Tough topic, this one. I love reading. What could I possibly want to quit about it? Something tells me I may be surprised. . . Let's give it a try. I want to quit:​

- Buying books I will never read.
- Letting books I want to read languish on my shelves while I read library books.
- Feeling guilty about not finishing a series (or five).
​- Setting a daily page goal for myself - and feeling bad when I don't reach it.
- Choosing to play games on my phone instead of reading.
- Stressing myself out over finishing all of the reading challenges I over-committed myself to.
​- Over-committing myself to reading challenges.
- Keeping books on my shelves that I've already read and know that I will never reread.
- Buying only from the bargain shelves at Barnes & Noble, instead of springing for the full-priced book I really want.
- Stalling on starting a Little Free Library. I've got two bags of books ready to go. Let's do this!

So, basically my list boils down to the fact that I want to quit feeling guilty about reading. Who knew I had so much that I could feel guilty about? So I'm done feeling guilty. I'm ready to take back the enjoyment!

So I had a hard time finding enough books (or any) to match with one book or author. Instead, I went with a theme. If you like your books and your authors a little zany, then this is the list for you!

The Chronicles of Kazam series by Jasper Fforde (Fforde is one of the zaniest authors out there, but this series for young adults is especially fun.)
The Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse (Anything that can go wrong probably will, and in the absolutely funniest of ways.)
The Menagerie series by Tui & Kari Sutherland (What if all the mythical creatures were real and you discovered that they live in a wildlife refuge in your town?)
The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander (Adventure packed and filled with characters that are all just a little crazy.)

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (You have to be a little zany to even attempt this, let alone write about it.)
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers (This book is so weird that it's kind of confusing.)
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (Pretty much any of Bryson's travelogues could fit in this category.)
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein (Zaniness and books! It doesn't get any better than this.)

Okay, so I know it's Thursday. I missed Top Ten Tuesday. This week has been just a little crazy. But I wanted to do this topic anyway, so I'm going to. I hereby declare today Top Ten Thursday!

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (Because of library due dates, I neglected the Birthday Month Challenge over the summer. So that's what this book and the next two are for. I need to get caught back up!)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (For the Victorian Lit Challenge)
America the Beautiful by Ben Carson (This is our book club book for October.)

The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir by Leslie Marmon Silko (For the Color Coded Challenge. And because it helps to visit someplace warm mentally as the weather is getting colder and colder outside.)
The Real Boy by Anne Ursu (I loved Breadcrumbs, so I bought this book last year. But I haven't had a chance to read it yet!)
Grave Consequences by Lisa Tawn Bergren (Second book in a series I discovered last summer.)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Okay, this would be about the fourth time I've read this book. But fall always puts me in the mood for another reread.)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Yeah, definitely not planning to finish this one in the fall. But it's on my 31 in 31 list, and I need to start reading it sometime. Now is as good a time as any!)

I thought I would have trouble coming up with ten series that I haven't finished yet. Not so much. Turns out I have a "few" more than ten that could have filled up this list. Better get reading!

Irish Century novels by Morgan Llywelyn (2 more)
Cecelia & Kate series by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (2 more)
O'Malley Family Saga by Andrew Greeley (3 more)
Big Stone Gap series by Adriana Trigiani (2 more)
Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig (9 more, but I'm okay with that.)

Sisterchicks series by Robin Jones Gunn (4 more)
Chronicles of the Kings by Lynn Austin (2 more, and one of these I have out from the library right now!)
The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter by Susan Wittig Albert (4 more)
The Grand Tour trilogy by Lisa Tawn Bergren (2 more)
Jeeves novels by P.G. Wodehouse (12 more)

Mary Crawford from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (She's entirely too conniving and worldly to be truly likable.)
Jane Fairfax from Emma by Jane Austen (This was the first one that jumped to my mind when I read this week's category - probably because I'm reading Emma right now. I have nothing against Jane Fairfax. I'm sure she's a lovely person. She's just not someone I can see being my best friend.)
Pretty much any character from The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (Sorry. I just couldn't force myself to care about any of them.)
Claudia from Pilate's Wife by Antoinette May
Jessie Sullivan from The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Both Claudia and Jessie decide that the solution to their angst is to have an affair. I hate that sort of plot, and I have no respect for the characters that choose it!)

Pat Gardiner from Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat by L.M. Montgomery (It hurts my heart to say this, because Montgomery is one of my all-time favorite authors. But Pat is just a little too mousy for me.)
Courtney Stone from Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler (Too whiny.)
Auralia from Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet (She didn't do anything. For pretty much the whole book.)
William Baker from The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch (I usually love the whole year-at-a-British-university sort of plot, but William was just too lost and too dependent on others to make me interested in what happened to him.)
Most - but not all - of the women from The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble (It's normal to feel unhappy with your life sometimes. But again, these characters chose to solve that problem by making decisions I didn't respect. I just couldn't relate!)

Fantasy was one of my favorite genres as a kid (and I didn't even discover Harry Potter until high school). There's just something special about reading fantasy books when you're a kid - they're more believable, more real. If I had to teach a class on anything, children's fantasy books would be it!

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
The Books of Beginning series by John Stephens
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede

I've read a lot of books in my lifetime, and some of them happen to be by the same authors. :) I had to dive back to childhood for some of these, but here are the authors I think I've read the most books by (in no particular order):

• C.S. Lewis
• Georgette Heyer
• Lloyd Alexander
• Jasper Fforde
• L.M. Montgomery
• Lori Wick
• J.K. Rowling
• Bill Bryson
• Jane Austen
• Beverly Cleary

I don't normally seek out fairytale retellings on purpose, but when I happen to read one, I usually enjoy it a lot. Maybe I should be reading more of these books. . . I'm sure I'll find a few suggestions on your Top Ten Tuesday posts!

The first five books listed here are fairytale retellings that I have read and enjoyed. The second half of the list is retellings that I would like to read sometime.

The Rumplestiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

So I know the topic this week is actually characters who are book nerds. But I actually did that topic back in April when we had a fill-in-the-blank week (if you want to check out that list, click here!) This time around, I thought I would do a slight variation. Instead of book nerdy characters, I went with book nerdy settings - books that are set in bookstores or libraries.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (This would be an amazing bookstore to work in.)
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron (Libraries and cats are the perfect combination.)
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley (Not all bookstores need to be stationary.)
I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora (This sort of takes place in a bookstore. The characters go to as many bookstores as they can and hide copies of To Kill a Mockingbird.)
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom (Does it count as taking place in a library if all the library books have been stolen?)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (There's a fair amount of time spent in a library in this book.)
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (I'd love to visit A.J.'s little bookstore.)
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (Bookstores in London - even better!)
Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins (This isn't just one bookstore. This is a town full of bookstores!)
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein (This is the coolest library ever!)

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I have spent the past couple of weeks on vacation. We took a road trip over to the East Coast and hit a few of the big cities there - including New York City. Which just happens to include the famed Strand bookstore. I have heard many tantalizing things about the Strand, so it was high on my list of places to visit in NYC. Let me tell you, it lives up to the hype.

Since we were on a road trip and I didn't have to worry about fitting any books I bought into a suitcase in order to fly home, I allowed myself free rein. It didn't take long before the books started piling up (which is why I call my husband the Enabler, since he offered to hold the stack while I went back for more). This is what I ended up coming home with - and trust me, it could have been more:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (I hear this book is good.)
Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk (This has been on my to-read list for awhile. I don't think I've ever read a book about Istanbul. . .)
Frederica by Georgette Heyer (Because she is one of my all-time favorite authors)
The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope (I'm slowly collecting his Barchester series. This one means I'm 4/6 of the way there.)
Five Little Peppers & How They Grew by Margaret Sidney (I loved this book as a kid. About time to reread it!)
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (One from my Classics Club list that I need to read someday.)
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto (Okay, technically this wasn't a Strand purchase. I bought this one at the New York Public Library. Still counts as a book souvenir, though!)
New York Diaries by Teresa Carpenter (Real diary entries spanning 400 years of New York history. Doesn't that sound like a great way to get to know a place?)
A Walk Through Wales by Anthony Bailey (Wales is a neglected country. What better way to remedy that than reading about it?)
The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein (I can't wait to read this one!!!)
Slipping into Paradise: Why I Live in New Zealand by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (New Zealand is definitely on my list of places to visit. I figured this book would be a good start.)
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (Even though I love Harry Potter, I've never read this book, let alone owned it. Problem solved!)

I also snagged a few book-related items, because who could resist these?

It was a good thing we headed back to our hotel room right after this. They were pretty heavy! But my hour spent at the Strand was a book lovers' dream. I'm sure I'll be back someday to find even more books to take home!