Hmm... which book to read? Maybe I'll go for something lightweight, a nice easygoing Christopher Moore never hurt anyone. On the other hand, sure would be nice to delve into something deeper. I still haven't read that Scott F. Fitzgerald book The Beautiful And The Damned or even the first pages of Lolita yet. Those are contenders. Wait, what's that on the bottom shelf? Oh, The Thoughts And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, that dense but comedic 18th-century novel. I could give that a go, I've been wanting to see the movie.
But 500 pages in über-small type? I just finished up a long book, better to pace myself. Need to start up a political book again, too (Hunter S. Thompson, perhaps?), although I'd rather stick with fiction just now. Maybe I'll postpone the non-fiction until my next visit to Barnes & Noble, I hear Al Franken has a new book out. Hmm... have I decided on a book yet? No. I'd better go eat a snack and look through the books in the study room; maybe I've missed something. I should make a list.
More or less, that's about what goes through my head each time I try to select the next book I'm going to read. I'm not entirely sure why I do this, but I've come up with a few reasons that I think might contribute to it.
I love to read, but don't have a lot of time. This I believe, is the main reason. When you're trying to balance classes, papers, keeping a blog (okay, not so much a chore, but... ) along with eating, sleeping, bathroom breaks, keeping up on personal hygiene and watching the news (among other things) you'll soon find your reading time gets cut down significantly. Because of this, a book can last longer than it normally would. On vacation with plenty of free time I can easily read a 200-300 page book in three to four days or less. At home though, during classes, the same book is likely to stretch on for two or three weeks. All this contributes to making a book selection seem like a much bigger decision. I don't want to read something for a month only to have it be disappointing.
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
I go through the same thing. It is compounded by my frequent visits to the library where I generally wander around like an idiot picking up too many books that I'll never be able to read.
I have a habit of reading multiple books at once (well not at once since that would be impossible but in alternating shifts) The good ones get read quickly, but others will sit on my nightstand for months at a time only getting read when I'm between good ones
2 - Snarkattack
I raise my hand.
The writing thing seems to be going well for me at present, whereas the musician thing and the reading thing...'Egads. Oh for more time to read!
3 - Nancy
Same problem here. I'm having to get rid of other furniture in my house in order to accomodate more bookcases, and I don't know why I don't just give in to it and get built-ins done on all the walls to begin with; it'll save time & money in the long run. Dammit. For REALLY light reading, BTW, you might want to check out P.G. Wodehouse. God knows if they were any lighter they'd float away.