It isn't that I haven't been reading...

It's that I've been rereading. I've been sick for a couple of weeks now, and for me that means lots of time spent curled up with old favorites feeling sorry for myself. I've engaged in a veritable orgy of Agatha Christie reading, plus a dose of Austen with Pride and Prejudice. I'm behind on my book club reading (Water for Elephants is being discussed on Thursday), I haven't been able to make selections for my Decades list, and I've been terrible about blogging.

That said, I'm feeling much better and hope to get a healthy start on my book club selection tomorrow before the Oscars distract me. I'm scanning shelves again with an eye toward donating books to my library- I'm hoping have more space available will inspire me to reorganize my books and perhaps unearth some forgotten treasures. I'm determined to make some selections for Decades, and may follow SCB's example of including some books I read years ago in the mix. I just rediscovered my shelves of high school reading, and realized I would like to reread a few of those I'm sure I didn't fully appreciate the first time around. I'm also determined to give Jane Eyre another shot- I read it twice when younger (once around age 11 because my mom recommended it, once as a HS freshman for Honors English) and didn't like it at all, but I'm willing to give the Brontes another shot now that I'm an adult with a better understanding of complicated lives. Has anyone else out there reread a book they once disliked and changed opinions?

Suddenly I've got TWO blogs?!?!?!

I've been thinking about Creativity Resolutions, and about my desire to write more, especially about what I read, and so this new blog was born. No matter where I travel, no matter where I live, books have always been a central unifying theme. My last packout from Bosnia included an ungodly number of book boxes- I probably shipped back around 1300 books! I've never been a person who gave away books; I jealously guard them and generally hate to lend them out as I fear I'll never get them back. Though I spent many happy hours in the library as a child, I've fallen out of the habit as an adult because I hate to give the books back. I've even spent time tracking down old favorites from those childhood trips that are now out of print so that I can have them in my collection- thank goodness for ebay and half.com!

That said, I did clear out about 200 books last year as part of my Apartment Therapy cure and the process was cathartic. Recently I've been looking at my shelves again and thinking it is about time for another donation to my local library's used book sale because I'm running out of shelf space again. For me, letting go became easier when I discovered software that allows me to maintain a complete record of the donated books just in case I ever need to reread them in the future.

In honor of my books, and in appreciation of the countless hours of pleasure they have given me, I've decided to blog about them- the ones I loved, the ones I hated, the ones that made me think or laugh or scream or cry. I'll be reviewing new additions as well as old favorites, and I welcome your thoughts/opinions/comments/refutations as you see fit.