so how's that book wall shrinkage going

Not fast but well is my general feeling on it. I haven't bought any books that I haven't earned; I've got a whole convoluted system for this just like I've got a whole convoluted system for everything. My goal is to get it under 900 by the end of the year, which doesn't sound like that lofty of a goal until you realize that I started at 964 and while I'm not buying a lot of books I'm still buying a few books.

March was a huge month for me, reading-wise. I finished War and Peace and proceeded to plow my way through eighteen other books that month. April's a little more conservative--I'm at nine, and while I bet I could finish The Institute before the end of the day, I don't think I'm going to go for it. Nine is an all right number for me. Based on my restrictions, I can buy three books this month. Don't try to figure out how many books I need to read to buy one because it is completely random book-by-book, any number between one and five.

But I think it's going well! I think it does help that I am unable to go to thrift stores, currently, and unable to go to bookstores, and unwilling to go to Wal-Mart. So the only book shopping I'm doing is online, and while I am very tempted every time a Book Outlet e-mail shows up in my inbox, I've stayed away. I've just been buying too much other shit at this point, but that's gotta stop, too.