Reading My Bookcase in 2018

our combined little library with Greg's books on the left and mine on the right

It is pretty obvious if you've spent a millisecond on my blog that I love books. Not really a shocker, right? I especially love good books and what's better than a good book? Owning that good book to return to one day (or maybe to just look at once in a while because it gives you warm fuzzies and reminds you of your reading experience? Please tell me I am not the only one). 

I have accrued an assortment of books that I have curated in the past years, especially since moving cross-country and realizing not all of my books could join me (the horror!). I sold and gave away between a third to a half of my books and since then, comb through my remaining books every few months to see if there are any I am willing to part with. If so, I drop them in a stack in my closet until I have time to mosey on over to Half Price Books and redeem a few bucks off the no-longer-beloved books ... and those crisp dollar bills go straight to my book fund, naturally. It's a (bookish) circle of life. 

All that to say, the books I now owned are books I have either read and loved OR are books I own but have not been read yet so I cannot give a verdict yet. The latter group has grown to quite a few books that I have yet to read but have been eyeing for some time now, so one of my 2018 was exactly that: Read books I own.

At the beginning of 2017, I made the same goal and made it through seveneen books I already own plus I re-read three books I own (see HERE ).  A few of these were some of my favorite books of 2017, including:

• Steadfast Love (Lauren Chandler), 
• When People Are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and Fear of Man (Edward T. Welch)
• I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy (Angie Smith)
• Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O'Dell)
• Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), re-read 
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

This year, I have twenty-four books I own that I want to read (four of which will be re-reads). I recently heard of a few reading challenges focused on reading your own books, so I thought it would be fun to join the hashtag reading fun, notably #ReadYourShelf from Gather Together and Read and #UnreadShelfProject2018 from Instagrammer Witney of @theunreadshelf. I figure it will help with accountability or at least inspiration to see others reading their own bookshelves rather than either buying new books or borrowing books from the library (which is what I typically do). 

So, here's to a year of focusing on my own bookshelves and the possible gems that are right in front of me. I'll still read library books now and then, but my reading goal will focus on this game plan. 

Here are the books I already own that  I am hoping to read in 2018:

RE-READS:

FICTION:

NONFICTION:

Have you read any of these? Did you love/hate them? I would love to know! Also, are there any books from your bookshelf you're trying to get through this year?

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Once again, here are the two challenges I am participating in. Let's see how I do!