It is days like today when I am so glad I have this space and bookish friends like you. Why you ask? Well remember last week when I was fretting over all the books I have in progress? You’d think I would pull back a little right? Finish a few, not start any new ones for a bit until I felt less overwhelmed. Yes, you would think that and I even thought that. However, what did I actually end up doing? I doubled down of course!
And this is why you all make me happy because if I told this to almost anyone else I know they would look at me as if I were completely bonkers. And while I may indeed be bonkers it has nothing to do with books. Books are what keep me sane. But even I have to admit I’ve gotten a bit reckless. But it makes me happy and hurts no one so I can’t really be argued with.
Within the last week-ish I have added to my in-progress pile the following:
- Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
- Rare and Commonplace Flowers: The Story of Elizabeth Bishop and Lota de Macedo Soares by Carmen L. Oliveira
- Still Time by Jean Hegland, author of Into the Forest
- The Rider by Tim Krabbé
- The Republic of Imagination by Azar Nafisi
Tomorrow I will be adding Ms. Marvel Volume One,No Normal. It just won a Hugo earlier this week. And in a few days I will be receiving a book to review for Library Journal called Wilde’s Women: How Oscar Wilde Was Shaped the Women of His Life by Eleanor Fitzsimons.
I want to break out into fits of hysterical laughter from the sheer number of books I am attempting to juggle at one time. For even more interest and some real danger, maybe I should toss in a fiery torch or two and a chainsaw! Wouldn’t that be something? Now you know if I suddenly disappear my juggling went awry; I will have either gone up in flames or sawed myself in half. There are other possibilities too so stay tuned. You never know what might happen!
Ah, the bookish version of “living dangerously”, juggling too many books at one time… I would not want to live any other way.
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Sylvie, You are right on all counts! 😀
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Love to read more about all of these readings, and especially “Rare and commonplace flowers”. Did you read Colm Tóibín on Elizabeth Bishop?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11524638/Colm-Toibin-on-Elizabeth-Bishop.html
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Sigrun, I will be sure to mention more about Rare and Commonplace Flowers when I get further into it! I did read Toibin’s book, posted about it yesterday as a matter of fact. It’s really good!
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I know how you feel, but there are some addictions that just defy explanation. I have been in the same situation many times. Non-bookworms would never understand our obsession.
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Page, I know, non-bookworms have no idea. They just look at you uncomprehendingly and then want to know why you are wasting all your time reading!
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Yes, of course, we understand. I recently read Confessions of a Comma Queen and loved it. I alternately laughed and learned.
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Joan, it’s such a nice thing to be understood 🙂 I am reading Confessions of a Comma Queen because of you btw!
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Let’s be honest, if you wanted to, you could add a few more to this pile. 🙂 As someone who just added 16 books to my Holds list at the library, I understand and celebrate your list of books in progress. (And if it makes you feel a little better, Ms. Marvel is a good and quick read and The Republic of Imagination will be worth your time as well.)
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TJ, oh you made me laugh! Yes, I could add more! Thank goodness for the occasional quick read! So far I’m through the introduction in The Republic of Imagination and I am intrigued by her premise and purpose!
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Definitely bonkers, but hey, if it keeps you happy, there are worse habits! 🙂
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Elle, you’ve got that right!
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Now I don’t feel so bad about having just picked up another three books from the library, despite the fact that I have a pile of half a dozen already waiting for me.
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Alex, I am glad to have helped you feel better! I have a few books out from the library and others on hold that I am eyeing carefully because it is of course looking like there will be a number that will arrive for me at the same time. You know that story! I’m hoping they wait until mid-September but I don;t know if I am that lucky.
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I’m also reading Between You and Me (I had to put what I was reading aside because it’s from the library and I can’t renew it.) Not far enough into it yet to tell you how I like it; but, I do like her writing.
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Grad, my copy is from the library too and I can’t renew it either. I am almost done with it, probably tonight or tomorrow I will finish. I’ve been enjoying it. I like her writing and she is a very interesting person in all her glorious quirks.
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I find my focus is a little slow these days so I have to limit myself to two… one in paper, one e-book (sometimes a netgalley download I foolishly *had* to have). I am however, slowly making my way through some more philosophical works on writing but I don’t count those the same way. Denial? Sure. 🙂
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roughghosts, I am familiar with those books in progress that don’t really get counted! I do that sometimes too 🙂 You have piqued my interest with “philosophical works on writing” and I look forward to hearing about them eventually!
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Why does this post make me chuckle? Misery loves company? Though reading is in no way miserable–I understand you and your motivations Perfectly! 🙂 Interestingly, or strangely, I have managed to whittle down my pile quite a bit and have only started one new book so far….another likely to come soon. I know that overwhelmed feeling and had to do something about it. But the ‘relief’ won’t last you know. You should see my ‘pile to choose from’ and how it is massively towering by my bedside. Oh, and I am making slow but steady progress on PoL–Isabel is going to marry Osmond….will be reading more at the gym where I am off to now. Now, if only I could catch up Writing about all those finished books! I am not really done until I write something about them….. I read Into the Forest by the way and really liked it–curious about her new one. And don’t feel guilty–you need these books right now and they will sort themselves out with time!
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Danielle, I know! I know you can completely relate! We seem to be on opposite waves, when you show restraint I’m going crazy, when you are going crazy I am in restraint mode. I am on the verge of clamping down on adding any more books, at least voluntarily because I never know what the library is going to throw at me, so I suspect you will soon be slowly adding more books to your in progress pile 😀 Yay for PoL! I liked Into the Forest very much too and she hasn’t written anything since so I am very excited about here new one and I can say it is off to a good start!
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Been there, still there, done that, still doing that! I will always add on more more, even before I completely finish what I have! I agree with you..we may be bonkers in other respects, but books keep us sane! 🙂 P.S. I LOVE Azar Nafisi’s writing!
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cirtnecce, ah see, I knew you would understand! I like Nafisi too and the current book is off to a good start!
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The advantage of your review books is that it has a deadline!
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Jeff, that is looking at the bright side of things! 🙂
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Well, review books are a bit less of a choice, but personal choices are half-unchosen when half-finished. And they incur extra time and space management. Just thinking about the workflow efficiencies here.
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All I think about are deadlines and which ones have to be done first. This includes library books I can’t renew because of the holds queue. It’s not an ideal way of reading but it helps me juggle and keeps me moving! 🙂
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I prioritise library books according to return dates and number of renewals (it not being a uni library, which is what yours sounds like). These come before recent secondhand acquisitions. Anything else has to follow those categories.
When I was a teenager, I used to get multiple books out of the library with no intention of reading them all; I’m going to try and re-capture this innocent enjoyment by posting about a few partially read books. The great thing about library books is that you can get them back out again later.
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One of the great things about borrowing from the library is not having to feel guilty about not finishing a book. You just return it to the library and it doesn’t sit around your house and you didn’t spend any hard-earned cash for it 🙂
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You are a wild woman indeed, Stefanie! 🙂 I feel like I’m walking on the wild side because I’m reading three (!) books at once. I’m usually a one or two at a time reader. Maybe you’re inspiring me! (And I’m on hold for Ms. Marvel Vol 1 at my library – can’t wait to read it.)
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Laila, oh you made me laugh! 😀 You know from three books at once it is very easy to up it to five and then to eight and before you know it you are wondering how you are reading twelve books at once! I’ve been waiting for Ms Marvel for a while so I am very much looking forward to it!
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It’s a slippery slope, Stefanie! I’m contemplating trying a fourth!
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Don’t go getting too crazy now! 😉
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Nppe, Joan Kyler, I don’t understand! No, let me put that differently, I understand the desire to read multiple books but I don’t understand the doing of it. That would be more stressful to me – I’m with roughghosts – than the stress of missing reading some books. (Missing reading some books is, after all, a given!). As I’m sure I’ve said before, though, hats off to ya!
Azar Nafisi – she’s the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran? I’m too lazy to check. That’s a book I’d read again (if there weren’t all those books out there waiting to be read). And Jean Hegland. What led you to her? I’ve read and reviewed Into the forest – interesting book – but haven’t heard much about her otherwise.
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whisperinggums, I know you h ave such restraint and it is admirable but I just can’t do it. Actually only having one or two books on the go stresses me out more than having 10+ books on the go! Weird I know but we are all allowed our quirks, right? 🙂
Yes, Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a very good book. I read Hegland’s Into the Forest a very long time ago when it first came out. Bookman was managing a bookstore at the time and one of the publisher reps told him he had to read it and he liked it so much he foisted it on me and I liked it too. She hasn’t written anything since. This new one is about memory and dementia and features a Shakespeare professor. It is so far off to a good start.
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Yes, you can have your quirk I suppose! It makes for interesting posts for us, for a start.
I look forward to your review of Hegland. That sounds interesting.
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That’s not so many! A very reasonable number, really! pretty soon you’ll have a chunk of free time and you’ll knock out a couple of those and be down to an even more reasonable number. And anyway it’s smart to have several books on the go at once in case you fall out of love with one of them and need a break.
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Jenny, no, not so many at all! I could probably add a few more even 😉 That’s exactly why I always have so many on the go at once. There is always something to pick up that I am in the mood for and when one gets a bit slow I can read something else instead or if one of them is so compelling I can’t put it down, ever better! The others wait patiently.
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Haha, I want to see you juggling chainsaws. Love the image.
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Nikki, I seem to be having trouble finding anyone with a chainsaw, but when I do, I’ll be sure to take some video 😉
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