“That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive – all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.” ~Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I’ve been on that geometrically progressive journey for about fifty years, ever since I learned to read, and today I celebrate fifty-five years of books. I’m hoping for fifty-five more–or for books in heaven. Anyway, my birthday is the reason for all the “55” lists that I’ve been posting for the last few weeks. Here are some links to those, and I’m hoping for at least 55 links in the Saturday Review of Books today. So if you want to celebrate with me, please leave links to your book reviews from this week and be sure to click through to read the ones that interest you.

The Best Advice I Ever . . . 55 Words of Wisdom
55 Ways to Celebrate the USA
55 Favorite First Lines from Favorite Books
55 (Mostly) Short Videos Worth Watching
55 Texas Tales: From Galveston to Amarillo to Brownsville to El Paso
55 Free Kindle Books Worth Reading
History and Heroes: 55 Recommended Books of Biography, Autobiography, Memoir,and History
More History and Heroes: 55 Biographies and Memoirs I Want To Read
Reading Out Loud: 55 Favorite Read-Aloud Books from the Semicolon Homeschool

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

By the way, I have some more lists of 55 that I’m working on. After all I get to bee 55 years old all year long; I might as well live it up.