So much!
I’ve been fortunate to find myself under a virtual waterfall of books for the past month. It’s been so much fun opening boxes of book orders at school, being approved for E-ARCs on Eidelweiss, receiving bookish care packages in the mail from authors and publishers and friends!
Have you ever had so many books that it started to feel stressful?
I’m not entirely drowning in books, but I’ve had to make myself a reading calendar to plan how I’ll fit in some of these books before their book birthdays. And after the initial woozy glee of opening boxes of books at school, I refrained from tucking multiple titles in my bag for the weekend.
Weird, right?
But as much as I’m feeling some reading pressure, I’ve also been enjoying the books I’ve been reading! Want to see what I’ve read in the past few weeks? Me too, but since half of them are digital I don’t have a nice #shelfie to share. Instead I’ve made this reading calendar to keep myself organized.
Which brings me back to a print vs digital book debate that I’d set aside for a couple of years. Since I’m someone who shares so many of the books I read…with students, with colleagues at school, with virtual colleagues through bookmail…I really enjoy having physical copies of books that I can carry in and say, “I was reading this and it made me think of you. Would you like to borrow it?” I like physical books because my TBR stack builds a sense of anticipation. The covers form a visual memory onto which I can anchor my impressions and memories of the book. I can sort the books I’ve read into text sets or categories to remind me whether I want to buy book club sets, or get a copy for my personal library, etc. With digital, I love that I could finish a book and start a new one without a moment’s delay…especially with books in a series. My e-reader is light and slim and easy to carry…but the battery runs low eventually and my charging cord isn’t long enough to charge and read at the same time without awkward acrobatics. I also haven’t figured out how to strategically place books on different shelves on my device to plan or structure my future reading.
I’m leaning toward actual print books…but I have about fifteen more E-ARCs on deck for the next couple of months…and a long trip with limited luggage space.
However you choose to read, Happy Reading!
ureadiread 
I love your calendar. My TBR pile gives me anxiety at this point! What I need it more time! I’ve also wanted to get advanced copies of books and jealous of people who get to read books before their book birthday! Lucky you.
LikeLike
I totally understand your dilemma. I’m mostly a hold the book in your hands kind of person until I travel. Then I love my Kindle. I have a shelf of ten books on my #mustreadin2019 list, but they tend to get bumped by others. Always trying to keep up, but it’s a good problem to have.
LikeLike