Too Many Reading Commitments?

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love books.  I am never without one.  At home, I have shelves of to-be-read titles.  On my Kindle I have an ever-growing multitude - so many freebies! With the Kindle Cloud Reader, I can access my e-books from my phone or iPad, which are always within arms reach.

To say I read a lot is not an exaggeration.  If I had to provide a very unscientific average of the number of books I read in a year, I'd say it's somewhere around 50.  That's something like four books a month.  And that's in a slow year.  There have been years when I've read closer to 75 books.  

Imagine how many books would be read if I'd give up television!

Last night, for example, I might have caught up to my co-readers of the MaddAddam trilogy if I hadn't decided to watch the X-Files and then Castle with the family.  My decision to veg on the couch for those two hours seriously cut into my reading, which left me conflicted because Oryx and Crake, the first book in the trilogy, is simply fabulous.  I really wanted to keep reading! 

If this was the only book I had committed to read this month, I would still be feeling pretty confident about catching up in a timely manner.  Unfortunately, I think I may be pushing even my reading limits this dreary February. 

I'm committed to reading four books this month, three of which are book club choices. 

The first, as I've mentioned, is Oryx and Crake.

I'm reading this book with my friends and co-workers, Katie and Emily.  This isn't really a book club in the official sense of the word, it's more of a co-reading experience.  When I saw Katie add this to her Goodreads "currently reading" shelf, I got overly excited and decided I wanted to read it with her. When I told her I already owned the book but had yet to read it, she mentioned that Emily was also picking it up.  Just like that, we had a book in common that we could discuss and analyze.

I'm delighted that it's as wonderful as I had hoped it would be.  At least, it is so far.  Fully informed opinion yet to come as there's still a lot of reading to do!

The second book I've committed myself to reading this month is a Penguin First to Read title.  As a participant in this program, I get early access to read books that are scheduled to be released in the near future.  I believe this one will hit bookshelves on April 5, 2016.   

The next book I am supposed to finish before March 1st is for my hometown book club.  Last month I got to pick the Paper Magician.  This month, Amanda, our founder's twin sister, selected this little gem.

I was so excited to see this book selected for our February read.  I am hoping to go pick it up today at the university library; I'm fairly confident I've seen it on the shelves.  Malala's memoir is something I've considered reading a few times.

And that brings me to the last book I'm supposed to read this month. I promised myself that this year I would really make an effort to read more Kindle freebies.  After all, if I'm going to overwhelm my Kindle Cloud Reader with these titles, I should read at least some of the books that have caught my eye over the years.  That I'm doing so with two of my favorite people is just an added bonus.  Or maybe the book is the bonus because the excuse to meet up and talk books with my baby sister, Chrissy, and her mom (my former step-mom) is really the thing that gets me excited to read these freebies.

Last month we read Nefertiti's Heart.  This month we're supposed to read this eye-catching werewolf story.  Given the cover, I'm assuming it's a paranormal romance.

So there are the four books I'm supposed to read before month's end.  The problem is that I know Oryx and Crake is the first in a trilogy that I am going to want to immediately finish.  This could make fitting in the other three books very difficult.

Wish me luck!