Indulge Me

I did not realize how much I missed this book blogging community until I started reading your blogs again. I spent two hours this morning leisurely reading through your posts and I have enjoyed every single minute. I have missed you so much, but I am anxious to reconnect.

The problem with being absent for so long is that I want to run full-steam ahead, and I am afraid that I will set myself up for failure. I know that once I get back to Kansas the daily life will resume and in three weeks I will be back into the school routine. In these final days of summer school however, when I have completed all papers and have no household responsibilities, I find myself romanticizing about all the free time I will have. I will be able to read any book that strikes my fancy, to develop the daily writing discipline, and to blog for hours on in. So, while I know that this fantasy world will not become a reality, let me indulge myself today.

I have already discovered two new reading challenges that I want to join - and I am sure there are others out there that I have not yet read about. These two challenges I did not even allow myself to contemplate whether I should or shouldn't --- I just joined. I will write separate posts about each, but I simply couldn't resist sharing my excitement now.

Stephanie is hosting the Everything Austen challenge from July 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010. I had so hoped to take a Jane Austen class this summer where we would read each of her six published novels and then watch a corresponding film adaptation, but alas, that class was not offered this year. I am debating about "developing" my own class for this challenge. BUT...there is always the option of making this an Everything P&P challenge. I have had Pamela's Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy on my bookshelf for months and this would be the perfect opportunity to read those in conjunction with Pride and Prejudice and then watch the Colin Firth film and compare it to the Keira Knightley film. Oh my, which direction shall I go? Personally, I think Stephanie needs to offer an Everything Austen Challenge #2 starting in January and I can do both options over a one year period.

Michelle at Galleysmith is hosting a Harry Potter challenge from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010. In that time period we are to read all seven books in the series. I never thought I would be interested in these books, as I do not have much interest in fantasy fiction. But, due to the powerful recommendations of the book blogging world, I decided to give the audiobooks a try. I listened to the Sorcerer's Stone in April and cannot decide if I am more in love with Harry Potter or Jim Dale. I found that I would invent errands to run just so I could listen to one more chapter of the book. I am thrilled to now have a "viable" excuse to listen to all seven books. And, I think I would also like to watch each of the six movies as well (I have not watched any of them yet).

I am VERY excited for both of these challenges and look forward to reading about other challenges as well.

One more event that I have just discovered in my morning reading is the BBAW - that is, the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week that will be held September 14-18. I am so very excited to see what all this is about. This will be the second annual event, hosted by My Friend Amy, but since I did not even know "book blogs" existed last September, this will be my first time to participate. It is my understanding that 400 different book blogs were represented last year, and this year they are hoping for 1,000 or more. Isn't that exciting?! There are over one thousand people out there that enjoy reading books and writing about books as much as I do! I anticipate finding many more blogs that I absolutely MUST follow, and I am sure to add hundreds of books to my TBR pile as a result.

I still have a lot of catching up to do in blog reading. I hope to that over the next couple of days as I gear down from Asheville and gear up for Kansas. I am looking forward to routine again.