No, I'm not actually going on vacation. This is my metaphorical vacation bag of books inspired by my recent(-ish) summer vacation. The whole idea is that it was SO much easier to read books from my own shelves when I had a curated bag of limited options to choose from. I decided I wanted to continue doing that even when I wasn't on vacation and wrote
a post about it.
So far, I've been pretty haphazard about sticking to my limited options plan. I haven't shared any "official" reading lists here, but I've had a small stack on my nightstand I've only sort-of been choosing from. This is partly because I went on a pretty good run where I had a very clear view of what I would be reading next, so the whole choosing-a-new-book-dilemma was pretty well taken care of. All of the Sarah, Plain and Tall sequels, a book club book, a summer-themed Newbery book and its sequel, and a
Diverse Books Club pick (as well as a few others) have all been on my recent lineup -- and they were all books I had copies of! Admittedly, some were purchased quite recently, but they were still read from my own collection.
I have read some library books, but in about two and a half months, I read quite a lot more from my own shelves than I had been previously. So I wasn't feeling an urgent need to curate a "vacation bag" or TBR list to help me stick to my plan. But now we are headed into fall, I thought it was time to pull some titles off the shelf and get better organized. Fall is a time of year I always say I want to read "autumnal" books, but I never seem to get around to it. For me "autumnal" books are cozy, mysterious, gothic, spooky, and/or full of family secrets. But what typically happens is that September still feels like summer (which it technically is until the 22nd) and then when it really starts to feel like fall, the season is underway and flying by. If I don't get to some fall reads before Halloween, I tend to move onto something else even though it's still fall for quite some time afterwards -- officially, fall goes almost to Christmas!
All of this rambling is really just to say I think I will greatly benefit from having an "official" curated list of limited options to work from at this time of year. My hope is to (mostly) read from my own shelves and finally get to some of those fall books. I'm currently using a nightstand in our guest room for this little project:
So I'm going ahead and considering this my end of September and October/November list. I do not intend to read every single one of these books. It's just a starting point so I am not overwhelmed by an overabundance of options. I tried to have a nice mix -- classics, short stories, novels-in-verse, Newberys, poetry, a book-about-books, favorite authors, new-to-me authors, an ARC I won on Goodreads, and book club picks for both virtual and real-life groups. There are a few library books in there and I know a few more will get added over the season -- I'm just trying to strike a better balance, not abandon the library!
If I pluck anything additional off my shelves during the coming months not on this lineup, I will still call that a win for my TBR. In particular, I'm not sure what I will be in the mood for reading when I have round-trip (kid-less!) plane flights for my best friend's wedding in November. They don't happen often, but plane and train trips are some of my absolute favorite times to read. I'll be making sure to bring some books I'm excited to read in large chunks -- or possibly straight through! -- which is a luxury I don't often get these days.
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Do you have any fall reading plans? What's your favorite book or type of book to read at this time of year? I'd love to know!
P.S. Check out Hannah's
Three Ways I Tackled My TBR This Summer post! She's on a similar mission to read more from her own shelves and my
summer vacation post gets a shout-out :)