Good afternoon Saloners! Today finds me thinking about my two trips into Europe later this year. I’m going to Amsterdam and Bruges with my friend at the end of August and then (hopefully) Rome with my husband in October. As these are creeping up on me, I’m already thinking about the books I want to read before I go there. I haven’t made up lists yet, but I already have two I know I want to read – Amsterdam: The Brief Life of a City by Geert Mak and I, Claudius by Robert Graves. I have the second one out from the library and I’m waiting for the first. Do you have any suggestions for great books set in Amsterdam, Bruges, or Rome? History or fiction?
Which brings me to my second decision of this weekend – I am not going to buy any books until after my travels for the year are over. That would be towards the end of October. I need that money more for experiences, and with 450+ books sitting around waiting for me to read them, it’s not like I’m going to suffer from having nothing to read. (Even if I did, I have enough books that I plan to reread to keep me going for years). As ever, though, I have some exceptions, so I don’t chafe too much about this new rule.
- I’m still allowed to buy anything I’ve already preordered, though these run out in July.
- I’m also still allowed to buy the next Wheel of Time books should I get that far in the series reread before the end of October, A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin, and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss when I reread the first in that series.
- I’m allowed to buy books on my travels as souvenirs.
- I can still take in any book that’s free, either from the library, review copies, or programs like Amazon Vine.
What I’d really like to do is get my TBR pile below 400 this year, but I don’t really think my resistance is going to last that long. I’d rather just think about saving money towards my trips!
As a bit of a recap for those who weren’t around this week, I reflected on my reread of Anne of the Island, reviewed Chasing Aphrodite and a number of great romance novels, and wrapped it up with a few tips about SEO for book bloggers. This week I’ll be hosting an interview with Elizabeth Chadwick for the release of her newest book, Lady of the English, and reviewing hopefully quite a few books to catch up on my backlog. I have tomorrow off, so plenty of time to actually do so.
Wishing all of you a fantastic week!
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