I have a problem with my library loans just now: I keep adding to their numbers, and then I pull books from my own shelves to read instead.

Now I have seven holds to pick up and need to read seven items to have room on my card to borrow them. This calls for a read-a-thon.

And, as my dilemma happens to coincide with Seasons of Reading’s High Summer Read-a-thon, there’s a match to be made.

Now I understand that children’s books are not to be included in this event, but they are a major part of my reading life, so I can’t resist.

I’ll keep a separate tally for them (and you’ll notice there’s one leaning against my stack) in case anyone thinks that I’m trying to cheat the other participants. (Not a chance.)

I’m also going to track my magazine reading for my own amusement, because my magazines need almost as much attention as my library books right now. If I don’t catch up, I can’t renew: that’s incentive!

The tally and notes will probably live in this post, unless it becomes too unwieldy (here’s hoping it becomes unwieldy, because that means I’ll have stepped up the reading pace).

Monday:
41 pages, Shari Lapeña’s Happiness Economics, novel already in progress and such fun
24 pages, Alice Munro’s The Moons of Jupiter, the still-relevant story “Dulse”
Also read: 1 magazine

Tuesday:
47   pages of Shari Lapeña’s Happiness Economics, great for poets/writers, still fun for others
160 pages of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key: Head Games, creepy (FINISHED!)
20   pages of Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s Crow Planet, non-fiction
Also read: 2 magazines (54 to go)

Wednesday:
16 pages, Alice Munro ‘s “The Turkey Season” (a Christmas story in July!)
69 pages, Shari Lapeña’s Happiness Economics (FINISHED!)
45 pages, Crow Planet, now making me want to investigate her other books too
Also read: 2 magazines

Thursday:
237 pages, J. Jill Robinson’s More in Anger, three mothers/daughters in conflict (FINISHED!)
Also read: 5 magazines (I am on a mission!)
Finished listening to: Tina Fey’s Bossypants (waaaay fun)

Friday:
152 pages, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows  (FINISHED!)
160 pages, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom (FINISHED!)
46    pages, Crow Planet, which reminds me that non-fiction is cool, too
Starting some new novel off the stack, haven’t decided which…
and I’ll be reading another magazine tonight, though I probably won’t finish.

Pre-weekend Summary: I should be able to finish two more books (to make my target of seven) and so far 4 of the 5 I finished have been library books, so I’m sticking with my goal. But I really thought I’d’ve read more pages by now. Maybe I’m just picking all the wrong books? Tomorrow I will snap a new photo with the remaining books in the pile, and I’ll see if I can try harder for the final two days!

See...it looks smaller, right?

Saturday: Dutch Lit Weekend
101 pages, Gus Kuijer’s The Book of Everything (FINISHED!)
146 pages, Hella S. Haasse’s The Tea Lords, Trans. Ina Rilke

Sunday: The last day? Maybe I can still finish The Tea Lords, and a couple of the children’s books that I’ve borrowed for Iris’ Dutch Lit Month
195 pages,  Hella S. Haasse’s The Tea Lords, Trans. Ina Rilke (FINISHED!)
182 pages, Meindert DeJong’s Shadrach (FINISHED!)
113 pages, Meindert DeJong’s The Almost All-White Rabbity Cat (FINISHED!)
18 pages, Alfric Campbell’s On the Floor

Running Totals for the Week
Read-a-thon pages: 65 + 227 + 130 + 237 + 358 + 247 + 213 (1467)
Magazines: 1 + 2 + 2  + 5 + 0 + 0 (10)
Children’s book pages: 101 + 295 (396)
Audiobooks: 1 (1)
Finished: Already Begun + Throughout 1 + 7 (8) 

And I even posted thoughts on the 4 books that won’t get the full BIP post here (on GoodReads for audiobooks and serial fiction).

Summary:
I read about half again as much as I would in a normal week, cleared 8 library books off my stack of library loans (actually, 9, because one I didn’t care for), and I enjoyed reading the other participants’ posts and progress. For a week’s worth of read-a-thon-ing, I’d’ve thought that I’d’ve read more, whereas this looks like about two single-day read-a-thons put together, but the fact is that the rest of the world doesn’t stop for read-a-thon-ing, so I figure that’s about right.

Thanks to Michelle for hosting!