Unread Shelf Project February 2021

My Unread Shelf, Feb. 1, 2021

At the beginning of this year I had identified 43 books as owned-but-not-read (OBNR). Last month I went through most of my shelves and gathered 3 boxes of books to give away and sorted the rest into read and un-read. My OBNR number is, as of today, 95. I think as I go through the year this number will continue to move around. I may unearth more stashes of books that need to be included, and some will get read or given away (or both).

The January challenge for the UnRead Shelf project was to read a book with high expectations. I ended up reading 2 books that met this challenge: Plan B by Anne LaMott and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. Besides the challenge books I also finished Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively (for the December 2020 challenge) and Brooklyn by Thomas Campanella from my OBNR list.

The February UnRead Shelf challenge is to read a book you got for free. I pulled 17 books that fit that criteria and put them on a shelf together in my OBNR bookcase. A couple were publisher giveaways, some belonged to my parents and ended up on my shelves, and several were gifts. I'm not sure which will get read this month, but they are at hand when I'm ready for my next book.