Friday

I had an early night and slept well so I was awake before the alarm went off this morning. Worryingly, I have that scratchy feeling which heralds the arrival of a cold ... I hope I'm wrong.

I'm meeting my friend  J for lunch so will leave home earlier to go to The Shires shopping centre before we meet. I have a blouse to return and need to make a routine appointment with the optician. We haven't decided whether to go out for a meal or to just have sandwiches at J's; I don't mind which option we settle on, it will be lovely to chat with someone face to face. This will be my first social outing since the week before Christmas.

This morning I will make a start on sorting through the books. I don't know why the photos looks so murky!


This is the result of bringing all the books together in one place. Actually that's not quite true as I have left the remainder of Ced's books and some music theory books where they are as I already have the photos ready for when I place the adverts.

My priority today is to clear the ones stacked on the floor. The two piles on the right were sorted yesterday and are going to the charity shop so I just have the other two piles to decide on today. I think they are a combination of keeps (genealogy books, photography manuals, and books on Trowbridge) and ones that either have to be returned to or could be gifted to friends.

I've been giving some thought to my reading choices. The book group I used to run met my original reason for starting a book group, which was to discover new authors and genres but then drifted slightly away from that and I didn't enjoy the selections as much so reading, although I read every day, slowed down completely and I wasn't enjoying it. I read 70 books in 2018 but struggled to get through 33 in 2019. 

Most of my reading, outside of the book group choices, tends to be the books my sister passes on to me. We share the same tastes and I'm grateful for her generosity but occasionally I like to spread my reading wings and choose something different. So with that in mind I have been looking at the online reading challenges for 2020. Most are too big a commitment but this one looks interesting and very doable ...



I'll use this as a guide. The twelve books will be my own choice and will be by an author I haven't read before. That's my aim, and to keep costs down I'll be using the local library if I don't already have something appropriate in the bookcase that I've chosen myself. 

Comments

  1. That's an interesting book club schedule and will be totally your own choice so you're more likely to get through them.
    Take care and I hope that any cold bugs will leave and not return.
    xx

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    1. I doubt I'll get involved in the online discussions side but as a simple guide, I think this will be a good way of expanding my choices.

      Oh, so do I ... I'm not sure I can cope with a cold so soon after the last illness.

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  2. I joined a fb reading group last year. I didn't follow their script at all but did take some of their recommendations up. Some of the books were fabulous. My favourite book of 2019 was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which was one of the recommendations. It really is a glorious read.

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    1. Goodreads categorise it as historical fiction so it could be my January book, assuming it's available for loan. Thank you.

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  3. Oh, I hope you are not coming down with a cold, Eileen! I do hope you are able to head it off! I hope you have fun and a good chat with J over lunch. Good luck with decluttering your books and the reading challenge!

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    1. I've just arrived back at home after spent a great afternoon with J. I've been sent home with a jigsaw puzzle so I will probably start it over the weekend.

      I didn't get much of the book sorting done today so will continue on Monday.

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  4. I like this reading challenge & thank you for sharing; I think I will use it too. My reading in 2019 was less than my normal, & I had many books I struggled to finish. I am thankful to (1) live close to our library branch (2) that it's a large library system so my borrowing choices are vast. Oh I do hope it isn't that super cold virus going around - I know it's on both sides of the pond! Happy healthy weekend.

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    1. I'm doing some Google searches to find suggestions for each category. It's a nice easy challenge isn't it.

      I'm hoping it's just an ordinary cold. I can't face having that super virus!

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  5. A wide selection of books. A month isn't long to be bored reading the same type. Good luck!

    Hope you don't get a cold, but sadly it is inevitable at this time of year. My husband and I are still trying to get rid of ours. Thanks to our grand-daughters my husband has been getting one straight after another with just a few clear days in-between and mine has lasted for about three weeks and developed into a chest infection. Oh, the joys of grand-children!

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    1. The beauty of this challenge is that you only have to read one book each month though you can read more than one book from each genre if you want to. I like historical fiction (January) so will probably stick to that genre all month but will struggle to do more than the one book for romance (February).

      If this doesn't develop into a cold I'm almost sure to get one when I resume teaching next week.

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  6. Thank you for posting the reading challenge. I like it and may use it as well.

    Debra

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    1. I'll be interested to see which books you choose for each month.

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  7. I'm interested in using your challenge to add more variety to my reading through the year, thanks! Now I'm off to google to see what public domain historical fiction I can find :)

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    1. The credit for the challenge belongs to Kelly Mongan at mongenmoments.com. I just found it online and decided to take up the challenge. I'm glad you're doing it too and will be interested to see which books you choose for each month.

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