Be Still My Heart

Gatsby Books

There is a new independent book store in town, and I may be in love.  There are new books, gently used books, and interesting vintage hardcover books.  There are fiction, non-fiction, young adult and children's books.  And a lovely long row of shelves devoted to literary fiction.  I've been hoping for quite a while that a non-specialty independent book store would appear.  My wish has been granted!

I didn't need any new books.  Far from it.  I have too many to read as it is.  What I should have been doing instead of browsing a new book store is finishing the last 40 pages in Wolf Hall.  I felt more than slightly ridiculous for procrastinating finally finishing the thing.

As of today, I have finished it.  All I needed was some new inspiration to get through it.  It may take me a couple of days to gather myself and write a review, though.

And nothing better to recover from a very long read than some quick reads, right?  I restrained myself and only came home with 5 new-to-me books.  One book (Speak) is replacing the library book I must take back soon.  Speak is a book that deserves a place on the book shelf, for I will certainly be encouraging people to read it.  The others were on my list (somehow, somewhere)...tinkers by Paul Harding, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.  I zipped through 84, Charing Cross Road (a delightful little read) this morning and will be reviewing it soon.

What does this mean for the list of books I wanted to get read for my Fall Into Reading challenge?  They are in danger, certainly, because I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hands and eyes off my new little treasures.  Dubliners and Our Mutual Friend sit on my nightstand glaring at me, bookmarks getting itchy to move to a new page.  Star of the Sea and Thunderstruck need to be read before my book club meetings.  Possession may just have to wait, sad as that may be.  Now that I've made it through Wolf Hall, however, I feel like I can do anything--so you never know, maybe I'll finish my challenge after all.