I've got my big cat sleeping on my lap so I’m typing this with one hand. I can still sip my steaming cup of chai and nibble away at my date bar and freshly baked date bread, though, for which I'm very thankful!
I was busy reading Junior Fiction books all week long, but I can’t tell you about any of them because they are considerations for next year’s Silver Birch nominations and I can’t reveal these to the public. It’s a situation where I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you - well, maybe that’s a bit drastic, but revealing these titles is quite strictly forbidden. So I will talk briefly today about the joys and challenges of selecting your "next read". We all know that there are always going to be more books that we want to read than there will be time to read them, right? So choosing what to read next can be both exciting and challenging. Do you choose a book from your own bookshelves, which, if you’re like me, are filled with books you’ve read and loved as well as books you want to read someday? Or do you choose a book in the pile you’ve checked out of the public library, which have due dates so the pressure to read them is greater? I also have to think about the date every month and make sure to leave enough time to read the selections for my book clubs - that’s at least one book each month, and two books every second month. Now that I’m part of the Silver Birch Selection Committee, I also have plenty of books to read and consider for this, too. All of these factors seriously limit my personal freedom to choose my next book. I was thinking that maybe next year I would have a “Year of Reading Selfishly”, a year when I can read whatever I want whenever I want, but I’m now committed to the Silver Birch SC for at least a few years… *sigh* I’m not sure I’ll ever be free to choose my own reading material. Maybe I’ll freeze all my holds at the library and at least work through some of the books “to be read” on my own bookshelves, or maybe I should set up a schedule where I read at least one of my own books each month, one library book and one book club book. The Silver Birch books are generally short and I can read a few titles in one week, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem to fit these in, too. Hmmm… something to think about… but it all seems to be a bit too ordered and arranged, not arising organically based on my own mood and preference. Still, looking at this post, I’m fortunate indeed if the biggest concern in my life right now is that I don’t always get to choose my own books.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. Stay warm, be well, and keep reading.
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