Monday, March 12, 2012

Spring Break Read-a-Thon, Day 1



Well Today is the first official weekday of my Spring Break.  I have set a goal of reading and reviewing at least 3-5 books a day.  Why?  I want and need to get my book pile of review books down.  I have cut way back on the number of books I am accepting to review.  I have noticed several things in the past six months that has me a little concerned.

 First and foremost is that I seem to have moved away from my reason for starting my blog.  Originally it was started to help my students find books they might enjoy reading.  They are always saying that they can't find anything to read.  Over the last year I have observed from my statistics that I have been reading and reviewing more adult books.  That is not a bad thing.  I have parents who read my blog and are looking for books to read.  I have lost some of my students because of this. I need to find a balance in what I review.  I also need to read and review the books I've had on my shelves here at home and at school for the last couple of years.   I  often purchase books for my shelves at school.  If it is a young adult book I read it first to make sure it is appropriate for the age group I read.  That doesn't mean it won't go on my shelf.  It means that often I need to send a letter home to make sure the parents are okay with their child reading it.  I've got stacks I'd love to read and place on my school shelves, but I've not had time to read them.

Another problem created by my backlog of books to be reviewed is that my writing has virtually stopped.  Not because I want it to, but because I am playing catch up on my reviews.  There are some days where I may exceed my goal of reading 3 - 5 books.  No, I am not skimming or speed reading, even though I do read very fast.  I have at least 10 - 15 books on my desk I have started and not finished.  When I looked at my bookmarks in them they were anywhere from half to three-quarters finished.  Yes I know, I'm really bad about starting several books and then not finishing them until later, because life happens, and so does school, you know grading papers, etc.

I have not decided if each day I am going to post  reviews as I go, or try to post them all at one time.  So please, check back often this week to see what I have read.  Besides, Katrina at Callapidder Days will soon be hosting her Spring Reading Thing and I want to read from my TBR pile, instead my review pile.

So join me in reading over spring break.

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