Ruth Ayres hosts a weekly celebration on her blog. I appreciate this invitation to look for the positives in my week.
I have been to three libraries, one bookstore, and all over Amazon in the past week in an effort to acquire the books I need to finish off my 2014 reading goals. My TBR piles are literally toppling all over the house. I have made half a dozen lists in my notebook as I plot out the Newberys and Shelf of Shame books that I have a chance–however small–of completing in the next 11 days. I love all of the planning and stacking and collecting and acquiring and sorting and maneuvering and sampling of books that happens in December as I try to reach my reading goals.
I’m 16 books away from my overall book total goal for 2014 (200 books, not counting picture books). I realize that’s more than a #bookaday between now and December 31, but I’m an eternally optimistic reader. I can always do a bit of last-minute padding of totals with graphic novels (Little White Duck is made for this kind of reading emergency), verse novels, and early chapter books if I need to. Given that I’m in the middle of twelve books right now, I feel very confident that I can complete these sixteen.
I recognize that some of my specific goals may not be met. My Newbery goal seems all but out of reach, given that I’ve read a whopping one book of the twelve I challenged myself to read. The remaining four books on my #MustReadin2014 list are dauntingly fat. I do still plan to finish 10 more YA novels by December 31 to wrap up the 60 YA Book Challenge I set, but no more than two are likely to come from my Shelf of Shame, which will leave me two books short there.
Still, I’m not calling it yet on any of my goals. Until midnight on December 31, there is hope. Reading time will be at a premium over the next 10 days. I’m off for winter break, so theoretically there should be lots of uninterrupted time for reading. But my kids are also out of school for winter break, and parenting is often an extreme sport at my house. I’ve decided that devices need to be put away as much as possible. No twittering when I could be reading. My son’s daily hour for video games needs to become my daily hour for reading (not cleaning or cooking or running errands). And I have two beautiful hours at the start of each day when I am up early before anyone else in my house gets up. That’s got to be seven or eight books finished right there.
Whether I finish all my specific goals or not, I know that over the next 11 days, I will read some good books. So today, I celebrate the wonderful reading I did this past week (6 books finished) and the wonderful reading that is to come.
I also celebrate friendship and shared booknerdiness. Just as I’d finished snapping the photos for this post, I got a tweet from Carrie Gelson with a link to her Celebrate post today–which is about the very same topic I had been planning to write about! Here’s to ambitious reading goals!
And now, back to my book!
the dirigible plum 
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