The Content Reader

As you see on the image above, the number of books on my TBR shelves are diminishing. How I wish it was true! This is just what is left on my selves here in Brussels. The rest of the around 170 books are in Sweden or on their way there, plus all the other books I have read. It looks really empty here now, and as Marcus Tullius Cicero said:   "A room without books is like a body without a soul." True enough. The choice of choosing a book to read is also diminishing. I am a mood reader. When I look for a book, I go through the books I have not yet read to get a feeling for what I want to read. As soon as I decide that I have to read a book for a challenge, a list, a book club etc, it tends to be so hard. Spur of the moment feeling is good. I managed to read five books from my TBR shelves in January, which was a good achievement. It went so fast to read, and I exchanged one book for another. Now, it seems I am stuck with reading four to five books at the same time and I ...

I have been doing an inventory of my book cases. That is, going through books I have read and books from the TBR shelves. Space is always a problem, and I must admit, that these days I look at the book after finishing it and decide whether to keep it or not. Influenced by KonMari? Maybe. I had a big problem in the beginning doing it,  but I am getting better at it. It also helps that we will move next year and the idea of moving a lot of books I will never read again is helping. Book boxes tend to be very heavy. And there is not much space where they are going. Here they are! So, one sunny day I went through my books and managed to sort out 65 of them! Yes, I was rather amazed myself. In Belgium there is a FB group called Swedes in Brussels and I posted a short message and bawang! The books were given to someone eager to read them. I am quite happy since I don't really like to throw books away. About the same time (this happens when you clean up dark corners) I found two...

I know I said I will not accept any more challenges this year. Especially, since as soon as I promise to read certain books they seem to shy away from me! Yes, it is true. They become the last books I want to read. However, having entered into a cleaning up procedure at home with the help of Marie Kondo and her  The life-changing magic of tidying  I seem to see my TBR book cases in a new light. The books are standing there and shouting: Read me! Read me! when I look at them. Yes, it is really some kind of magic. So, today I had a very nice, relaxed day and had time to catch up with a few other blogs. And what do I find? Yes, you are right, a lot of interesting reading challenges. However, being firm in my promise (yes, I can be firm sometimes!) I entered only challenges that for the most part will reduce my TBR shelves. For an update, go to my TBR shelves .