August and another full month of reading.  Tomorrow night at my B&N we are welcoming author Tracey Garvis Graves, author of the very enjoyable and hard to put down On The Island.  Looking forward to meeting her and telling her how much I enjoyed her novel.  If you haven't picked it up, do it!  It's a quick read and really sucks you in very quickly.


I am hoping to reach my goal of 125 books by November 1st so I can give NaNoWriMo  a shot!  Can't wait.  How is your reading goal for the year?

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Giveaway Winner Is....And It's August, Too!