Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Books and Getting a Move On

Last month I missed my check in post with The Bibliophile Files@sarah did it! but I'm on top of it today! Simplify is my word for 2014 and my reading goals for the year tie into that nicely.  Here is my main bookshelf that needs to be culled over the next 10 months.
I spent some time last month sorting my fiction books into 4 categories: Keepers, Never Read, Re-Read and Let Them Go. The 1st round of Let Them Go books went to my Mom who is also an avid reader and is good at passing books on to her friends too.

The largest category ended up being Re-Read. As you can see, the books are doubled up on this shelf. Many of these books started out in the Keeper pile but ended up here because 1) I haven't read them in years or 2)I had too many Keepers.
The next shelf is the Never Read collection. I'm going to give myself an out with these - if I'm partway in and not enjoying the read they will move ASAP to the Let Them Go box and I'll move on. I have plenty of other books in the queue.
In January I posted about a few online book challenges I had found but I've decided they aren't really for me. I don't care to review every book I read and that was a part of these challenges. I just find it too time consuming with the amount of books I go through and I'd rather sew or start another book!

On Goodreads I have settled into a habit of doing a short review of books that are 5 stars (what I loved about it) or 2 stars, 1 star or DNF (what I didn't enjoy). The majority of my reads are 3 stars (good book but nothing special) and I use 4 stars to reflect a book that I enjoyed enough to recommend or seek out other books by the author.
I've yet to read a 5 star book this year but I do have a nice collection of 4 star reads.
  • After Her by Joyce Maynard
  • Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
  • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (Never Read)
  • Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
  • The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
  • State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Never Read)
  • Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
7 of out 20 is a really nice ratio of quality reads. Too bad that I had 6 2 star books on my list which is more than usual! It appears that my digital audiobook choices through my library are becoming slim pickings as they don't seem to be expanding their collection much. So I've started requesting books on CD that are on my reading shelves and bought a pair of Bluetooth headphones so I can play them on my laptop and be able to move about.  
Speaking of moving about - I bought myself a Fitbit as an early birthday present. This long bitterly cold winter has done a number on my healthy habits and it's time to get back on track. My cross country skis and snowshoes have not been touched even though we have plenty of snow!

I started counting my Weight Watchers points again this week too. I'm not going to blog much about this but I will be including an updated picture as part of my Month in Review posts. Each glass gem represents 1 pound to reach my goal weight. A nice little visual that will greet me as I enter my kitchen. And, if I have to move my ironing board upstairs to get to 10,000 steps a day until it warms up I will!
Elsa thinks she will need an extra meal if that happens as she likes to keep an eye on me.

10 comments:

  1. I always tell myself I am exercising when I get up to iron or grab something from the design wall, but I never thought of moving it to a different room. But come to think of it, that would not work with a two year old in the house. :) My friend loves listening to books on CD from the city library while she does things.

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  2. I have read quite a few not so good books and it has gotten me out of the reading mode. I like your grading system on Goodreads. Your 4 stars read one of them and "The State of Wonder" is on my list of want to read. Thanks for the list!

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  3. That's a lot of books!! I enjoy reading, but find it to be all consuming. I stick to about a book a month (or so) just to keep me from retreating from the whole world. :)

    Good luck with your marbles! Looks like a good motivation too!

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  4. I was just looking for a new book to start and the invention of wings is on my book case (a christmas gift from the publisher) so I think that will be the go.
    I also have a fit bit and find its just enough motivation to go for a evening walk or even run up and down the stairs 3 times to get to 10000 a day. I'm hoping to aim for 12000 a day in march… so far so good

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  5. Thanks for the list of your recent 4 stars. My library's digital audio book offering is "OK" but I'm also running low on options. May be going back to CDs.

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  6. I think that is how my kitty keeps trim - she follows me around wherever I go in the house.

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  7. Elsa is sucha pretty feline!
    Love the idea of visualising what you need to lose by using glass blobs lol Im in search of 28 and a bigger bowl now !

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  8. Good luck with your book plans. A great way to get started. Good luck also with the exercise and weight loss. Winter can interfere with a lot of plans!

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  9. Life's too short to read a boring book! If you're not into it, move on t the next one is my motto. I used to buy a lot of books, but now I'm trying to use the library much more. Books do take up so much room.

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  10. The glass gems to represent your weight loss are a great visual idea, one I think I might emulate!

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