Building the Book Fort

Published on by Rachelle

“Building the Book Fort” is a weekly post where I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck
  • Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Finished:

  • How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm by Cressida Cowell

Total pages read this week: 408

Days read at least 90 minutes: 2/2

Total books read: 0 of 75

TBR (goal is -36): +5

#ShelfLove Challenge: 0 of 51

I managed to finish one last book before the New Year, bringing my total books read in 2025 to 104. I’m setting my reading goal for 2026 fairly low because I really want to focus on reading what I’m in the mood to read instead of picking shorter books. However, I’ve added a new goal of reading for a total of 90 minutes every day. Over the last few months of the year, I noticed that I wasn’t reading much after I got home for work. Instead, I was scrolling on my phone or bingeing TV. I want to return to quiet evenings with a book and a mug of tea after dinner. I already know from first-hand experience that doing that helps me.

I gave myself permission to buy some books for my Birthday. I was only supposed to buy one, but I ended up buying 4 physical books (1 of them is used) and an ebook.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments!

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle

  • This check-in is for December 21st – 27th.
  • I’ve spent most of my time since Wednesday relaxing, reflecting, planning, and beginning the process of decluttering and packing. I got so caught up in all of that, that I nearly forgot to write this post.
  • I would like to write more about my decluttering, but even though I’ve just gotten started and this is a process I’ve gone through at least half a dozen times over the last decade, it’s been much more of an emotional experience this time around, and that has sapped my energy. I will probably write about in a week or two.
  • I lowered my mileage goal again because there was just no way I was going to be able to reach 825 miles. Frankly, with everything else going on, I’m perfectly happy that I’m over 800 miles for the year. I haven’t decided on what my goals for 2026 will be yet, but I will have at least a mileage goal.
  • Exercise Days: 4/7
  • Steps: 30,299
  • Miles: 12.22/16.31
  • Total Miles: 801.24/810
  • Zone Minutes: 130/150

Building the Book Fort

Published on by Rachelle

“Building the Book Fort” is a weekly post where I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • The Darkest Night ed. by Lindy Ryan
  • The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson
  • How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm by Cressida Cowell
  • Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck

Finished:

  • Death at a Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly
  • Slashing Through the Snow by Jacqueline Frost

Total pages read this week (and last week): 522

Total books read: 103 of 100

TBR (goal is -24): -34

#ShelfLove Challenge: 60 of 51

Yule was quiet and wonderful, just how I wanted it. Spending Christmas Eve alone was difficult, but I made myself a giant mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of popcorn, and watched my favorite Christmas movie, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.” After that, I settled in on the couch with Wolf Winter, my cats, and a big mug of tea. Christmas morning was also a bit difficult, but I’m glad I had plans to have a late lunch with a friend, as that helped me a lot.

I did next to nothing yesterday, and at first I felt guilty about that. Then I realized that I haven’t had any real time off from work just to relax since March. Any time off I’ve had since has been either only a day off in which I ran around trying to catch up on everything or because I was sick, injured, or dealing with something stressful. So, the only productive thing I did all day was to set up my 2026 Reading Tracker.

In addition to doing another year of my #ShelfLove reading challenge, I’ve decided to try the Reader’s Gauntlet:

I will be doing this challenge on “Easy mode,” and even then I have no idea how well I’ll do, but my only real goal for this challenge is to have fun by gamifying my reading. What I like about this challenge is that it’s not entirely made up of specific reading prompts. I’m too much of a mood reader to succeed at those challenges, unless they’re very short-term seasonal ones, and even then it’s iffy. Instead, just about every book I am likely to read will fit into the Reader’s Gauntlet somewhere, and the real challenge for me will be to fill in the “blanks” as I go along, similar to unlocking an achievement in a video game. That sounds like a lot of fun!

Over the remaining days of 2025, I’ll be doing my best to finish all of my current reads so that I’m starting 2026 fresh.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments!

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle

  • This check-in is for December 14th – 20th.
  • I’ve spent most of this weekend relaxing, and today I’m focused on cleaning my apartment and then enjoying a nice homemade dinner to celebrate the Winter Solstice. This dinner was going to be my Christmas dinner, but I have plans to have Chinese food with friends on Christmas.
  • I only have to work two days this week and then only three days the week after that, so I’ll be relaxing and resting. That way, I’ll have plenty of energy to get everything packed up to move at the end of January.
  • Exercise Days: 2/7
  • Steps: 39,724
  • Miles: 15.93/16.31
  • Total Miles: 789.02/825
  • Zone Minutes: 68/150

Building the Book Fort

Published on by Rachelle

“Building the Book Fort” is a weekly post where I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • Handbook for the Heartbroken by Sara Avant Stover
  • The Darkest Night ed. by Lindy Ryan
  • Death at a Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly
  • The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson

Finished:

  • The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling

Total pages read this week (and last week): 348

Total books read: 101 of 100

TBR (goal is -24): -31

#ShelfLove Challenge: 58 of 51

I’ve accepted the written agreement to break the lease! I’m glad I saved all of the boxes and packing materials from my move. I’m also going to be doing another round of decluttering so that there won’t be as much to move, though I still have far more books than anything else.

I also talked to a realtor this week, and I’m going to take the steps to get pre-approved for a mortgage next week.

Beyond that, I’m doing my best to stay in the holiday spirit. Only having to work for two days next week is definitely helping with that. I have plans to celebrate Yule tomorrow by having a quiet day at home and then making and eating a nice dinner. I was going to have that dinner on Christmas, but I’ll be getting together with a couple of friends for Chinese food that afternoon instead. The following week, I only have to work three days and then I’m off until the 5th, and I’m greatly looking forward to all of the rest I’ll hopefully get between now and then. After that, my life is going to get very busy again as I declutter, pack, and start looking at condos with my realtor.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments!

The 2026 #ShelfLove Challenge!

Published on by Rachelle1 Comment

I’ll being doing the #ShelfLove reading challenge again next year, as a part of my Low-Buy year.

Goal: Abstain from buying books or set a book buying limit – and focus on clearing your physical and virtual TBR bookshelves for the entire year.

Challenge Dates: January 1st – December 31st, 2026

THE GUIDELINES:

  • Abstain from spending money on books for one calendar year or set a book buying limit (whether that’s monetary or the number of books you may buy).
  • Gift cards are OK as well as any Audible or Libro.FM credits you already have.
  • Encourage other challenge participants via blog comments and social media.
  • Library books do not count for this challenge. This challenge is only for books you already own.
  • Netgalley, Edelweiss, or other ARC books you acquired prior to 2026 count for this challenge because you have the book, so you might as well read it (and write those reviews!).
  • Read books that are in your personal library that were obtained before January 1, 2026.

NO BOOK BUYING CHALLENGE STEP 1: SELECT YOUR GOAL

  • 1-10 books: shake hands with your shelves
  • 11-20 books: pat your shelves on the back
  • 21-30 books: give your shelves a warm friendly hug
  • 31-40 books: regular date night with your shelves
  • 41-50 books: your shelves are now your BFF
  • 51+ books: your shelves and you are going steady – I’m choosing this goal again because my reading goal will be more than 50 books. While I am allowing myself to buy used books with money I get from selling back the books I no longer want, I won’t be buying any brand-new physical books. The only exceptions to this are that I am allowed to buy myself one new book for my Birthday and as a Christmas present to myself. I’m also not buying any ebooks this year, but I have a lot of credits for audiobooks, so I’ll only be limiting those to the credits I already have.

NO BOOK BUYING CHALLENGE STEP 2: Link-Up

  • Create a sign-up post that includes your chosen goal on your blog or any social media platform (Facebook, X, Goodreads, StoryGraph, Litsy, etc.).
  • Don’t forget to use the challenge hashtag #ShelfLove.
  • Comment on this post with a link to your sign-up post!

NO BOOK BUYING CHALLENGE STEP 3: READ THOSE BOOKS!

  • Feel free to post updates on how the challenge is going and what books you’ve been reading. I’ll be providing an update every week in my “Building the Book Fort” posts, and you can comment on those posts if you would like, but updates aren’t mandatory.

I can’t wait to read y’all’s sign-up posts and show my bookshelves some love!

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle

  • This check-in is for December 7th – 13th.
  • In this week’s “Building the Book Fort,” I wrote about how I’ve been offered the opportunity to break the lease without any penalties. I discussed it with my ex, and we came to an agreement for me to rent the guest house from him while I search for a home to buy. I’ll only be living in his guest house for six months, but I decided that if I haven’t found a home by then, I’m ok with moving to an apartment and renting for another year now that I know what to look for and what to avoid. I hope it doesn’t come to that, though, and I’ve already found several condos I want to check out.
  • I’ll likely be moving at the end of January, and it will be nice living near a park again so I can at least attempt going for walks outside. This Winter has already been much worse than any I’ve experienced in Ohio since moving here nearly five years ago.
  • I’ve lowered my miles goal down to 825 after figuring out that I would have to walk over 4 miles everyday for the rest of the month to reach my original goal of 850. That’s not doable for me, and I’m not going to stress myself out or end up hurting myself trying. 825 is still more than I was able to do last year, and though it won’t be easy, I can manage that.
  • Exercise Days: 1/7
  • Steps: 39,578
  • Miles: 15.84/16.31
  • Total Miles: 773.09/825
  • Zone Minutes: 33/150

Building the Book Fort

Published on by Rachelle1 Comment

“Building the Book Fort” is a weekly post where I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • Handbook for the Heartbroken by Sara Avant Stover
  • The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling
  • The Darkest Night ed. by Lindy Ryan

Finished:

  • Waiting for Christmas by Lynn Austin
  • Grimoires and Gingerbread by Danielle Garrett

Total pages read this week (and last week): 414

Total books read: 100 of 100

TBR (goal is -24): -31

#ShelfLove Challenge: 57 of 51

After Thanksgiving, I took the first step to legally break my lease by sending a certified formal demand letter to the apartment management. They sent the maintenance supervisor over on Wednesday to inspect the walls that I share with the neighbor. He said he couldn’t figure out how the smoke smell was coming into my bedroom, but he found a huge hole behind my dishwasher and other gaps and cracks along the wall in the kitchen cabinets. He got all those sealed, but the next day I got an email from the manager offering to allow me to break the lease with no penalties! I’m assuming the supervisor noticed something that isn’t easily fixable, likely expensive, and maybe out of code, so they’d rather let me out of the lease instead of me taking them to court.

I met up with my ex today to talk about it, and we’ve agreed that, assuming I accept their written agreement to break the lease, I will move into his guest house instead of renting another apartment. That way I’m not stuck in another year-long lease and I can start searching for a condo or small cottage-style house to buy. While that means I’ll be moving a total of three times in less than a year, it will still save me quite a bit of money in the long-run.

Speaking of saving money – I’m going to do another #ShelfLove challenge next year, as part of a Low-Buy year. While I didn’t spend nearly as much money this year on books as I have in previous years, I was not frugal about much else. I think that was largely an emotional response to my very practical decision to not leave my full-time job. Given everything that has happened since July, I’m very grateful that I didn’t quit, but I spent an embarrassing amount of money on stuff, and oddly enough, I don’t have much to show for it. I didn’t go into debt, but since I am saving up to buy a home (I currently have about half the money I need for a down payment), I’m going to cut as much of my spending on things as possible and put as much as I can into savings.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments!

#FitReaders Check-In

Published on by Rachelle

  • This check-in is for November 30th – December 6th.
  • Since my apartment flooded again and I had to deal with the cleanup from that, I haven’t done much else outside of work unless it was Holiday-related. I went to a Holiday market yesterday, bought the rest of what I needed for Christmas dinner, and watched another Christmas movie while working on a jigsaw puzzle of Christmas books.
  • I also watched some videos about Yule, as I would like to celebrate the Winter Solstice as well, and I found it interesting that many of the Christmas traditions that are still done today were borrowed from Yule. I knew some of that already, but there were a couple of traditions I didn’t know about. For instance, the 12 Days of Christmas were originally the 12 Days of Yule, starting on the Winter Solstice and ending on New Year’s Day. This time of year always gets me thinking about how there are so many traditions and practices we humans have that we don’t even know why we do them, or at least we don’t know the origins of them. Many times, the reasons and the meanings have changed, but they’ve been around for hundreds of years and come from multiple different cultures.
  • Exercise Days: 1/7
  • Steps: 43,586
  • Miles: 17.57/16.31
  • Total Miles: 757.25/850
  • Zone Minutes: 50/150

Building the Book Fort

Published on by Rachelle

“Building the Book Fort” is a weekly post where I track my bookish life.

Currently Reading:

  • Handbook for the Heartbroken by Sara Avant Stover
  • Waiting for Christmas by Lynn Austin

DNF:

  • Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories by Enid Blyton

Total pages read this week (and last week): 290

Total books read: 98 of 100

TBR (goal is -24): -31

#ShelfLove Challenge: 56 of 51

My apartment flooded again; this time because of a roof leak. I had a cloth basket full of books on the floor where the water came in. Luckily, only three of them got ruined, and even more importantly, none of them were the library books I had in a tote right next to the basket. The only good news concerning my apartment is that the neighbor has stopped smoking inside, at least for now. Hopefully, for good.

I went to a Holiday market near where I live today, and one of the vendors was selling Blind Dates with a Book. I’ve decided to not open the one I got until Christmas.

What are you reading? Let me know in the comments!