I think I’ve already mentioned once or twice that I’m moving soon – my most likely departure date from New England is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I’ll be reducing my apartment (plus attic storage!) full of possessions down to what I can fit in my Toyota Corolla – with the exception, of course, of the books that I’ll be shipping.

I’ve decided not to skimp on shipping books. I’ve moved many times, and on some occasions I’ve downsized my book collection to almost nothing, and on other occasions I’ve shipped everything. I do plan to give away most of the books that I’ve already read, except those that contain my teaching notes or those that have strong sentimental value (and, for a book lover, I really don’t get all that sentimentally attached to books themselves – most of the time), and I’ll also get rid of books of which I own duplicates at my dad’s house in San Francisco (what? I didn’t mention that I also have a sizeable book collection waiting for me at my destination?), and for titles published before 1923 I’ll replace them if I can download them for free onto my Kindle, provided they don’t contain teaching notes. I’ll donate books to the library at the school where I used to work or give them to friends or to the Salvation Army.

But for those who know what my book collection, this culling process will still leave a LOT of books to ship. So, while Jill moves forward with Anitober and we both forge ahead with the AP English Challenge, I thought it would be fun to see how many POUNDS of books I can read in October and November. The rules of this challenge are as follows:

Books count toward the total of “pounds of books lost” only if a) I own them and b) I give them away after I read them. If I insist on reading a library book or a book that I will take with me to San Francisco, that’s fine, but it won’t count toward my total. For example, I don’t plan to get rid of my copy of Madame Bovary, so that one won’t count toward the total.

Obviously hardcover books will help me unload pounds more quickly than paperback books will, and I do plan to read as many hardcovers as possible in order to make a small dent in the cost of shipping – but, again, ultimately I can read paperbacks if I want to. They just won’t add as many pounds to the total.

I’m not really setting a goal – to be honest, I don’t know how much a typical hardcover book weighs. I am not good at estimating that sort of thing. But I’ll weigh each book at the post office and update you on my Total Book Pounds Lost (TBPL) when I review each book.

I probably won’t start this challenge right away, since I need to finish a few books first that I plan to keep. I’m setting October 8 as the tentative opening date of this challenge – which will give me a total of just under 7 weeks in which to lose as much book weight as possible.

And, by the way, if you live in my area (southern New England) and want any of the books I’m reviewing (or just want books in general), let me know. They can definitely be yours for the taking away!