Starting off a new year, I’m always full of plans and goals – some involving books, some involving the (less important) rest of life.  Often, I set a number of books I’d like to read – usually 100, since I’ve found that’s where I naturally fall when left to my own devices.  (Sometimes my total is in the high nineties, some times a little over one hundred.)  I might occasionally add a goal to read a certain number of classics, since I love them – they’re my comfort reading – but can tend to get distracted by new releases.

Goal #1 – Read Diversely

Last year, I set a goal of reading at least 33% books by diverse authors – people of color, LGBT authors, Muslims, and other underrepresented groups.  I ended up with just a hair over 40% and was very happy with my result.  This year, I set the goal of 33% again and, as of the time of this posting, was hovering around 39%, which I think is quite good, considering I haven’t been as diligent about it this year as I was last year.

Last year, I built myself a nice cushion in February – Black History Month – by declaring that I would only read books by African or African-American authors.  I had a wonderful month of reading and it helped put me over the top at the end of the year.  This year, I wasn’t able to do that, thanks to library deadlines resulting from some overeager hold-placing.  (Oops.)  But I seem to be doing okay anyway!

My total was also helped last year by listening to the All the Books! podcast.  Liberty and Rebecca are great about recommending diverse books and I checked out quite a few books by people of color on their recommendation.  I’ve since stopped listening to the podcast, mainly because my podcatcher is full already, and I want to have some time for audiobooks, so I’ve trimmed my subscriptions down to just my very favorites.  But if I get to fall and my diverse books percentage isn’t good, I may add them back into my rotation.

Favorite diverse books of the year (so far): The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas; Code Talker, by Chester Nez; March: Book 3, by Representative John Lewis; and In the Country We Love: My Family Divided, by Diane Guerrero.

Goal #2: Project 24

Did I mention I was trying to do Project 24 this year?  (I think I did – but to be perfectly honest, I can’t be bothered to go back and check my old posts.)  Anyway, for the uninitiated, Project 24 is the brainchild of Simon from Stuck in a Book (who also happens to host my favorite podcast, Tea or Books?).  The idea is to buy only twenty-four books in a calendar year – so, a pace working out to two per month.  This may sound like a lot of books still, but I assure you, for the ardent bibliophile, it is not.

Two books per month is the pace I try to hold to every year, but as you know, I have quite a few exceptions.  This year, however, I am not using my exceptions – I am strictly and diligently holding to twenty-four books for the year, and feeling quite disciplined and pleased with myself.

Of course, the truth of the matter is, this project is backfiring on me just a little.  Restricting myself from buying books when I want them, unless it’s a new calendar month, is allowing me to make excuses for buying fancy Folio Society hardcovers when I do purchase a book.  It’s entirely possible that Project 24 may not end up saving me money.  But I’ll have to wait for the end of the year to make that judgment.

So, what have I bought?

• The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne (Folio Society)
• The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge (Folio Society)
• Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery (Folio Society)
• Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery (Folio Society)
• Envelope Poems, by Emily Dickinson (The Gorgeous Nothings)
• Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society)
• Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society)
• North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society)
• Anderby Wold, by Winifred Holtby (Virago)
• The Land of Green Ginger, by Winifred Holtby (Virago)

So, as you can see – ten books by May, right on track.  And all but three of them are Folio Society products.  (If I ever get loose in the Folio Society bookshop – look out, world.  It’s a good thing the shop is in London.)

For the rest of the year – I have my eye on completing the Elizabeth Gaskell set (three down, two – Sylvia’s Lovers and Ruth – to go), and on the Folio Once and Future King.  All three are no longer available from the publisher, so I’ve been stalking AbeBooks.  I’d also love to add some of the Furrowed Middlebrow books to my shelves, the gorgeous Mary McCarthy and Sarah Orne Jewett compilations from Library of America, some Persephone Classics, and some more Trollope.  So I suppose I’ll have some decisions to make…

Have you set any bookish goals for 2017?  How are they going?

Well, it’s Monday again.  Last week was a really hard and stressful week for a couple of reasons (all work-related) and even though we had a nice weekend, I still feel like I need more time.  Isn’t that always the way?  My parents were in town for a long weekend; they got here on Thursday, attended “grandparents’ day” at Peanut’s school on Friday, and then hung out with us until Sunday.  We had a really nice time with them and the kids loved having their grandparents around – as always.  On Saturday, my mom joined me and the kids at a charity 5K event hosted by my office, and then while the kids were napping, my parents went for a walk around the neighborhood and I hit the garden center.  Saturday was my dad’s birthday, so we took the grandparents out for dinner at Virtue Feed & Grain, a cool restaurant down by the river.  On Sunday morning, we went out to breakfast and stopped by the playground to hang out for a few minutes before the grandparents had to head back to New York.  We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around while Nugget napped and Peanut threw epic tantrums (that phase ends eventually, right moms?) and then walked down to the waterfront in our new wagon (courtesy of Steve’s mom).  It was nice and relaxing, although I wish we could have worked a hike in on Saturday.

Reading.  Not too much to report to you this week, sadly.  Because of a crazy work week (what else is new?) and some big stress on that front, I didn’t get much reading done.  I finished re-reading Anne of Green Gables on Tuesday and the rest of my reading time this week has been dedicated to How to Be a Tudor.  I’m reading against a library deadline and it’s become clear that I’m not going to make it.

Watching.  More watching than reading – unusual.  Steve and I are still making our way through The Great British Baking Show at a pace of about an episode a night.  Those are dominating our evenings.  We’re well into the second season now, and it’s totally addicting.  We took a break while the grandparents were here and introduced them to Moana (they loved it) and Rock the Park (same).  Then back to TGBBS on Sunday evening after they went home – but I need to alternate between TV evenings and reading evenings, I think.

Listening.  I’m back in my podcatcher this week, but not actually making progress on my queue.  Instead, I’ve been hopping around in the archives of The Mom Hour, listening to old episodes on topics like “getting organized for summer” and “organizing, storing and creating with your photos.”  I need to actually listen to some of my current episodes before my podcast subscriptions stop uploading, but all in good time.

Moving.  The week itself was a bit of a bust, thanks to horrible stress and no time.  (Of course, that’s exactly when I should make time for a workout, since exercise always clears my head and helps me to feel better.  But knowing what you should do and finding a way to actually do it are two different things.)  But I made up for it with a pretty active weekend – Saturday’s 5K, plus spending a chunk of the afternoon gardening and power-cleaning my front porch, and then an evening walk; and on Sunday, a walk to the waterfront (and more importantly, back home – up a huge hill) dragging a wagon with a combined 60 pounds of child sitting in it the entire way.  Now that was a workout.

Blogging.  Two updates coming to you this week – an update on how I’m doing with two reading challenges on Wednesday, and a garden update on Friday.  Stay tuned!

Loving.  I mentioned it above, but I have to give another shout-out down here to The Mom Hour.  I don’t know how I didn’t know about this podcast sooner!  The episode about surviving the end of the school year had me nodding along so hard I thought my head would fall off.  (Yes, Sarah, all these end-of-year special events and demands really are designed to make the most with-it parent feel like a flake!  That was sympathy I needed after sending Peanut to grandparents’ day in her school uniform, which was apparently wrong.  Whoops.)  I love that Megan and Sarah, the hosts of The Mom Hour, are working moms – so many of the parenting podcasts that I listen to (whether regularly or occasionally) are hosted by stay-at-home-moms, which is great for them (goodness knows I loved my time as a SAHM) but just a different experience.  It’s been so nice to listen in to two moms who are coming from an experience that is more like my own (even if “full-time working mom” means a different thing in biglaw than it does elsewhere).  Megan and Sarah are both totally real and their podcast is a mixture of wisdom, hilarity, great ideas and advice from moms who have been there.

Asking.  What are you reading/watching/loving this week?

Happy Monday after Mother’s Day!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating the moms in their life, and being celebrated too, if you are a mom.  My little family made me feel special all weekend.  Saturday was a bit gloomy – we’ve been having lots of grey and misty, and even some rainy, weather here lately and Saturday was no exception.  I’d planned to run some errands on Saturday morning – nothing too exciting – but plans changed on Friday when I discovered that my friend Lauren was in town from Buffalo with her family.  Lauren was a friend from Stroller Strides (my favorite exercise class ever) and it had been way too long since I’d seen her.  She’s had a baby since we moved away, and I hadn’t even met the new little one.  So I fired off a text and we decided to meet up at the Natural History Museum on Saturday morning.  We had a fun morning hanging out with Lauren, her husband and their two kiddos and checking out the exhibits.  Peanut, predictably, loved the gems the most, and Nugget was into the ocean life exhibit.  I didn’t see much of the museum – between keeping an eye on wandering kids and catching up with my friend, my attention was occupied.  But it was a great morning!  Sunday dawned clear, sunny, and H-O-T.  Finally!  The kids gifted me with a couple of books and an art print of Old Town row houses (sweetest!) and then we set off for my morning request – a Mother’s Day hike, of course.  We hit up Mason Neck State Park, which Steve and I hiked once six years ago.  They’ve done a lot of work on the trails and boardwalks since the last time we were there, and it was beautiful.  I think we’ll definitely be adding it to the regular hiking rotation.  (Recap coming on Wednesday!)  I spent naptime on Sunday reading, and after Nugget finished playing in his crib and not sleeping, we took a walk to the library (returned books only! no checkouts!) and the playground, FaceTimed Nana, and stopped in the fudge shop for a small treat.  I ended Mother’s Day in the best way I know – curled up in Nugget’s rocking chair, with a cuddly baby passed out on my shoulder.  Thanks, guys, for giving me such a great weekend!

Reading.  It was a busy week at work, and a bit crazy overall, but pretty productive on the reading front.  I finished The Hate U Give last Monday and can absolutely see where all the raves are coming from.  However, I needed something lighter after that, so I picked up Mother Daughter Book Camp, the seventh and final installment in the Mother Daughter Book Club series (which I have liked more and more with each book, so I’m extremely sorry to see it end!).  The last installment was as cute and fun as expected.  Next I read Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, after seeing it recommended by a few book bloggers.  It was fine, but didn’t blow me away.  Finally, last night I picked up the Folio Society edition of Anne of Green Gables, both because it’s on my spring list to read anyway, and because I really needed it after watching the first episode of “Anne With An E” – read on.

Watching.  So, on Friday, Netflix dropped the first season of Anne With an E, the new – darker, grittier – adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.  I’d heard raves coming from my Canadian friends, who have already seen it, and was cautiously excited.  I was expecting the flashback scenes of Anne’s traumatic past, so was prepared for that.  But what I wasn’t expecting was the liberties that were taken with the plot in general – especially one major change at the end of the first episode, which had me so shocked and disappointed that I threw up my hands and declared I was done.  It’s too bad, because it’s gorgeously shot and acted.  I wouldn’t have minded if it was just “showing the darker side of Anne’s past instead of just insinuating it” but what is the purpose of changing plot points that Montgomery actually wrote?  That bugged me.  (I also didn’t like the sixth Harry Potter movie, for the same reasons.)  Anyway, I think I’m done with Anne With An E, unless my Canadian friends convince me to give it another go.  After that, Steve and I both needed a palate cleanser, so it was back to The Great British Baking Show we went.  We finished the first series that is available on U.S. television (although it was clear there were previous series) last night.  What a fun show!  We both get more into it with each episode.  It’s magic.

Listening.  Not too much to report here.  I did more listening last week than I have been doing recently, and made my way through a few queued episodes of The Book Riot Podcast, then back to The Great Courses: Classics of British Literature.  I’ve just wrapped up the second lecture on Shakespeare.  It’s a lot of fun, and so interesting.

Moving.  Same as usual around here.  Hikes, chasing Nugget, and wishing I had more time for my running shoes.  Sunday was a pretty active day, with a hike in the morning and then a walk to the playground.  (I don’t just get to the playground and then sit down on a bench, you see.  I run up and down stairs, lift Nugget on and off the swings and teeter-totter, catch him as he comes down the slide (and he also insists that I “do way up high!” – a.k.a. toss him in the air – when he comes off the slide) and chase him away from the landscaping around the edges of the playground.  It’s actually quite a workout.

Blogging.  All trails this week!  I have a recap of our Mother’s Day hike (for the 12 Months Hiking Project) coming on Wednesday, and musings about growing up on the trails on Friday.  Check back!

Loving.  I’ve got two things I’m loving this week.  One, of course, is my sweet little family, who made me feel so loved and celebrated on Mother’s Day.  I’m a few years into this journey now, but still grateful every day that I get to be a mom (even if it is exhausting sometimes).  On a lighter note, this week I was also loving a new Twitter account that just started up – @ObamaPlusKids.  The account is dedicated to posting a picture every hour of President Obama interacting with kids of all ages, and the cuteness is almost too much to bear.  Some of my favorites – tummy time in the Oval Office, and the pint-size Pope in a plastic Popemobile trick-or-treating at the White House – have already been posted, and there are so many more that I’ve seen for the first time, every one absolutely adorable.  (So many babies grabbing President Obama’s nose!)  If you’re on Twitter, go follow them ASAP.  It’s a much-needed lift right now.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Mornin’, friends.  How were your weekends?  Other than flying by as usual, ours was nice.  We started Saturday morning off with a walk to the farmers’ market – something I would really like to be in the habit of doing, but that we hadn’t made happen in too many weeks.  Our market is year-round, but it definitely gets bigger in the warmer months.  At the end of April, spring produce was everywhere, and I finally got the asparagus I’ve been craving for weeks now.  We also bought some pastries, and Nugget stole my spinach croissant and made hilarious faces as he ate the croissant while carefully avoiding any vegetables – ha!  The rest of the day, we mostly stuck around home.  It was a scorcher – 95 degrees! – so we kept the kids in air conditioning.  I did a run out to Lowe’s to pick up some supplies for the garden, and spent a very hot hour dragging patio furniture around and transplanting a few plants into larger pots.  I’m pretty sure I killed our snap peas.  (Hoping for a miracle.)  Sunday was a little bit cooler – not much, but enough – so we drove down to Leesylvania State Park to explore the trails.  It’s not a huge park, but it’s all on the water, so the views were gorgeous – witness above.  The park is on the Potomac, but downriver a ways, where the waters start to open up as they get closer to the Chesapeake.  There was a sandy beach where people were already swimming, and a few boat launches.  So it was a lovely, albeit short, hike.  We ended the weekend splitting up the kids – Steve helped Peanut clean her room while I took Nugget for a bike ride to the playground – and then I stayed up way too late finishing my book, and am now of course exhausted to start the week.  What else is new?

Reading.  So, a pretty productive reading week.  I finished Pachinko early last week and managed to get it back to the library without an overdue fine – hurray!  Turned then to Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood’s retelling of The Tempest for the Hogarth Shakespeare Project, and absolutely loved it.  I’d expected to like it, but was surprised by just how much I enjoyed the reading experience.  Finally, I quickly blazed through A Field Guide to Awkward Silences, Alexandra Petri’s memoir of all of the ways she has embarrassed herself, and as expected, it was a hoot.  (Petri is well-known inside the Beltway as a humor columnist for The Washington Post, but she deserves to be more widely known, as she is a riot.)  I finished it late last night, so next up, I plan to go back to one of the books I’ve shelved (literally) to make time for these library books – all of which had loudly ticking deadlines – so I’ll either resume my acquaintance with Count Rostov or with the people of Barchester.

Watching.  Not much this week, since I was trying to push through the above-noted library books before their deadlines.  But we did watch the thrilling conclusion (no I’m not kidding) of Pride and Prejudice, and I think Steve really enjoyed it.  He loved seeing Lizzy tell off Lady Catherine.  And on Friday night, I was craving an old movie – I really wanted to watch Bringing Up Baby, my all-time favorite film.  Sadly, our DVD has not turned up post-move, and neither Netflix or Hulu obliged.  So we ended up watching To Catch a Thief, which is nothing like Bringing Up Baby, but still a good time.

Listening.  I think the only listening I’ve done all week was to the Sorta Awesome parenting confessions episode, which I listened to in the car on the way to and from the gardening center over the weekend.  I just have been wanting a little more quiet recently, so Audible has mostly been off.  But I did enjoy the one podcast episode I listened to.  Perhaps more listening to come this week?

Moving.  Well, I realized that as busy as my work-weeks are, the only way I was going to get any kind of movement in was if I worked it into my workdays.  So I dusted off my DeskCycle and got some pedaling in every day while I worked, and squeezed a couple of yoga routines in at lunchtimes.  That, plus Saturday’s gardening and Sunday’s hike, made for the most active week I’ve had in awhile.  Still not what I’d like, but at least better than wishing for movement!

Blogging.  I had fun sharing poems every Friday in April, and I hope you liked my choices!  This week, back to regularly-scheduled programming.  On Wednesday, I’ll share my April reads, and on Friday, the first of what I hope will be many garden updates.  Check back!

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

Gooooooooood Monday morning, my friends!  Weekends good?  Ours was, but I could really use another day.  I’m working on a big, complicated, slightly oddball work project and ended up putting in time on it on both Saturday and Sunday.  I’d have liked a weekend to decompress and turn off the work brain – I’ve been going pretty much nonstop for two months now – well, maybe next weekend.  (Actually, we’re targeting next weekend for our spring cleaning.  So here’s hoping I don’t end up bringing work home.)  I squeezed the work in while the kids were asleep – waking up early and working during naptime – and when they were awake, we were either out playing or running errands.  Nugget and I took a lovely long walk on Saturday afternoon while Peanut enjoyed an extended nap (must be nice) and saw several fire trucks, which never gets old.  On Sunday morning, Peanut’s BFF and her parents came over for a Moana viewing – I made popcorn and tropical fruit salad, plus a frittata for the grownups.  The kiddos had a fabulous time (and I think all the grownups did too).  And now it’s Monday – here we go again.

Reading.  Kind of a slow reading week – I didn’t actually finish anything in print.  That’s partly due to continued Metro woes, partly to more driving around (another client visit last week) and partly to my own mental fatigue from working crazy hours for two months straight (and through a couple of stressful situations).  I have really been enjoying Barchester Towers, and am SO glad I finally tossed the library books aside and went for it.  When I wasn’t in Barchester last week, I made some good progress on A Circle of Quiet, but I’m still reading it slowly because I want to give it my full attention and not miss a word.  I’ll probably go back to the library stack once I finish at least one of those two, but I am trying hard not to check too many books out of the library.  I really want to read more from my own shelves.

Listening.  Again, hand-in-hand with the light reading week goes a heavy listening week – thanks to crowded trains and one long driving day.  I made it through my podcatcher and back to Audible in just a few days; that never happens.  Listened to the entire audiobook of The Body in the Library over just a few days.  Next up, I’ve started The Once and Future King, which is 33 hours long, so expect to see more mentions of that in coming weeks.

Watching.  More Moana.  We watched snippets of the movie over the course of the week, and of course had our matinee party with our friends on Sunday – too much fun.  Peanut has taken to “sailing” on her bed (which is now a “canoe”).  Other than Moana, I haven’t had time for much television, but I did watch half of North and South on Netflix on Friday before the show disappeared, and liked it so much (Richard Armitage!!!!!) that I ordered the DVD from Amazon.  So I’ll finish that at some point over the course of this week.

Moving.  I decided to jettison the “making” category, because I kept writing “work product” – let’s be honest, no one wants to hear me gripe that much (sorry, y’all).  But I always try to keep moving.  Of course I was short on time this week, so all I managed was a few walks with Nugget – but they were nice long walks around the neighborhood and down to the river.  Next week, hoping I manage to squeeze in some running.  If I’m going to run the Parkway Classic at the end of the month, it’s now or never!

Blogging.  All poetry, all the time this month!  I’ve got an e.e. cummings poem for you on Wednesday – it wouldn’t be National Poetry Month without him – and then I’ll tell you who I’ve picked as my poet to read this month on Friday.  Hint: an old favorite!

Asking.  What’s up with you this week?

Hey, guys.  Everyone have a good weekend?  Ours was pretty decent.  I was recovering from a long, busy week that included one day that can only be described as craptacular.  Sometimes everyone has a day like that, right?  So I was a little stressed out all weekend – both because of that lousy day, and because of the volume of other work I have to get done this upcoming week.  I put in several hours working this weekend and really needed to put in even more, but I was squeezing the work in around family activities – so I did what I could do.

We did have fun as a family this weekend.  On Saturday, we took our March hike – which was really more of a walk – through the National Arboretum.  Then on Sunday, while Steve took Nugget to the grocery store, Peanut and I went to a local nursery and bought a few plants for our container garden, then went home and planted them.  We were early, apparently – even in Virginia, the edible plants haven’t really hit the nurseries yet.  But we got lettuce, sugar snap peas, and rosemary – good for a start, and we will move some things around once the tomatoes, basil, and other herbs are available.  During the kids’ naptime on Sunday I snuck away for a belay certification course at a nearby rock gym – I used to be belay-certified and loved climbing back in college, and I’ve been wanting to get back to doing a few things for myself (more than just reading on the Metro, that is).  I felt a bit guilty – I should have been working – but I booked the class three months in advance, so I went for it.  I loved the rock gym and can’t wait to get back on the wall soon.

Reading.  Due to the aforementioned crazy-busy and super-stressful week, very little reading happened – at least in print form.  I did read Chronicle of a Death Foretold – all of 120 pages – in less than 24 hours.  But since then I have been picking things up and putting them down.  Tried Wanderlust, Rebecca Solnit’s history of walking – which I do very much want to read – but wasn’t in the right frame of mind for dense nonfiction, so I think I’m going to return it to the library and try again later.  Then I started A Circle of Quiet, finally, and have been dipping in and out, as it’s the kind of book that seems to be lending itself to bite-sized reading sessions.  Finally, I decided to just go for it and read the book that I really wanted to read at the moment – Barchester Towers.  It’s been on my list since I read The Warden last year, and a friend has been urging me to shove everything else aside and pick it up for weeks.  Hope it does the trick of staving off a reading slump, if one is in the offing.  (I’m not sure; I’m feeling a bit more blah about my library books than usual, but that could just be because my own books are looking so pretty and inviting on my shelves!)

Watching.  While I haven’t done much reading, I’ve done some great watching this week!  First of all, we’re now officially caught up on Rock the Park – I’m glad that we’ve seen it all (thus far – the show is still airing so we’ll have plenty of episodes to watch in the future) but I’ll miss spending twenty minutes every evening with Jack and Colton.  And the other great thing that we watched this week – Moana!  Peanut has been begging to see it – we didn’t go when it was in theaters, but there’s a very strong Disney princess culture at her school – and I wanted to see it too, if only for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s soundtrack.  So we bought the BluRay and digital copy and on Friday night we let Peanut stay up late and had a movie night with just her (which she loved) to watch it.  I absolutely loved it – and it’s been a long time since I said that about anything Disney.  As one Amazon reviewer said: “The parents don’t die!  And there’s no romance!”  The songs are great, and the animation – of the ocean and sea creatures in particular – is gorgeous.  I’m trying not to suggest it as often as I would like to, because I really don’t want to get sick of this one.

Listening.  I was driving all over creation in the beginning of the week (okay, just up to Maryland a few times) so I ended up churning through my audiobook – The More of Less, by Joshua Becker.  There were more practical tips in it than in the last book I read from him, or on his blog – so I appreciated that.  It was a pretty good listening experience, too.  I think I’m going to alternate between an audiobook and podcasts, at least for awhile, so it’s back to the podcatcher for me this week.  I only have three episodes in there, so I’ll probably be choosing another audiobook shortly.

Making.  Not much, unfortunately.  Lots of work product last week, and not a lot of anything else.  Not many dinners – which makes the Whole 30 challenging – and no house projects checked off the list or new craft projects, and no photo projects.  I am feeling a bit out of balance lately – hope that changes soon.  Even if I don’t have time for actual projects, it would be nice to have time to cook real food and finish unpacking my house, eight months after we moved.

Blogging.  Telling you about the National Arboretum on Wednesday, and my March reading round-up (it’s a long one) on Friday.  Check back!

Loving.  The new Brooks Greenlight running capris I bought – in fun orange, pink, yellow and blue print – at Pacers last weekend.  I wore them climbing on Sunday and they were so comfortable and cute.  They have a nice high, wide and secure waistband, which is very helpful for those of us who have had two C-sections.  Can’t wait to take them out for their actual purpose – I’m still deluding myself into thinking that I’m going to run the Parkway Classic in April, so I really need to get going.

Asking.  What are you reading/watching/loving this week?

I’m starting to develop a twitch.

Until last weekend, it had been over a year since I’ve seen some of my books.  I packed them all – carefully, lovingly, slightly tearfully – into boxes back in January of 2016, as we prepared to move out of our house in Elma, New York, and into temporary living quarters a few towns away while we planned our bigger move back home to Washington, D.C.  Our new apartment was very small, and many of our possessions were headed for storage – including my books.  I set aside a small pile that I wanted to keep with me, and Steve – not realizing that they were intended to make the move to the new apartment – packed them too.  Oof.

I’d never lived in a place with no books before.  (The kids’ books were making the move to the apartment, but that’s not the same, as my lovely readers will surely understand.)  I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have at least one full bookshelf to call my own – in fact, I don’t think such a time existed; even in my board book days I always had lots.  Of course, it’s not like I was lacking reading material while my books were in storage – thanks to that miraculous little slab of plastic called a library card, I had access to almost any book I wanted.  The main central branch of the Buffalo library was only a short walk from my office, and I was already in the habit of strolling over there a few times every week to pick up and return books – so I simply continued on as if my own beloved books were not piled in a dark storage locker.  Thank goodness for the faithful little library card, right?  Virtually every book I read from January through July of last year was borrowed.

Of course, I consoled myself by repeating over and over again the mantra that “it’s only six months.”  In six months, I hoped to be unpacking a new rental house in northern Virginia.  Naturally, the books wouldn’t be the first things out of their boxes.  I always get the kids settled in their rooms first.  And I have to unpack the kitchen so we have a way to cook.  But then – books!

I was reckoning without our movers.  Ohhhhhh, our movers.  Because the book boxes were marked “storage” – where they’d come from – the movers assumed that they were unimportant.  Into the basement they went.  And not just anywhere in the basement – into the darkest, most inaccessible corner, behind the boiler, with piles of furniture and paintings in front of them.  Do you know those Loony Tunes moments, when a cartoon character’s eyes bug out of his head?  That was what I looked like when I realized where my books had gone.  And they’re so in accessible that, while I’ve gotten to a few boxes – by climbing on top of things and basically diving into the corner – there are many that I simply can’t get until the basement is cleaned out – a daunting task that, between work pressures, travel, and the need to get the living spaces livable (and keep them that way)… just doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.

Rest assured, I complained about this.  Steve would tell you that the complaining was constant, endless, and dramatic.  (MY BOOOOOOOOOKS!  I MISS THEM SO MUUUUUUUUUUUCH!)  Recently, he suggested that I have plenty of books and am, in fact, doing just fine.

Take a moment, if you need one.  I certainly did.

In a sense, he is right.  I do have plenty of books – a few months ago I unpacked about half of my collection, thanks to my willingness to climb over things and stick my hand into unfamiliar boxes.  And even if I read every book that is currently on my shelf, I would still have the library.  I have twelve books checked out right now – so many that I almost don’t have time to read my own books, because my well-documented library stack problems have followed me throughout my adult life.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to “trust in abundance.”  I wrote that I “hope to let go of the need to be fully-stocked and trust in the fact that I have everything I need, and access to even more.”  I was talking about my pantry and my closet, to be sure, but also about my bookshelves.  As it happens, I do have lots of books (even if many of them are squirreled away in a dark basement right now).  It would take me years to run out of reading material if I just read from my own (completely unpacked) shelves and never bought new books or borrowed from the library.  I’ve been trying to follow Project 24, Simon‘s goal to only buy 24 books in 2017 (a rate of two a month, which is my usual goal, only I am not allowing myself to utilize any of my exceptions) and I’ve been very disciplined about not buying books as a result.  And if I happen to fancy reading a book I don’t own, odds are that my library system will have a copy, or I can wait a few weeks until the month turns and I can buy it.  I As you all know, I just got my books unpacked, organized and shelved – hurray! – but even without my complete book collection neatly lined up on my shelves, it’s true that I’m not going to find myself with nothing to read.

In the spirit of trusting in abundance, I’m also making a concerted effort to purge some books from my shelves – if I have duplicates, for instance, or if I’m not likely to want to read the book again.  I know my limits, and there’s no way I will be able to pull off a true purge in which I take several boxes of books to Goodwill.  But a book here and a book there, tossed atop the stoller and walked to the library donation box – I can do that.  A bookstagrammer I follow mentioned that she has a policy of only keeping a book on her shelves if she gave it three or more stars – books she didn’t like, or that were only okay, have no place in her limited shelf space.  Inspired by that, I recently grabbed two Ian McEwan books (part of my “letting go” this year has involved coming to terms with the fact that, other than Atonement, I’m just not a huge fan of McEwan – and that’s okay!) and a duplicate copy of Barchester Towers – and off they went to the library, to make someone else happy.

I’m getting to a point in my life as a reader and human where I want to live in smaller spaces and be surrounded only by things that are actually special.  I’m trying to pare down and curate my life in many respects.  (How many small frying pans do I really need?)  On my bookshelves, that looks like keeping books that I have really loved (four and five-star books on Goodreads, for instance), books that I can honestly see myself re-reading, books that are particularly beautiful, and books that I want to be part of my permanent collection even if I’m not likely to re-read them.  (Although that last category shouldn’t really encompass very many books.)  It looks like jettisoning books that I didn’t love and won’t re-read, and most duplicate copies (with rare exceptions for duplicates in which both copies are beautiful and/or sentimental favorites – for instance, I have four copies of Little Women and will keep them all, thankyouverymuch, because they’re all beautiful, three are part of sets, and one I’ve owned since childhood).

The true challenge with this book-curating project is going to come when it’s time to pare down the kids’ shelves – for instance, when Peanut starts reading longer chapter books and isn’t asking for picture book storytime every night.  There are a few books that I thought were junk and that I couldn’t stand reading over and over again; those I’ll have no trouble tossing in the recycle bin (they’re not in good enough shape to donate).  But how will I be able to part with the kids’ books that are beautifully illustrated, or that I have sweet memories of reading aloud with my arms wrapped around one or both babies?  I know I’ll never be able to get rid of Time of Wonder or the Paddington or Fancy Nancy books, or my favorite Dr. Seuss books, or Nugget’s Richard Scarry collection, or the gardening themed stories that Peanut and I read as we plan our container garden, or… well, I have years before I have to worry about this, so I’ll just table it for now.  And keep accumulating books, because that’s what I do.

Do you try to curate your bookshelves?

Happy new week, friends!  Finally, I had a weekend in which I did NO work – although that doesn’t mean that we relaxed.  (Relax – what’s that?)  Saturday was Nugget’s second birthday, so the day was completely given over to celebrating – with playground fun in the morning, then party prep errands in the afternoon, and finally a pizza dinner in which the birthday boy had Mommy and Daddy all to himself on Saturday night.  Peanut was invited to a movie night and pajama party at a friend’s house, so we packed her off with her little backpack and took the little dude out for an evening of fun all by himself.  He definitely enjoyed having the undivided attention of two parents, but he did ask where Peanut was a few times.  (I don’t think Peanut missed us at all.)  Sunday was Nugget’s birthday party, which we held at a local recreation center’s soft playroom.  It was a blast and Nugget loved running around with his friends.  I think the little guy felt very loved and celebrated all weekend.  We sure are happy we have him!

Reading.  Last week was surprisingly productive on the reading front.  D.C. is in the midst of a looooooooong effort to refurbish the Metro tracks (and hopefully make the trains a lot safer) and this month, as a result, trains are single-tracking in the corridor where I happen to live.  The result has been infrequent and very crowded trains.  I only read if I can get a seat – holding those big library hardcovers in one hand while hanging on for dear life with the other is just not easy.  I can usually get a seat, but last week the trains were so crowded that I found myself standing most days.  Since so much of my reading time is crammed into commutes, I was pretty surprised to see that I actually finished three books and started another even despite the commuting woes.  Hidden Figures was the highlight of the week – now I can’t wait to see the movie.  I also finished The Hopefuls, which I liked pretty well (even if I wanted to smack 75% of the principal cast by the end of the book) and American Born Chinese, which was also good.  Now I’m about a third of the way through Princess Elizabeth’s Spy – such fun.  It’s all about staying on top of the library stack!

Listening.  I have a personal victory to report – I’m down to less than seven hours to go in Middlemarch on audio!  Since the audiobook was over 35 hours long, this is a BIG deal.  Thanks to crowded Metro trains for all the progress – thanks to seats being scarcer, I’ve been reading less and listening more.  I can report that both Rosamund and Mr. Casaubon are just as infuriating and insufferable on audio as they are in print.  I know you were wondering.

Watching.  Other than cartoons, we haven’t watched much of anything.  I’ve embarked on a campaign to convince Steve that we need to watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries.  We’ll see how that goes.  But in the meantime, for next week at least, I’m looking forward to more Rock the Park.

Making.  A birthday party for Nugget!  The theme, naturally, was fire trucks – so I made lots of fire-themed snacks and little placards to go with them.  We had “fruit flames” (pineapple and strawberry kebabs), “veggie flames” (little shots of red, orange and yellow peppers in ranch dressing), “fire hoses” (twizzlers), and “matchsticks” (marshmallow lollies with red sprinkles) – plus sandwich platters and a fire truck cake.  I loved putting together a fire truck party, and the guest of honor had a blast – which is what counts, of course.

Blogging.  It’s all about wrapping up winter (even though we’re supposed to get six inches of snow – what?!?!) so on Wednesday I’ll share the final tally of my winter list, and on Friday we’re moving on to the spring list.

Loving.  Good old Pinterest – I have to give them a shout this week.  I got so many comments and compliments on the fire truck snacks and the punny little chalkboards I made to explain what they were and how they tied into the theme – and while I wish I could take credit for all of that creativity, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due.  God bless Pinterest, and God bless all those moms who have thrown “fire truck birthday parties” before me and pinned their visions!

Asking.  What are you reading/watching/making/loving?