Read the Books You Have

It might be the product of following so many book blogs, or perhaps the perceived challenge of a new as yet unfilled book case. It might even be the propensity to wander book stores when left unsupervised, or Amazon's 'recommended for you' section designed to separate you from your hard earned cash.

Whatever the reason, I am overflowing with books. Books stacked two rows deep over three book cases; books plied on my desk; books in bags and boxes stored in my parent's (damp free, heated and insulated) loft; books on my laptop; books on my kindle; books on my ipad; books on my wish list. I started to catalogue my books sometime in 2011 and barely scratched the surface before giving up. I need to get back to that, but with my collection now even bigger and spread across two homes I'm not sure if I'll manage it.

Before long I'll have to move out of my little flat and who knows if a new place will be able to accommodate the dream I have of all my books living on shelves in easy reach, not in piles or in boxes in the loft. Mother suggested that I might have to get rid of some of them. That made me feel a little sick for about a second, but I'd had the conversation with Husband before and he categorically refused to entertain the notion. "You are not getting rid of any of your books" he'd said before, and repeated again after I mentioned this latest downsizing conversation. "You're book collection is awesome, and too much a part of who you are to get rid of."

It takes a lifetime to build a library and I'm only just getting started.

Regardless, we both know that money and space is tight at the moment. So, in an effort to tackle both of these things I'm making a pledge to read the books that I have. I hereby  swear that I will not buy and new, non-uni books for the whole of April and will instead read the books that I have.

P.S. I'm deliberately holding off on posting this until after 12.00, just so that you all know it's not an April Fools. 

*gulp* Wish me luck!