Book Sabbatical, Take Two!

Last January, I set a goal to make a dent in my giant "To Be Read" book pile. From January first to June first, I was determined to only read books that I already owned, borrowed from friends, or rented from the library. I also used Libby for audiobooks and Spotify for book podcasts.

Let me back up. I am a self-proclaimed bibliophile.

However, my bookshelves are not alphabetized, are not organized by color, and don’t even have cute little bookish or nerdy elements hidden between book covers. I have loads of books in my living room (and bedroom) that are mentally organized by the amount of excitement I had while reading it. My TBR pile is placed on the shelf by whichever group of books I want to read next. This can change based on my mood; I am definitly a mood reader! I also wish that I had six hours each day to dedicate solely to reading. Who needs seven hours of sleep anyway?

I am very adept at reading multiple books at once, usually from different genres. I consider audiobooks as literature and also listen to podcasts that interview authors, only to add more to my reading list! I have started to read more non-fiction books, with most topics focused on writing or based on the subject matter that I am writing about at the moment. This helps me to develop insight into the types of books that I want to write.

All this to say: I have a problem. I have too many BOOKS to fit on my bookshelves!

Last year when I decided to take the first five months of the year to refrain from buying any books (a promise which I kept, minus one), I thought it would be a miserable experience. It wasn’t! In fact, I didn’t miss out at all. Sure, I did add to my Goodreads and Amazon wishlist during that time, but I didn’t buy. I used the library as much as possible and if a book wasn’t available, I tried another book by the same author. I began to find new favorites in those untouched books that had been sitting on my shelf for over a year!

Right now my books are not being placed on my bookshelf in a normal fashion. Instead, they are being shoved into crannies, balanced precariously on top of other books, or sitting under my writing desk as "inspirations." The piles keep getting higher because for every book I read, I buy two more. No matter whether four dollars is a good deal, my little apartment can only hold so many! As my books are beginning to pile up again, I’m curious; could I do the same thing this upcoming year and have even better results? What would it look like to have bookshelves of favorites and to take time to re-read stories that I have forgotten?

Some of the questions for evaluating books came from general book club questions (first 5 questions):

• Did you re-read any passages?
• Would you want to read another book by this author?
• Did reading the book impact your mood? If yes, how so?
• What surprised you most about the book?
• How did your opinion of the book change as you read it?
• What tips did you find for writing?
• Scale of 1-5:

I might change these as read more throughout the year, but I think it will be a good determination to decide which books get to stay as future re-reads and which goes into the givaway pile. I guess I won’t know how this ends until I try again!

Any other bibliophiles brave enough to join me?