Of Book Hops and Slimdowns and Lovely New Books

I've been making a concerted effort this summer to reduce the load that my TBR bookshelf constantly carries, ever so patiently.  I have a dual-pronged attack plan: read the books already on my shelf, and add no new books to the shelf.  I haven't been doing too badly, although I don't think I'm going to be winning any awards for my efforts.

Because of vacations and writing goals, I've only read 3 books so far this month [hanging my head in shame] and not big heavy tomes either.  (Of course, if I hadn't lost the book I was reading, that number would be higher.)  And of those three, one was read to my daughters, one was an ARC, and one was for my book club.  So my bookshelf isn't really all that much lighter.  Egads, let's hope the second half of July is better.

I am proud to say that I haven't purchased any books so far this month.  That pride isn't very far-reaching, however, because the lack of money spent does not equal a lack of new books in my house.  There's the book from PaperbackSwap that I received:  Angela's Ashes.  The LibraryThing Early Reviewer book: Skin.  The BookSneeze Review book: Resurrection in May.  And the book I borrowed from a friend (inadvertently): The Eyre Affair.  I don't think my bookshelf is getting any lighter.

If you are coming by from the Book Hop, thanks for coming by!  You are probably wondering when/if I'm going to answer the question of the week: What book are you Dying to get your hands on?  The answer to that is really simple.  I am bursting at the seams with the desire to get my hands on The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.  I HAD my hands on it and it disappeared.  I never lose books...especially books that I'm in the process of reading.  I was almost done!  I need to get my hands on it soon!