...39 Library Books

Ever since the library opened back up (the one in Queen Anne is now open Tuesdays and Thursdays), I've been going basically twice every week. There was one time a couple weeks ago where I went both days it was open for three weeks. And recently I've been checking out large stacks of five or more books at a time, eight or nine if I go into the young adult section and see what they have on their shelves. So now I have a total of 39 library books in my room, and all of them are piled onto the top shelf of my desk and onto the desk itself, and my stool. 

I moved them against the wall for this photo so it would be easier to see all of them.

I've also been going to the Queen Anne Book Company (we refer to it as "The Bookstore" because it's basically the only one we go to) multiple times a month. Last summer and during the school year there were a few times we went multiple times a week, and even once where we went twice in one day. This summer I haven't been going as much (because, I may have spent all my allowance on books already), but it's always nice when I do go in because most of the employees know me. It makes me happy when they say "Hi, Rachel!" when I go in, and when I checkout we talk about the books we've been reading or the books I'm getting if they've read them, and it makes my day a lot better! Then I get home and start reading. I now have a total of 102 books on my shelves. 

Not all of my books are here: there's 3 more I bought that are now on the bottom blue shelf, and several on the middle shelf of my desk. There's also some behind my avocado stuffy, the green thing by the red shelf.

It would probably be more if I had kept some of the middle grade books I got a few years ago (like The Mysterious Benedict Society series, or the Mr. Lemoncello books), but I ran out of shelf space a few months back, partly because two of the shelves didn't have books in them, so when Mom and Dad built the bookshelf in the basement, I decided to move a lot of my books down there so everyone could have easier access to them. The YA books I have on my shelves now are basically only getting read (multiple times for a few of them) by me. I've been trying to get Dad to read some of them, because he's the only one who actually listens to me rant about the books I just got or the ones I finished or the ones that come out this year that I'm excited for. I think so far he's read two of my books: Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa, and The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. 

But there's still quite a few that I've read more recently that I want him to read, but he hasn't gotten around to them. I'll list them here in case anyone is interested (at the bottom of the post).

My reading goal for the year was 104 books: 2 books per week. Last year I just made it to 100 books, but I think one of them was a shorter book (which still counts!) that I read December 31. I'm at 92/104, and I thought earlier this month I'd be able to finish my goal by the end of summer, but I've only read eight books this month, two less than April, which is currently the month I read the least books in. The most was May with 19 books. I have to read twelve books in August, unless I finish another one between now and the end of July, which is definitely doable. 

I read 13 in January, 11 in February, 14 in March, 10 in April, 19 in May, 17 in June, and 8 so far in July. 

Part of the reason I haven't been reading as much is TV. Normally we'd watch a few episodes as a family then go upstairs around ten, and I would read for an hour or so during reading time, but TV time has been stretching out to later and later and I've been more tired during the day so my eyes hurt too much to read, so I just go to sleep. But this week we started watching a family TV show: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and that same day Mom and I started Fate: The Winx Saga, which also has hour long episodes, and so I've been staying up until 11:30 watching TV and then I just go to sleep. Another reason, which is probably a large part of it, is I've been reading webcomics, which are basically just comics that are only available online, but they don't count towards my reading goal. But this past week I've started reading more because I've caught up to the webcomics and have to wait a week to read each new episode. I know I'll definitely be able to complete my goal, if not before school starts then before December 31. 

Here are a few of the books I want my dad to read that I recommend to anyone (all of them are YA):

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong: a Romeo and Juliet retelling that takes place in Shanghai in the 1920's with a monster and disease-type thing. 

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim: a princess has magic, which is forbidden, and her stepmother curses her so she can't speak, and her brothers are cursed into cranes. For each word she speaks, one of them will die.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: a girl is trying to find her brother so she agrees to be a spy for the rebels and goes to the military academy as a slave to get information.

Those are just a few, but I highly recommend them!