Well, I got a lot of mail last week from people who were chastising me about not having a book for the car when I was stuck in traffic. I realize now that just as we have backup LightWedges in the car to ensure that passengers can read in the dark, I need to stash books into the map pockets to ensure there are backup books available. My new slogan: "I will not be caught without a book again." As I say this I point my finger like those old Smokey Bear (Internet Trivia of the Day: Note why he's not Smokey the Bear here.) ads where he talks about how YOU can prevent forest fires.

The good news: We now can walk in the attic at our house. There is a path. We managed to fill a dumpster with discarded memorabilia. I have decided this is much nicer than saying "junk we ridiculously collected through the years." There still are piles of boxes to go through, but it's all organized. During this adventure, I also spotted some boxes that were moved into the house 18 years ago that have never been opened. I cannot wait to see the "treasures" packed away in those! I now am going through boxes and boxes of children's picture books, trying to decide which need to stay in the family and which can get passed on to other children. So many of them are giving me pause as I pick them up and remember reading them to the boys.

I confess that I am wickedly sentimental. My amazing friend Cathy volunteered to help with this project last weekend, and I could not have gotten through it without her. She saw a task where I saw memories. The parts that are done are finished because she said "shelve this" and "toss this." She calls daily to see how many boxes I have been through. I lie each day when I respond.

Tuesday night we are going to see Eric Clapton. I blogged about how I am prepping to see the show by reading! Hey, some people would be listening to the CDs; I am reading a book.

This week we started a new blog feature on ReadingGroupGuides.com, our website for book clubs. While we update ReadingGroupGuides.com monthly there always is news, interesting tidbits and ramblings that I want to share with our readers throughout the month. I also recognized that, over the last eight years since we launched this website, we have come to know a very interesting group of readers, authors, book club facilitators, librarians, booksellers and publishing contacts who have shared their own ideas for what make a reading group something that gives people both joy and satisfaction. These people will be sharing their ideas on this blog so it will not have one singular voice. Check it out and then plan to visit again or set up an RSS feed so you can get this blog delivered to you.