In defense of that book on the shelf/bedtable that you really did want to read when you bought it

it doesn't have to be shiny and new to bring joy

Before I start, our beloved former babysitter, who has been such a part of our lives, lost her home to a fire earlier this week. She’s long since graduated, earned her PhD and become a child psychologist whose time mostly goes to Medicaid patients as well as married and become a mother herself, but she is still and always will be part of our family. I know you’re likely inundated with financial needs and stress and asks, but if you have a few $$ to share, this is a human who is a gem among humans and will pay it forward 1000x. (Link is to their GoFundMe.)

Ok, back to books (But THANK YOU and also CHECK YOUR SMOKE DETECTORS. Holly said to say that bc that’s who she is. Well she would have if she knew I was putting this here.)

So. Y’all know that, in an attempt to ensure that the foundations of my home do not crumble from the sheer weight of my book acquisition habit, I’ve been trying to only buy books that I want to read right that exact very MINUTE.

My new bookstore rule that future me does thank past me for but bookstore me hates

This has had good results! I have left many bookstores lately clutching only ONE (1!) book. I have a lengthy #TBC list (to be considered) rather than an actual #TBR stack, and this is good.

And then last night, having completed the galley of what’s definitely going to be among your summer reads (will share later but hint hint), there I was with… no book. I mean, of course I have books I’m in the process of reading and some that have been given to me but nothing I thought I wanted to read, you know, right then.

But—because I’ve been at this for a while—I still have a #tbr shelf. And there, off to the left, looking a wee bit lonely, was Christa Comes Out of Her Shell, by Abbi Waxman. I’ve loved every book of hers that I’ve read, but I bought this one amidst a pile of others over a year ago and… well, there it was.

I picked it up, patted it a bit, and opened it up without re-reading the back cover copy or anything else, and within a few paragraphs I was plunged into a book I really DO want to read, as if someone who understood my taste perfectly had wrapped it up and given it to me as a treat, and things were happening that maybe were described in the blurb, that maybe were the reason I bought the book in the first place, but they were total surprises! Just like they were to the character (even more so, because she knows her own backstory and I do not).

It was a delight. I honestly can’t wait to get back to it.

So okay, that’s maybe a reason it IS good to buy more than just that one book you wanted to read, once in a while. So past you can give present you a treat. So my suggestion to you, in these doldrums of a moment, is to go hit that unread shelf and see what a you who lived in a different time thought sounded like a good read, because you’re still you, and you’ll probably still love it. (I’m not DONE with it though, just FYI—but Waxman’s good, I have faith.)

Meanwhile, as I said, now I have a #TBC list! Here are the books I’ve got on there (I put them in the notes app or I take pics of them in bookstores). These are not yet to the level of recommendations—but they’re books that may make their way into a future “purchased” list.

Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman

Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

Authority by Andrea Long Chu

Dust and Light by Andrea Barrett

Heartwood by Amity Gaige

Anyone read any of these? Tell me what not to miss!