I am quite proud of myself. During three bookstore trips in our two weeks in Hawaii, I bought only three books, two from the local indpendent. I read all three while there (finishing one on the plane ride home). In keeping with my usual practice when I am visiting a place for more than a week, each book was about the history of Hawaii. It was a bit tougher this time given our previous trips to the Big Island but I managed to accomplish it.
As a result, the trip didn’t impact the TBR list much. The impact comes from what was sitting on my desk at work when I got back. Earlier this year, I agreed to peer review a proposed book for an academic publisher. After doing so, they shocked me by offering an opportunity to select a certain dollar value of books from their catalog. Shipped while I was gone, the box contains 14 books, more than half of which are from a series of brief (less than 150 pages) books on selected topics.
Oh, well. Not only is it a box of interesting books, it gave me an oppportunity to start using a new bookcase I picked up for our bedroom a while ago.
It is a man’s duty to have books.
Henry Ward Beecher, “The Duty of Owning Books“
