The "Read from My PERSONAL Library" Challenge

So, I'm a lifetime, avid reader - a blogger, a professional reviewer, and of course, a Librarian.  This means that my life is FILLED with books.  They are everywhere. At home, at work, in the mail, lent out to friends, on my ereader...they are everywhere. I get books all the time. More than I can ever keep up with - in fact, I have a problem with NOT getting new books. I truly am one of those people who's afraid of running out of things to read!

Part of one shelf on ONE of my bookcases.
See the double stacking?

I'm pretty sure at least one or two of you know exactly what I'm talking about. I know I'm not alone in this. *grins*

BUT...I've decided I need to get things a little more under control.  How, you ask? I'm issuing myself a READ FROM MY PERSONAL LIBRARY challenge. I'm setting out to start reading all those books that I've bought, either in traditional paper format or as ebooks, and never gotten around to reading! Really. I want to make a dent in MY OWN Library before seeking out new books.

An old photo, but one that shows two of my
bookcases in the back...they still look like this,
if not even fuller!

Now, this is not to say that I can resist every new book that's coming out. I'm going to be realistic about this. Sometimes the shiny-new just ends up winning out. There's also those sequels that I just cannot wait for...and the books that I'm already on blog tours for...and the ones I have to read for the Book Clubs I lead at work...and the ones I professionally review.  SO.  What I'm actually proposing is that I am going to read AS MANY of my own books as I can in the near future. My realistic goal is going to be to read 3 personally owned books for every 1 that I read from the Library, etc.  

How am I going to keep track?  Well, in a couple of ways. First, I track all of my reading on Shelfari, so that means I'll be able to see the ratio of personal books to borrowed/gifted. Second, when I post blog reviews I always mention where I got the book from (full disclosure on the bottom of the review) so YOU all will be able to see whether or not I'm maintaining my challenge ratio or not.  Third, I plan to check in every once in a while here on the blog with a post updating you all officially on my progress.

How am I going to start this challenge?  Well, this is it...
 
I currently have out from the Library:
3 fun reading books (Ever After High: A Wonderlandiful World, Landry Park, and Wild Things)
3 non-fiction books*
1 book for work (our next book club read Bella Fortuna) from the Library.
*Note - for the purposes of this challenge, I decided that I'm going skip counting non-fiction books as they are either for work or  are lifestyle books that I tend to just skim through. I don't read them the same way as I do fiction.*

From those, that means that I will be reading at least 9 of my own personal books along the way!

My "display" book case with nicely arranged
series and knick-knacks. I look much less like a
book hoarder here! 

Then, I have 4 books on hold at the Library that I'm dying to read (Winner's Crime, The Heir, The Orphan Queen, and Wicked Charms) so when I get each of those, I'll make sure to read 3 of my own.

I also have 3 blog tour posts coming up for The Traveling Tea Shop, Shadow Scale, and Sophomore Year is Greek to Me. So, again for each of these titles, I'm aiming to read 3 personally owned books.

I'm not promising I can read them all in exactly that order (1 Borrowed, then 3 Owned, then 1 Borrowed, then 3 Owned, etc.), but I'm going to strive to loosely maintain that ratio over the next few months. I'd like to make a really nice dent in my Library by this summer! In fact, as I read things, I'm also going to be trying to free up some space on my shelves so that they look more like the ONE really nicely maintained "display" shelf that I keep out where guests can see it.