I seriously followed this reading challenge for most of 2013 whilst I was stitching together Jorie Loves A Story! I loved the idea at the jump-start because I think any reader goes through a transitional period where the art of the gathering of books far outweighs the measuring of time towards reading the books we’ve gathered! Life can derail our plans quite spontaneously as much as we can fall out of love with a genre OR theme. Sometimes, we find books which will truly captivate our hearts, our minds, and our spirits — but perhaps the timing of their placement in our lives was wrong!? What if we needed extra! bits of time to sort through whatever we were going through in order to emerge into the very right moment! to grab said book off our shelf, dig into it, and settle into this brilliantly written story which has left us ruminatively pensive after we close the sleeves!? This is precisely why I was attracted to this particular challenge, because its such a self-revolutionary idea! To challenge ourselves to dust off the cover of a book we were always keenly mad to read, yet time distracted us. Time intervened. Now its our time to reset the boundaries of the reading spectrum and conquer reading the books we find winking at us as we walk past them!
My 2014 Shelf Selections:
- Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson*
- Bluebird or the Invention of Happiness by Sheila Kohler*
- The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti by Annie Vanderbilt*
- The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland*
- The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber*
- Lara by Bertice Small
- The Beach Street Knitting Society & Yarn Club by Gil McNeil
- Needles and Pearls by Gil McNeil
- Casting Off by Nicole Dickson
- Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist
- Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg
- Einstein by Walter Isaacson
Alternates:
- Eragon by Christopher Paolini
- Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
{*} attempted originally in Bout of Books, 8.0
You’ll notice that I am including books I originally attempted during my first Bout of Books readathon, but I didn’t actually finish the books, nor did I blog about them! Therefore, I felt they were free to be included in my 2014 selections! I most dearly want to read the stories, as my heart was intrigued during the Bout, but oh! The hours slipped through my fingers quicker than the sand in an hourglass, and *poof!* I haven’t even broached the spines once more! Imagine!? I now have a lovely year to dig into these lovely books, sort out my thoughts and impressions of them as I transition through my list, giving myself a second chance to re-affirm that you can never be too late to meet the book which has calmly sat on your shelf awaiting your proper attention!
IF your joining this challenge for the first time like I am, did you have similar motivations? Which books did you settle on? Ones that you’ve had for absolute ages and eons? Or, ones that were within the time frame of the challenge and decided to jump in on them before ‘years’ stacked distance from giving you the chance to read them?
In summary:
To read the books you’ve been bypassing on your bookshelf
& give them the attention they deserve!
Join other readers as they endeavour to do the same!
Hosted by the same blogger who brings us Austen in August!
{SOURCE: 2014 TBR Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.
Thank you for the bit about at certain stages in life acquiring books seems more important than actually read them–I think that this is where I have been for a while as I’ve been transitioning into the role of the adult. I just had never really thought about it in those terms. I just thought I was being irresponsible and exhibiting a lack of self-control.
Also, I am looking forward to seeing how you like the Madame Olivetti. My mom bought it for me and I just haven’t read it.
Your very welcome, Lori! :)
I believe this with all of my being because I have oft seen this come true for me in my own reading life, which is how I know how very true this perspective can alleviate all doubt or uncertainty you have as you grow and find your reading habits either take a bit of a dodge or dive here or there, or they evolve and go into places you weren’t expecting them to reside! Life is best lived through, but without the knowledge of how we get to where we’re headed, even in our reading lives, we tend to second-guess ourselves or stress ourselves out to the absolute max!
You definitely do not need to continue to bang your head against the self-doubt wall of non-truths which give you the perception your not mature enough to handle the readings your seeking to absorb! Goodness! Sometimes I think we are simply far, far too hard on ourselves!! :( :(
Ahh, I look forward to your return visits, so we can continue to chat about books,… Madame Olivetti holds a special place for me in my heart, as its all about a typewriter and the woman who choose to develop a connection with it! :) I secretly dream of owning retrofitted & restored typewriters you see! Hence the typosphere inclusion in my sidebar linkage!
I shall look for you when my post goes live!
Until then,.. ease into a book and respond to the story knowing that the other stories will have their rightful moment in your life, when the stars align to bring it back to you!