Remember my amazing 22 books-read December? Yeah, that didn’t happen again.
I made some reading plans for the new year and I got off to a good start. Slooooowly. I got a lot of paper books from the library. I’ve realized that I don’t read nearly as much if I am reading physical books. Ebooks are just so much more convenient for me.
My South of the Equator challenge is off to a cracking start though.
That may be more Southern Hemisphere books than I read all last year. I started a few more but DNFed them because I’m a moody reader like that.
From left to right they are – Australian YA, a memoir of an Australian living in Botswana, a romance set on Reunion by a South African, and a South African urban fantasy.
These are the kinds of books that I was looking for. Memoirs, nonfiction, and genre from the Southern Hemisphere. Not heavy literary bundles of depression. I’m having fun looking for more.
I also read:
And yeah, that’s it for the month.
American Cheese did fit a prompt for the TBR challenge I’m doing.
“For the beginning of Spring I want you to open a book in the TBR pile by an author you’ve never read before“
You might notice that it is not spring but shut up. I’m doing these prompts in any order I can because, honestly, any TBR clearing is a minor miracle for me. I’ve been reading this book in fits and starts for over a year.
So 7 books including 3 nonfiction, 1 audiobook, and only one author who isn’t white.
I also did a massive clear out of books that I am never going to read. There were also a lot of physical ARCs that are a pain to get rid of. I took those to Free Little Libraries. The rest went to my library donation group because I was tired of looking for the Free Little Libraries that the website said existed but totally did not exist when I got there.
I had to be heartless. I would pick up books and think, “This looks good.” Of course it looks good! That’s why I picked it up in the first place. Had I gotten around to reading it? NO! It was gone. I think I only kept two books. One I justified by saying the husband would be interested in it and the other I promised myself that I would totally read. Sure….. Lying to myself is fun.
Freeing up that space in cupboards in the sewing room meant that of course I had to rearrange everything down there. I do love a good reorganizing.
I think you’ve got the right idea – if you can clear out that TBR, do it! However you can. 🙂
Did you like American Cheese? That one looks interesting and really fun 🙂
I did like American Cheese. The review should be up on 2/23
A couple months ago I went through my books and got rid of some that I realized I was never going to read. It is difficult to do, but important. It’s like cleaning out a closet from clothes we never wear.