Books to Read in September

Audiobooks:
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Library Books: 
The Great Escape by S. E. P.*
Quiet by Susan Cain
On Request:
Straight by Hanne Blank
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

BOTM/Challenges:
Ruthless by Anne Stuart*
Untie My Heart by Judith Ivory

New Series/Authors:
The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks
Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
The Use by D. L. Carter

Continuing Series: 
The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James
The Good, the Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison
Haunted by Kelley Armstrong*

No Place to Run by Maya Banks*
Rio by Allyson James
The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Vampire Who Loved Me by Teresa Medeiros

Not on Original Plan:
Wickedly Wanton by Kristabel Reed
Legacy of the Witch by Maggie Shayne
The Wicked House of Rohan by Anne Stuart
The Theory of Attraction by Delphine Dryden
Calder by Allyson James
Braden by Allyson James

Currently Reading:

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong*
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Read: 

The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks

Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James
The Use by D. L. Carter
Wickedly Wanton by Kristabel Reed 
No Place to Run by Maya Bank
Legacy of  the Witch by Maggie Shayne
The Wicked House of Rohan by Anne Stuart
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

The Theory of Attraction by Delphine Dryden
Ruthless by Anne Stuart

Rio by Allyson James
Calder by Allyson James

Braden by Allyson James

The Great Escape by S. E. P.

*ROR Fall Challenge Books

ROR Fall 2012 Challenge (11/15)

1. Read a Romantic Suspense 
No Place to Run by Maya Banks

2. Read 2 books with the same title. part 1
Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

3. Read 2 books with the same title, part 2
Don't Tempt Me by Julie Ortolon

4. Read a book featuring a cover with Fall colors
Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

5. Ties that bind...read a book with strong family ties (brothers, sisters, etc) 

The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks

6. Readers Choice
The Use by D. L. Carter

7. Pick a 5 star read from another challenge member's shelf
The Great Escape by SEP (Dawn's Shelf)

8. Read a book with a setting other than England or North America
Ruthless by Anne Stuart

9. Read a book by Lauren Dane or Julie James 

Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

10. Read a book that has a temperature word in the title (hot, heat, cold, sizzle, etc) 
Hot Island Nights by Sarah Mayberry

11. Read a book with a Hunky Highlander 
The Chief by Monica McCarty

12. Read a book with an "O" word in the title 
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

13. Read a book with a pirate
The Windflower by Sharon and Tom Curtis 

14. Pull out your tissues and read a "Two Hanky Read" (http://likesbooks.com/tears.html) 
Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath

15. A good laugh after your "two Hanky Read"... read a "Favorite Funny" (http://likesbooks.com/funny.html)
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

The Great Book Purge of 2012

Moving sucks.   I know, it's not an earth-shattering statement, but it's fair to say that it's a pretty universal truth.  It's especially true when you've lived in a place for awhile that has a lot of storage.  This means a.) you've had time to accumulate a lot of stuff and b.) enough space to store said stuff out of sight so you don't realize how much stuff you have until it's time to pack it up.

I've always had a good number of books.  I'm sure more than the average person, but over the last two years, it's gotten completely out of control.  There were many contributing factors:

1. The Big Borders stores closed.  This meant lots of books on sale, so I could buy more than I usually did.  

2. I discovered the book section at the Goodwill.  It's really hard to pass up a book I might want to read when it only costs $1.00.  

3. The Borders Express stores closed (see #1 above).

4. I discovered the Friends of the Santa Cruz Libraries book sales.  Books by the pound!  Books by the bag!

After about a year and a half I'd added hundreds of books to my collection.  I'm not exactly sure how many I had prior to Borders closing in April, but I'd guess close to 300.  When I started the purge last week, according to Shelfari I owned 1016 books.  Over A THOUSAND books.  About 20% are e-books, but still, that's 800 books taking up space in my house.  It doesn't seem possible, but it's true.  What did I do?  Yikes.  A thousand books is a little crazy.  I mean could start my own small used book store (specializing in romance novels).  Really.

Now for the reason for the post -- the great book purge of 2012.  I've gone through most of the books that were on the shelves in my bedroom and culled the pile some but I'm still having trouble letting go.  And I haven't even tackled the books in the front closet. *sigh*  

In the days since I started this post, I did tackle the books in the front closet (which is now empty) and got rid of a bunch of books; most of which went back to the Goodwill, where I purchased them in the first place.  Someone said to think of it as a $1 rental fee.  I like that. :)  But after all that sorting and all those bags of donated books, according to Shelfari, I own 876 books.  It sure seemed like I got rid of more than 150 books.  And that doesn't include the two bags of books I'd like to sell online.  I've spent so much time sorting, moving and organizing them that I haven't had any time to read any of them!  Oh the irony!