So, um, remember how I said I wasn’t going to go crazy at the library this month?  Well…  Well.  I swear I didn’t.  The crazy just… sort of… happened.  This sort of thing has happened before, and I never, ever learn.

What goes down is this: if I see a book that looks interesting, either on a book blog, or Goodreads, or in the Shelf Awareness newsletter, I head on over to my library website and reserve a copy.  If it’s a new release – as they often are – I end up on the waiting list.  Which is fine, except that various books have different numbers of people waiting for them, and sometimes it happens that I reach the top of the list for five or so… or more… books at the same time.  Oops.  And then when I do things like decide I’d rather finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or sign up for a Villette readalong, the situation just gets more dire as I pretend the library stack doesn’t exist.  And then more books pop up on the holds shelf, and eventually you have… the library apocalypse.

Here’s the status:

Due back June 3rd:

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
The Accursed

Due back June 8th:

Eighty Days
Beautiful Creatures
The Mother-Daughter Book Club

Due back June 18th:

Leaving Everything Most Loved
Leonardo and the Last Supper
The House Girl

Somewhere in there, I also need to make time to keep up with the #villettealong.  Oh, and there’s the little matter of raising a baby and holding down a job.  Man, it was so much easier to keep up with my reading when I was on maternity leave.  I miss maternity leave.

Here’s the plan:

1) I probably will return The Accursed without reading it and download a copy for my Nook.  It’s really long, and it looks incredible, so I think there’s a chance I might re-read it, and it’s worth a purchase for that reason.  Normally I like to read a book before buying it, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and if I can’t get to all of these before they need to go back, this is the one I think I’m most likely to want to own.

2) I’m already into Z and I think I can get it out of the way before the deadline, since it’s been reading quickly… IF I get reading time this weekend, that is.  I also have to balance it with Villette, but a good Peanut nap or two and a pot of tea will help.

3) Among the June 8th books, I’ll tackle Eighty Days first.  I’m most excited to read that one, anyway.  Besides, I can return Beautiful Creatures and get back on the wait list, and I’ll have it back in no time, since the list is short.  (I’m not even sure if I’ll enjoy Beautiful Creatures, but I promised R that I’d give her new favorite book a chance.)  And I can renew The Mother-Daughter Book Club: there’s no wait list for it, but my branch didn’t have a copy, so I had to reserve it.

4) Maisie Dobbs is always a quick read, so I’ll get Leaving Everything Most Loved out of the way next and then move on to Leonardo and The House Girl.

Last time this happened – last time I had an avalanche of holds books fall on my head all at the same time – I was determined to get through them all.  I made it my mission, and it meant some weekend days were entirely spent with book in hand, but I did it.  This time, I really don’t think I can get through this entire stack, and I’m not going to drive myself crazy trying.  I’m just going to do my best to get through as many of these as possible before they’re due back, and prioritize the ones I most want to read first, and be okay with getting back on a wait list or two.  And someday, maybe, I’ll actually be able to read one of the books from the stacks I already own.

(Pssst – speaking of reading piles of books, I’ve updated the “Books” page.  It’s now current with all of my monthly Reading Round-Ups, longer book reviews, and Peanut’s Picks.  Go check it out!)