unofficially...

Yes, I've sworn off reading challenges except in a few special cases. But when I made this decision, I did qualify it with the "it's okay to unofficially participate" stipulation. So, here I am, already jumping on board a new challenge. But the Ban on Spending Book Challenge, hosted by the lovely J.Kaye, is a bit different. And I almost feel it a moral imperative that I join in (unofficially, of course). If not a moral imperative, certainly a financial one!

And since I'm adopting this unofficial status, I figure I can bend the rules a bit. The challenge is to make a list of books from your TBR piles that you must either read or admit that you're never going to read and pass them along to someone else. Before you are allowed to spend another cent more on additional books, this list must be dealt with. The bending of the rules part comes in here...I'm not going to make a list beforehand, as I've found that keeping to a strict list is what was taking some of the joy out of my reading life. Instead, I've decided to shoot for 20 books knocked off my TBR piles before spending any more money on books for myself. (Can't remember what the policy is on library books, but personally, I'm going with "I can get out library books, but they don't count towards the 20 books.") So, while I'm playing a little loose with the rules, I feel like I'm keeping with the essence of J.Kaye's challenge.

I have to admit that J.Kaye actually announced this challenge a couple weeks back, but I delayed joining in (even in this unofficial manner) because Rich and I were going to be enjoying a little getaway. And how do we choose to spend our evenings after a day of sight-seeing? Well, in a bookstore, of course! And with that on the horizon, I knew there was no way I could stick with the book buying ban. But that trip is behind us, and I have no excuse for further delay.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I hope this doesn't get too painful! :)

I guess now would be a good time to award those blame points that have accumulated during the past few weeks, huh? (Since I'm leaving the library as an option for bringing books into the house, there will still be points to be awarded during this "trying time" but probably not as many as usually.) Anyway, what has made it in lately?



And well, frankly, several of these are simply not my fault!
*Shadow Cities by Robert Neuwirth...totally blame to Eva as I read about it in her sidebar and it sounded really interesting.
*A Long Way Gone by Ishmeal Beah...Kara's fault. At least, I hope I have this one right...she recommended it quite some time back, but I can't find the comment now. I figure even if I have the wrong book, it's still her fault because I thought it was this book. :)
*The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver...Jean is the guilty party. After reading
her review a few months back, I've picked this book up in the store several times but always set it back down. This time my willpower ran out.
*Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology by Jean Ruth Adams...not pictured here because it was given to Rich and Annie, is Jimmy's fault. (Jimmy is J.Kaye's son. As if it's not bad enough that she's there tempting me with all these delicious reads, she's now got her kids in on the action!)
And finally, I bet you can all guess who is the most evil temptress of all, can't you? Yep, Nymeth...who made me bring three books home...
*Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland...irresistible review found here.
*Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo...even more irresistible review found here. (This one missed getting in the picture, as I forgot I had moved it to my RIP pile.)
*Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer...simply because she's mentioned this as one of her favorite books. (You know, she has such exquisite taste in books that I think I'd probably read the phone book if she recommended it!)

Whew. I think that now has The Blame Game up-to-date. For now.

Edited to add:
I was even worse than I thought the last few weeks. As I was putting away those books from the picture, I noticed another small pile of acquisitions. (Green Angel by Alice Hoffman, Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, and Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese)