It’s Summer Reading season and I’m here with an update on Week 1 of my own personal, self imposed summer reading challenge.
(if you missed my original post about my summer reading, you can find that here)
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I’m going to be super honest with you: I’m totally obsessed with this summer reading list. Completely nerding out over it.
Most readers know that reading is not usually ONE hobby. For most of us, it’s many hobbies collected under the mega-category of READING.
Obviously there’s reading books. But there’s also:
Talking about books
Researching books (looking up new releases, listening to podcasts about books, following bookish people on the internet to find new books)
Adding to the TBR
Taking books off the TBR (does anyone do this? I’d really like to start but so far I can only figure out how to add books)
Planning what to read next
Organizing books
Buying books
Playing the library holds/waitlist game
Finding ways to turn reading into a game (book bingo, challenges, list making and completing)
So this summer reading list project is tapping into my bookish nerdiness in an organized way that I really haven’t done in a while. And I’m loving it.
What did this week look like in Summer Reading List Land? I’m so glad you asked.
I finished a book!
Is this a Cry for Help by Emily Austin is my first completed book off my summer reading list.
Here’s the gist: A librarian experiences a bumpy return to work after taking time off due to a mental health crisis. She grapples with community outrage over library policies, her wife being away from home, and the unexpected curveballs of daily life, all while processing deep grief and reflecting on how her imperfect past led her to her current life.
The way the details of this book are dripped out left me constantly curious for more (like, what’s the deal with the library patron who keeps emailing to ask about birds??).
Plus seeing the world from a public librarian’s viewpoint made me even more supportive of the work they do.
I’m currently reading:
There lives a Young Girl in Me who Will Not Die by Tove Ditlevson
Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD by Susan C Pinsky
The Art Spy by Michelle Young*
* Ok, this one isn’t on the summer reading list.
I know what you’re thinking. “One week in and she’s already gone rogue” but I SWEAR that’s not it.
This book was already on my holds list for Libby audiobooks. When I finished my last audiobook, I was at the top of the list for this one. There were about 2 days left before I officially kicked off my summer reading, so as any rational reader would do I clicked “unsuspend” thinking I’d get the book right away and be done in two days. (Please don’t tell me this is unrealistic. I don’t need that kind of pessimism in my life). Besides, all my summer reading list audiobooks had waitlists.
But then I didn’t get the book right away. “Availabile soon” sometimes means you get the book in 10 minutes. In this case it meant I got it 3 days later.
So now it’s been a week and I’m 50% through and the summer reading list will have to wait because I’m soooooo disciplined. (Well, actually none of my other books are available yet, but whatever, let’s just agree that I’m showing amazing self restraint).
Speaking of waitlists…
There are a few books I already own or that are already loaded onto my (supposedly no longer supported) Kindle. The rest I plan to get from the library. So this week I placed holds on everything.
Well, everything except Whistler. Ann Patchett is narrating that one herself, so I want to listen to the audiobook. But for some reason the audiobook is still not showing up in Libby. I ended up placing a hold on the ebook as a backup. But I’ll keep checking back.
If you love the thrill of a waitlist watch (seriously some of the best dopamine I get is from checking on my library holds), I’ve posted my place in line over on Instagram and I’ll be updating that weekly. I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll get most of the books this summer. But there’s a couple that are gonna be nailbiters.
But waitlists and library holds are bringing the DRAMA already because Fatherland by Robert Harris has been “in transit” for over a week and has yet to show up at my library. Where is it?!? How long will it take to get to my branch?!?!? Is it lost?!?!?!? Do I place another hold on a different copy?!!?!!
It’s almost too much excitement to handle.
(Yes, I’m being sarcastic. But I’m not totally joking. These last weeks of the school year have been INTENSE and I’m happy to have some self imposed/self generated bookish drama.)
In other news, I finished 6 books in May, so I’m feeling like I have a chance at finishing my whole summer reading list! Have you started your summer reading yet?