Readerly intentions

I've signed up for Dewey's Read-a-thon! What better way to celebrate my 50th birthday and the blog's fifth anniversary than by excessive reading on that very day, right? Of course I am operating on the assumption the extended family will want to celebrate on Sunday this year instead of on the 24th or else I may have to go missing for several hours during prime reading hours. Such is life.

I've held out hope all year that I would manage to read 100 books by December 31--I've not reached triple digits since 2001--and I'm feeling devious enough to finagle that by putting several short books into the queue for this fall. In fact, I read Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop last night (just 123 pages) and I am now over the misguided notion I'd had for years that I would not like her books. But I also intend to participate in the Kristin Lavransdatter Readalong with Richard and Emily and everyone else who signs up as well as tackle Wilkie Collins' No Name for Rebecca's Classics Circuit, so there will be some long-term commitments mixed in with one-nighters.

And then there are the library books and the pre-orders that will continue to trickle in through early November and all the older books on the shelves that are wondering when I'm going to make the time to pay some attention to them. . .

Must get to reading before I psych myself out.