SOL 28/31: So Many Books, Never Enough Time!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the March Slice of Life Story Challenge community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lanny

 for hosting this meeting place each day in March

and for nurturing our writing lives.

I love to read. I belong to two book clubs, one that I've belonged to for twenty years and a virtual one with two friends who have moved away. We meet up for a Google hangout when we get the technology to work for us (we are after all, women of a certain age). Otherwise we just do a three way call. 

I love to read kid lit, especially middle grade. You can see my plans for these books at #mustreadin2018. And I love to read picture books too. I read the NYT Book Review each week. I follow several friends who post on Mondays to the It's Monday What Are You Reading meme. I listen to Anne Bogel's podcast, What Should I Read Next? And so my book stacks grow and grow. And every once in awhile, I decide it's decision time. Today is one of those days. 

And this picture does not include four more books - my upcoming book club book for April, The Husband's Secret (at the library ready for me to pick up) and three library books I recently loaned to my daughter - Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, I Will Send Rain (the author does not capitalize any of those words, but I can't do that), and Ginny Moon.  In case you're counting, that's twenty books!

So I'm working on prioritizing these books. I can be very scattered about my reading life, so I'm excited about this task I've set for myself. I understand this slice matters little to others, but it's an important one for me. Feel free to skip this post and move on.

#1 Can't we talk about something more pleasant? by Roz Chast 

In my #1 spot because I need to finish it for tomorrow night's open book club meeting at Island Books, our local indie bookstore. 

After that, it's necessary to check my account at the library and see which books are due soon that I really want to read and won't be able to renew. 

#2 Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan 

My daughter borrowed it from me and loved it. It's due in 8 days and has 103 holds on it.

#3 Of Mess and Moxie by Jen Hatmaker 

It's due in 12 days with 9 holds.

#4 Moving On:  A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home

Okay, I was thinking this was one I could return and check out later, but after reading about Roz Chast's trials cleaning out her folk's home, I'm scared into reading it. No, we're not downsizing any time soon, but it's on the horizon for us. (I want seven more years in our home because I told my husband I wanted ten years in the kitchen we remodeled after I retired.) He insists we're probably on the five year trajectory.

#5 and #6 Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira and i will send rain (there, I typed it with no caps, but it wasn't easy) by Rae Meadows 

I'm taking these two books with me when I travel to Oklahoma in April. Winter Sisters is up next for my virtual book club and i will send rain is set in Mulehead, Oklahoma in 1934, a perfect book to read for that trip.

#7 Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren

I'm waited awhile for this book and it's due in 20 days with 12 people waiting for it.

#8 Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence

I've started this one and love it! Due in 26 days with 2 people waiting.

#9 Poems Are Teachers by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater 

I own this one, but my goal is to read it during April as a National Poetry Month challenge for myself.

For Later Shelf

These books are going back to the library and being placed on my "For Later Shelf" (a virtual holding spot where I can stick titles that I want to check out later): 

Textbook & Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - checked these out for inspiration during March, but haven't needed them

Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden - middle grade recommendation from the teen public librarian

Seattle Walks by David B. Williams - this is one we may need to buy

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig - compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, recommended to me by a fellow slicer

Rest:  Living in Sabbath Simplicity by Keri Wyatt Kent  - I've read a bit in this and definitely want to check it out again.

Bleaker House by Nell Stevens - intriguing premise 

Delayed for now:

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty - I just picked up this book, but I also have the audio for it. If it clicks for me, I'll listen to it. It's for our April book club.

Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - loaned to me & highly recommended by a friend who knows I won't get to it anytime soon

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman - I bought this book and proposed it for our book club for the upcoming year. When it didn't make the cut, I started it the next morning.  I'll get back to Britt-Marie before long because I love her and I'm pulling for her!

For someone who avoids making decisions and has a scattered reading life, I'm thrilled about this prioritized list. This doesn't include the bin of picture books I have checked out from the library (at least I can read those a bit faster). And now that I've finished this post, I'm off to finish the Roz Chast book!