Your library holds list can simultaneously be one of your greatest reading tools and a reading nightmare. I am constantly adding books to my holds list but I try to do it with intentionality, i.e. spacing out the holds according to how many people are waiting per copy in the hopes of avoiding a deluge of holds coming in at one time. Usually I do a pretty good job of spacing, but sometimes several books will come in unexpectedly like a literary flash flood and that’s precisely what happened to me this month.
In the space of about four days I had three books come up for me to borrow, in addition to the novel I was already midway through, my reading challenge choice for this month, and a book that I had previously committed to review on a specific date in October. What’s a girl to do? Well, my Mama didn’t raise a quitter and since I have waited a long time for two of those books the only thing to do is power through and read like crazy. Challenge accepted.
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Just Finished
I had heard this book recommended approximately 5 trillion times on my favorite reading podcast What Should I Read Next? so I picked up a copy at a Nashville bookstore during a weekend trip in July. It had been in my stack since then and I finally picked it up, thinking it would be the perfect cozy fall mystery. I did enjoy it, although I had a hard time getting used to the constantly changing point of view. The characters were wonderful though, and I think I will probably read more in this series at some point, probably sometime over the winter.
If you like cowboys and modern day marriage of convenience stories (and I love both) then you will enjoy the Lonestar series by Colleen Coble. It’s just the right mix of romance, mystery, and Texas rough and tumble. I got the middle book in this series at a library book sale this summer and after I read it I knew I had to go back and read book number one.
I’ve mentioned before that I just can’t say no to a book in the Montana Rescue series and this one was no exception. The latest one, it was one of the holds list books I’d been waiting on for a while and I managed to read it in just two days. I may or may not have stayed up way too late one night to make that happen, but #noregrets. Storm Front was such a good story with themes of unconditional love and acceptance paired with storm chasing and tornado related search and rescue adventures. So good!
This classic title is a really quick read that only took me about half an hour to finish. I always thought A Modest Proposal was a novel, so I was surprised when I downloaded it to find that it is actually a short satyrical essay. Color me educated.
In Progress
You have to have been living under a rock to not have heard of this book at some point and everyone seems to have great things to say about it, including my husband who listened to it about a year ago. I can’t let him outdo me, so it’s about time for me to dig into it and see if I can improve my efficiency and creativity. This was the other book on my holds list that I have waited for for a long, long time.
After a few weeks hiatus because of traveling and other busyness, my girls and I are back on the Laura Ingles wagon. It’s so fun reading through this series that I loved so much as a child with my girls, and I know they love it too if having to skip a night results in sadness and tears. Also, it’s terribly anxiety inducing as an adult to read about Pa building the board house with the glass windows and boughten doors on credit knowing all the while what’s going to happen to the wheat crop in that strange ‘grasshopper weather’…
Up Next
When I heard about this love story between legendary author C.S. Lewis and his wife Joy, I was immediately intrigued. I’ve read quite of few of Lewis’s works and it never once occurred to me to wonder about the man’s love life. I can’t wait to read about the woman who helped inspire this brilliant author and how they came together, starting with a long distance pen-pal style relationship.
This is book three in the Lonestar series I mentioned a minute ago. I’m currently #2 on 2 copies on the holds list (oh, the holds list, my friend and foe) so I hope to be reading this last one pretty soon. Each book in this series is standalone, but it’s fun to see previous characters popping up if you’ve read more than one.
Having so many books to read is such a strange juxtaposition of anxiety and delight. But a reader can never have too many books, even if that glorious TBR occasionally causes a little bit of deadline related stress like I am currently experiencing.
And thanks to Modern Mrs. Darcy for hosting a quick lit linkup! Pop over there to get even more book recommendations.
They all sound so nice… is there actually something like a library holds list in control? Ahah
You make a good point, Mimi 😉
My library hold list is also completely out of control!!!
I think that’s a story many readers relate to!
I’m looking forward to Becoming Mrs. Lewis as well. I have no idea how to control my library holds list. I try to stagger things, but it rarely works. My approach is just to buy all the librarians at my local library a nice gift card to the cute coffee shop nearby at Christmas time and hope that generates enough goodwill that they don’t hate me the rest of the time 🙂
Oh my goodness, I might have to adopt that strategy this year! It can’t hurt, right?
These sound great! Definitely going to add some of them to my reading list!
These all look really great, thanks for sharing! I am always looking for some new reads
So many great suggestions! It’s hard to choose one!