Two Down Sixty Four To Go

EG and I have a book challenge. I have to read 66 books by the end of September and she has to read 64. You can find out why here. When we finish a book we can put a star on the chart. My line of stars is definitely tidier than EG's.

What I didn't mention in my previous post is that every book that we read over our target equates to one book we can buy in Hay-on-Wye. When we are reading the bonus books we get special stickers - My Little Pony stickers. What joy! EG wants me to take a picture of them to show you, but I think that should be saved for when (IF) we get to that point.

At the weekend the stars were coming out. EG finished a book first, but I wasn't far behind. Then a second one went up on EG's side and I worked hard on Sunday night to finish my second, only to find on Monday morning that EG had finished another. There was a little dispute over the validity of the third book as the pages had large margins, but I agree it does count as a book. Picture books however, DO NOT COUNT.

The books EG has read are:
Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean-Dominique Bauby
Letters to a Debutante - Lady Jephson

I have read:
Compared to Her - Sophie de Witt
Wessex Tales - Thomas Hardy

The race is on. If enough of you comment I'll take a picture of the pony stickers.

A Bookish Challenge

This morning I was in a second hand bookshop. Nothing odd about that. What is odd is that I only bought two books, although one of them was in two volumes so I walked out with three actual books...but really it was only two. Later on I bought a third book (or fourth depending on how you're looking at this)... but that was for someone else so it doesn't count.

I'm justifying this (to myself more than anything) because I'm trying to keep the books I own and haven't read to a minimum. This isn't because I need to cut down how many books I buy (although that is probably true too) or because I'm trying to save money (that would be nice too) but because tonight I have counted up how many books I have and then I counted up how many I haven't read. By the end of September I need to have read 25% of the unread books I own. If I don't my housemate and I will not be going to Hay-on-Wye in October. This doesn't rest on my shoulders alone. EG has to read 10% of her books or we don't go.

Unfair as it seems it does work out as roughly the same amount of books each. EG has far more books than I do and her 10% gives her 64 books to read, while my 25% gives me 66.

Therefore, when we planned our visit to the bookshop I said that under no circumstances would I buy more than one book. I'll explain what the circumstances were that made me buy two in a later post. If you're wondering why Hay-on-Wye check out this page: http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/bookshops/default.asp

I'll keep you posted on how we progress. I'm quietly confident. What do you think of our challenge and our chances of keeping it? Let me know if there are any books you think I should look out for on our visit to Hay-on-Wye (note my confidence) and if I don't already own them I'll see about adding them to my list.

Below is the wonderful chart we have to keep check on how we are doing. EG has ALL the credit for its creation.