As I wrote a couple weeks ago (I think? Time has no meaning), I’m reading just as much as ever, and more or less the same things I used to. I have a harder time dragging myself away from my Twitter news feed because so much is happening, but I have a little more time in general, so it evens out to as much reading as usual.
I do feel, though, that I want to cut back on the planned/scheduled reading I’ve been doing over the last year so I have more time to read at whim. I’ve been doing a round-up of independent press books for Book Riot for over a year now, which has meant once a month I post about 5-6 newly-released books that I liked from small and independent presses. I’ve loved researching forthcoming books from small presses (Edelweiss is a weirdly-organized website that probably makes more sense to bookstore and library people but I spend a ton of time there and find it invaluable). I’ve discovered so many great presses and wonderful books this way. Last year almost 75% of the books I read were from small presses and so far this year 65% are. I don’t want this to change! A big part of my small-press reading is books in translation, and I don’t want that to change either. I think putting the work in to find lesser-known books (lesser-known because they don’t have huge marketing budgets behind them) is well worth it.
But as someone who reads around 6-8 books a month, this schedule hasn’t left a lot of room for other reading — books from major presses and older books in particular. I don’t want to stop doing these round-ups entirely, but I’m planning on posting them less regularly, probably whenever I just happen to have enough new books read for a column. I do like reading structure and there can be something soothing about knowing exactly what I need to read next and why. But it can also be suffocating and that’s what I’ve been feeling lately. We’ll see how this new plan works!
Of Books and Bicycles 
Before the current disruption started, I feel very much as you do. I always seem to be chasing my tail with books that I needed to read for various groups I run and lectures that I was giving. My way round this, was to schedule one long weekend a month when I went into ‘retreat’ and just read what ever I felt like. It was probably easier for me to do this than it would be for you because I don’t have the pressures of a family needing my attention and I can go into ‘isolation‘ quite easily. Because my external pressures were all face-to-face events I’ve been able to be much more fluid in what I read over the past 10 weeks or so, but when those take up again I shall continue with that practice as a means of saving my sanity.
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Your weekend retreat sounds amazing! Perhaps when Cormac is older, I’ll be able to do that.
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I do like a little bit of structure, but not too much, that’s why I rarely do challenges at all. Good luck with your plan! I have tried Edelweiss but I don’t understand it at all and I lost patience. I dip into Netgalley from time to time but I don’t want it to be the bulk of my reading.
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Yes, Edelweiss is complicated! The “review copies” section is the most useful, but you still have to search through a lot of books to find things you would like.
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