Welp.

I thought it would be fun to keep track of my progress through this Stack O’ Ridiculousness from the library.  Not in quite the maniacal detail-oriented fashion of my last Library Mishap, when I had nothing to do with my long, empty weekend afternoons but count page totals, write daily updates, and eat fruit salad with a level of enthusiasm mustered only by pregnant ladies.  But I was looking back at those updates and thinking of what fun it was to challenge myself to get through a seemingly impossible reading task, and then actually get through it.  So, here’s how things are going with the library stack:

• Finished Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, which was a fun bit of fluff.  Got it in just by the deadline.  And then there were seven.
• Returned The Accursed, somewhat disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to read it (and that there are 81 people on the waiting list for it), but downloaded it to my Nook and am saving it for a business trip I have later this month.  And then there were six.
• Am about halfway through Eighty Days and loving it so far.  I keep interrupting hubby at whatever he’s doing to read him funny sentences or bits of historical trivia I find particularly fascinating.  My favorite so far: Puck Magazine’s advice to readers.  “When a charming young lady comes into your office and smilingly announces that she wants to ask you a few questions regarding the possibility of improving New York’s moral tone, don’t stop to parley.  Just say: ‘Excuse me, Nellie Bly,’ and shin down the fire-escape.”

I haven’t had much time to read this week, since it’s been one of the busiest weeks I’ve had at work… well, ever.  The end of May and beginning of June has been just one thing after another.  I’ve worked late quite a few nights and even missed Peanut’s bedtime a few times, which breaks my heart.  But reading keeps me sane, so I still do it – a few pages over my morning tea, a lunch break snatched if I can, and at least a chapter before bed each night.  I’m not going at my normal breakneck pace, but I’m going.  I really need a day to just chill out, though, so on Saturday I’m planning to sit with Eighty Days for hours and hours (once again, thanking my stars that I have such a good napping baby) and let Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland do the crazed running around.  By Sunday, I should be on to Maisie Dobbs.