I am frequently a haphazard reader. I usually have three to five books in progress and have no compunction of picking up new ones where and when I find them. I am a voracious reader and consumer of books (a distinction I had never heard of until last weekend and I am still not positive exists). However this month something shifted just a bit. As I was in the process of updating my Goodreads account with all of my recent Kindle purchases, I began skimming through all of my purchased but not read books on the site. As someone who as never maintained any sort of to be read list beyond the pile that is in immediate reach of my arm or the first page of my Kindle, i was shocked to discover the books that I had either metaphorically or literally buried as I went off in search of the next best thing. The next step was actually organizing the books that physically exist in my room. I placed all of the already read books to the back and moved the ones patiently waiting to be read to the front. I discovered for some reason I buy a lot more non fiction in book form than fiction which is opposite from my digital purchases (also counter-intuitive as one of the reasons I love my Kindle is not having to lug around large books and nonfiction tends to be heavier than fiction). So with this knowledge in hand I have set out a few new ground rules for my reading life. One is a more comprehensive examination as to what I am reading through a spreadsheet consisting of when a book was read, what form it was read in, what genre it is in, and why I bought the book in the first place. I hope this will allow me to be a better consumer as I can see why I read what I read. (wishful thinking but it will also give me statistics on my reading life which I love). Additionally I am setting the goal of reading two books I already own for every new book purchased. I started this by establishing a goal of reading ten already owned books before purchasing a new one. I am in the middle of the tenth without breaking down but as I am going to one of my favorite bookstores (the Harvard) this weekend I am not sure how this will work out. I made the large mistake of including in the ten already purchased books, three that were the beginnings of series so I am going a little crazy desiring the next books in each. I am already seeing how this structure may be problematic for me as I read thematically and limiting myself to what I have purchased restricts that. But with restriction usually comes creativity so we shall see. Hopefully this blog will follow my miraculous ability to stay within my new parameters but it is more likely that it will be witness to a complete breakdown of my newly structured reading life.