Helloooo! The photo above is from my “reading retreat,” which turned out to be a really fun day. You want to hear all about it, RIGHT??? Pour yourself a delicious cup of coffee or tea and I’ll fill you in.
The day of my retreat was Wednesday. I don’t like working Saturdays, but I do love having Wednesdays off! I started the morning at the gym, because doesn’t every reading retreat start with some weightlifting? Just kidding… I’m sure most people would skip that part.
After that I felt like I earned the right to be lazy for a while. I went to Starbucks, where I sat for almost TWO HOURS, sipping tea and finishing my book. I love it when I sit down to read, knowing that I can read until the book is done. After that I went to Barnes and Noble, where I browsed for a while. Then I got another cup of tea, and sat in the cafe working on my TBR list.
When I say TBR, it implies that I have a nice, tidy list. The reality is, when I’ve been saying “I’ll put that on my TBR” it could mean I made a mental note of it, took a screenshot, or put it in my notes app. So now I took the time to go through my notes, the photos on my phone, and my memory (ahem, I don’t recommend that last one!) and made an ACTUAL LIST. In my planner! I’m pretty sure this method will work much, much better.
I bought two books, stopped at the library on the way home for a third, and put a hold on one more book. I didn’t want to get too crazy, because one of my new books is a long one and I don’t want a flood of library holds coming in just as I start a 900 page book.
The Soji Shimada is a classic in the Japanese locked-room mystery genre, and my library doesn’t have it. I bought the Ken Follett because although I want to read it (Engie has inspired me!) it’s hard for me to commit to starting such a long book. I know I’ll read it if I spent actual money on it! And, the Claudia Gray is the third book in a series written in the style of Jane Austin, where various characters from her books become involved in mysteries. These books are really fun, but there’s absolutely no reason for me to own a copy, and it was available at my library so I snatched it up.
Overall it was a great day. I read, I browsed, I thought a lot about books- what I want to read next, how I’m going to schedule my reading for the rest of the summer, what book I want to bring with me to Texas, etc. My reading retreat was a success!
What would you tell me over coffee? Does anyone else have a weekday off of work? Have you read any of these books? If you could buy three books right now, what would they be?
25 Responses
My TBR is kind of whatever comes in on the library holds. I will hear of a book I like and either put it on hold or mark it “for later” depending on how many books I have on hold and how far back I am in the queue. Right now I’ve scheduled it so I have had a bunch of ebooks come up; I am going to be travelling soon so I wanted to have a full Kobo! I paused all my other books at the “paper” library, and I tried to stagger them so they don’t all come in at once.
For a while, every time I heard about a book I wanted to read I put a library hold on it. This got out of control though, as suddenly a bunch of books would come in at the same time. It sounds like you have a good, organized system going!
What a fun day!!! I would love to do this so need to make a future shouldless day into a reading retreat! I did spend some time at a coffee shop reading on my last shouldless day and it was lovely.
I just finished ‘summer romance’ last night which I loved. I stayed up past 10 to finish it. I exclusively read ebooks from the library so I use Libby to manage my TBR list. You can tag books and name the tags so I have one for TBR. Then when I check a book out, I go to the TBR list to figure out what to request next.
I don’t buy books for myself anymore since I am not a re-reader. So if I bought 3 books, I would buy them for my kids. I would probably get the first illustrated HP book but I am not sure what else I would buy! They would be chapter books for Paul, though, as we have soooo many picture books for Taco already.
My son got one of the illustrated Harry Potter books last year- it was very cool. I’ll bet Paul (your Paul that is) would love them.
For some reason, reading in a coffee shop is so much fun- more fun for me than reading at home, I don’t know why.
I’m glad you enjoyed your reading retreat and it sounds like it was relaxing and productive!
I sometimes miss having a weekday off work. It’s obviously nice and convenient to have Saturdays and Sundays off, but for some of the time when I worked in TV news, I had Mondays and Tuesdays off and it was great to get errands done without dealing with weekend crowds. I was running at that time but shorter distances so if I had a weekday off work now, I’d love to be able to do a long run then and have fewer people to share the trails with!
Yes, when I’m doing long runs I often do them on Wednesdays. Not that I encounter many people on the trails around here, even on the weekends. Trail running just isn’t that popular in South Florida.
Your reading retreat sounds lovely (and it feel very “on brand” that you started the day at the gym!).
I’m in the middle of reading the James Herriot series so if I was going to buy three books, I’d buy the two books in the series I don’t own and a copy of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman because I feel like it’s a book I’d really like to own.
Yes, I read your blog post about 4000 weeks and it reminded me I want to read it! Maybe I”ll get it on my next reading retreat.
I can only think of two books to buy. I’m about to start Real Americans, and after that I’m going to read 11/22/63. Even though it came out a while ago there’s a long hold list on Libby for it, so I’ll probably just buy it since this is one that I definitely want to read on Kindle. I know from your experience that the physical book is heavy, which was a great reason to start Book Retreat with a strength workout. The 2nd will be I Conquer the Castle for CBBC – if I can get it at the library I will but if I can’t then I’ll buy it.
I don’t have weekdays off but I’m hoping that will change next year;-) Specifically to having 5 weekdays off. The new job is OK, but it’s not how I want to be spending my time.
Oh yeah… I have to get our CBBC book! There are copies available at our library so I’ll probably just do that.
Ha, I like the sound of your schedule next year!
Your reading retreat sounds like it was very successful! I had a job way back when that had me working Saturdays and off Tuesdays, which was very handy for things like making doctor’s appointments. I could handle a set schedule that wasn’t M-F, but one month I had a not-set/changing one and it drove me mad not to know.
Ooooh no, I could not have a changing schedule! That would also drive me mad.
I rarely buy books, but I’m considering buying I Capture the Castle for CBBC. It seems weird that I’d be using a library book, but right now that’s how it’s going to be unless I find a used copy somewhere. I don’t know why I’m so stingy about buying books – I certainly buy a lot of other random things!
Oh, I’m not going to get my hopes up about the Ken Follett book, but it’s SO GOOD. That trilogy was unputdownable for me.
I believe you- I’ve read Ken Follett before so I know this book will not be boring! I’m planning to bring it on my trip, because on the way back I’m going to spend a loooong day in the airport- perfect for an unputdownable book.
ooh Shadow of the Wind!!! I read that! It was weird in a GOOD way. Memorable!
Okay, that’s a good review! Thanks for that- now I’ll make sure it doesn’t languish on my TBR.
Engie inspired me to start _Fall of Giants_ too! I’m considering keeping it as a background read (perhaps in the afternoon or at night) while I spend my reading prime time on shorter reads.
Jenny–Your reading retreat sounds lovely. I would have skipped the gym (but I would have completed my morning walk, so I feel what you said about “deserving” to sit for two hours).
More reading-related ideas welcome!
Okay Maya, we can compare notes on Fall of Giants! I’ll be starting it soon.
How do you like the Decagon House Murders so far?
I enjoyed The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, The Shadow of the Wind and unfortunately didn’t get into Three Body Problem. I don’t know your other books 🙂
I really like Japanese authors. Kinae Minato and Keigo Higashino are good.
I would buy Dragons of Eternity (pre-ordered. The original series is my favorite from childhood) but other than that, IDK I need to browse. I dislike hard backs so not too often brand new releases.
I’m not a fan of hard backs either. I really like Decagon House Murders and Mill House murders (by the same author.) Somehow I’ve gotten really into these Japanese mysteries lately. My son just read The Three Body Problem, and he said it’s hard to get into but worth it. I’m still on the fence about it- but since I have a copy in my house i’ll probably try to read it.
Ooooh! I read the first book of the Claudia Gray series – Murder of Mr. Wickham and thought it was a lot of fun too. I love a good Jane Austen spin off. There’s one that I want to read- The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennett, Witch – that has a really interesting premise, but I haven’t been able to find it yet.
What a luxurious feeling to know that you have the time to finish a book!
Oh, I’ll have to look for that Lydia Bennett book- it sounds like something I would like. The second Claudia Gray book, and the third one so far- are just as much fun as the first.
This reading retreat sounds so pleasant! It makes me want to take a random day off work so I can just go to a coffeeshop in the middle of the day to read a book. I did that once and it was so nice to be reading while everyone around me was working on their laptops – SUCKERS. Ha!
Let’s see… what three books do I want to buy. Well, I may buy the CBBC book, I Capture the Castle. I also want to buy 11/22/63 because you have definitely inspired me to give that book a try! And… I’m not sure what the third book would be, but I know I could figure something out if I was at a bookstore, haha.
I love going to my local B&N to browse- this summer I am not working so I have treated myself to those trips a few times. Usually I only purchase the coffee, since I am so cheap, but what I also do, if a book catches my eye, I add it to my Amazon wishlist and get it at a later date. As much as I should not be supporting Amazon, books are just cheaper there. Example: my kids are at the anatomical stage “what’s inside our brains?” “What’s inside my stomach?” How does the eye look on the inside?” so there was an atlas of human body at B&N which I know would be perfect for them- a huge book, colorful, with detailed illustrations about human physiology. Priced at $50! A beautiful book but it was $38.95 at Amazon…
I want to buy a “Parent, Work, Thrive” book by Yael Schonnbrun in hopes it will help me beat the overwhelm come September 🙂
OK, now I need to get a Ken Follett audiobook. You AND Engie have both read – and liked – them. My “TBR” is kind of…. ad hoc, and worse than yours was! I am using the library now, though! The biggest challenge is that I use Apple Books and buy books super-cheap. But then… I have a ton of books that are “want to read” and others that I own and I have a hard time keeping track of what is what and…. wow. That sounds really awful and disorganized! I need to get it under control. SO GLAD you had this day!