167 days....50 books

The snow is lightly falling as I write this. I still say it's much too early for snow, but if it does have to stick around until spring now, I think I can live with it. There is something to be said about curling up on the couch with a warm blanket and a good book and with winter just around the corner, I plan to spend many hours in the near future doing just this. To prepare, I have thought about ordering one of those 'seen on t.v' blankets, what is it called, a Snugli? My husband laughs when we see that infomerical on t.v because I always tell him that I 'need' one of those things. Doesn't he know that I am hinting that a Sungli would be an ideal gift for me for Christmas which is also fast approaching!? And if it's too embarrassing to dial the 1-800 number on the screen, I noticed in the latest Avon catalogue that they are selling an imitation Snugli for a few dollar more! Of course, I would prefer he call that number because he might receive two for the price of one and then we could match! Plus don't forget about the little night time reading lights that are thrown in as a free gift!!

Anyhow, I am thinking I need to devise a plan in order to accomplish the challenging task of ready 50 books in 167 days. Lets do the math.... if don't get started soon, it's not going to happen!! I mean what if some of the books don't hold my interest? And Christmas happens during those short five and a half months! It's a good thing I plan on staying home for Christmas, more time to read! Based on my calculations, if I start tonight I have to read a book every 3.34 days! That's a lot of reading. Perhaps I need to log my hours spent reading as well. This blog is becoming more complicated by the minute! Anyone ever wonder how many hours it takes the average reader to get through an average book? And just how many pages does an average book contain? My mind is spinning with all these questions that I must find the answers to. On top of it all, the library just called and I have two more books ready for pick up that I must run down and grab sometime this week before they ship them back. The books that are waiting for me are Anita Shreve's latest book, A Change of Altitude and.....and.....I'm trying to think what the other title could possibly be, I have quite a few on order at this time, most of which I've tried to include on this list even if they are not books that I own myself.

Oh, I've remembered!!! It's a Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens. This one, I am really looking forward to! Funny how when I think of books by Jodi Picoult, (like the one I am currently reading) and Lori Lansens, I think of Pharmasave in Estevan, which is really the only place to buy books in our city of Estevan, other than Walmart. I discovered both these authors while browsing the books, waiting for a prescription to be filled. I impulsively purchased Lori Lansen's book The Girls one day and it was one of the best books I have ever read! To learn more about Lori and her books, check out her website! http://www.randomhouse.ca/newface/lorilansens.php

Now Jodi Picoult I didn't just rush into. This was simply because Pharmasave had about 8 titles of her novels on display and every single cover jumped out at me, and all the back covers of the book sounded really really good! So what I did was rush home, hit the computer and order half a dozen of her books from Amazon.com. And like what normally happens in my house, these books arrived one day and I tore them open, so excited to have them in my possession, and then off to the shelf they went!! I don't think I picked up my first Jodi Picoult book to read for another six months at least!! But when I finally did, I was hooked. Like many of her fans that I've encountered since discovering this author, the first book of Jodi's that I read was My Sister's Keeper. And like I mentioned earlier in my ramblings, I only have two books of hers to finish before I'm all caught up!

So I suppose I have already come up with somewhat of an order that my books will be read, for at least the first four anyway! I will finish up Songs of the Humpback Whale, then moved on to Karen Kingsbury's Take One. I have this one already on hard from the library and I'm having a rough time getting into it since I've already read it's sequel, Take Two! Next the two books I'm picking up from the library this week by Lori and Anita will be read. Okay I feel good about this, it's a pretty good mix of authors in my opinion! For sure, four of my favorites, already tried and true novelists that never fail to disappoint! One book, every 3.34 days. That will then bring me to the end of March by which time, Rachel Vincent's new book should be in stores! Rachel is another one of my favorites, but that's a story for another day! For now I have to stop typing and pick up my book!!!