Vacation reading prep

**Somehow I wrote this post and then saved it, and went on vacation. I'm posting this now even though I'm back, and I'll post a follow up to report on what happened with my reading!**

I'm about to pack for vacation, gathering enough distractions and gear for 10 days away from home. I'm traveling by car with my cat, so some of the space will be taken up by his mammoth carrier, cat litter, food, but the rest is for books, right?

So far I've requested and picked up 2 books from the library, been chipping away at a pile of books borrowed from my sister, downloading audiobooks from Audible and the library, downloading ebooks to my Kindle, and generally neglecting the snazzy "to read" shelf I created in my apartment, filled with actual books that I own and have never read.

Here are the books I am bringing with my on my vacation:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (recorded the movie on Tivo, then realized I really wanted to experience the book first. I have to read this to clear up space on my Tivo! I've renewed this twice now.)
• The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl by Shauna Reid (Also renewed twice.)
• First Grave on the Right / Darynda Jones (recommended by my sister. Fine, I'll give it a shot, even though it's not really the kind of stuff I read. Wait a minute - isn't that one of the things on the challenge list?)
• 8. Read a book in a genre you normally wouldn’t choose. (romance/fantasy)
• 11. Read a book suggested to you by someone you know.
  
• The painted girls / Cathy Marie Buchanan (for book group in August)
• The Mystery of Mr. Nice by Bruce Hale (library edownload, kids)
• Feminist Ryan Gosling by Danielle Henderson (library edownload)
• Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo (audio)
• Unlimited by Jillian Michaels (audio - I've been listening to this an hour or two at a time, but my phone crashed and deleted the file so I will have to listen along and find my place again)
• My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (audio)
• The Figure in the Shadows (Lewis Barnavelt, #3), The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (Lewis Barnavelt, #3), and  The Ghost in the Mirror (Lewis Barnavelt, #4) all by John Bellairs

Did I mention I also plan to leave the house and *DO * things?

• kayaking
• outdoor jogging (yes, specifically outdoors)
• hiking
• road trip with mom and sister to visit the old family farm
• art gallery
• neighborhood rambles
• gym
• mall - run all sorts of errands because I will have a CAR
• family visits
• hammock-ing (okay, this is where reading will fit in for sure)
• visiting with friends near and far
• catching up on blog post writing (I have a bunch of draft posts of book reviews, knitting updates, etc., but my perfectionist tendencies prevent me from publishing them)
• knitting
• checking out local yarn shops
• going to local art spaces

It's Time to READ!!!

I have recently finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and I think the completion of that book has started a veritable book binge. I just listened to an entire audiobook I download a couple months ago, The Tao of Martha by Jen Lancaster. In preparation for my upcoming vacation, I have requested 11 books from the library, downloaded 2 e-books and 2 audiobooks (all from the library) and mined my own shelves for 3 more books. Something tells me I can cross 'reading material' off my list.

From the library:

• Mort by Terry Pratchett [ebook]
• Equal Rites by same [ebook]
• Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick (possible baby sweater)
• More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson (possible baby sweater)
• It starts with food by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig 
• The spectacular now [sound recording] / Tim Tharp 
• Dyer consequences / Maggie Sefton
• Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume / edited by Jennifer O'Connell
• Forever ... / Judy Blume
• The chessmen of doom / John Bellairs ; frontispiece by Edward Gorey
• The happiness project : or, Why I spent a year trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right, read Aristotle and generally have more fun / by Gretchen Rubin.   
• Chapter & hearse / Lorna Barrett.
• Needled to death / Maggie Sefton. 

Advance Reader Copy of REMOVED by S.J. Pajonas

My books to read that I own:

• Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer(in progress)