Ever had so many books to read that you just start feeling overwhelmed? I'm having one of those periods... In fact, it's been going on for some time now.
It began a few months ago when I decided to take a break from the steady diet of occult books I had been consuming to find something new to read: I was in a rut, you see. So I started checking out different things, new authors, and the books just started piling up. It probably doesn't help I work full-time at a bookstore: With my 30% employee discount I can buy a lot of books for a cheap price, something I've been abusing lately (fortunetly the Barnes & Noble I work at doesn't stock much stuff from my favorite writers, but it ain't too big a deal).
Like, right now: This month I want to read a lot of Dennis Cooper's books (fortunetly, they aren't that long). And next month I want to go through all of William S. Burroughs stuff (I don't often re-read books but in special cases I make exceptions). But recently I've been getting into authors like Camus and Bataille and Genet (who I've been obsessed with these last few weeks) and all those other crazy French writers. And then, of course, there's J.G. Ballard, who I'd like to read more by. But oh, wait, you've been putting De Sade's "Juliette" off for years now, haven't you? And look how tempting that Salvador Dali bio is! Hey, look, why not re-read "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Alice in Wonderland", you haven't read those in awhile now. But, oh no, I made a promise to that Steve Aylett book! And then I think of all the writers I want to read that I've been putting off forever now: Rand and Pynchon, Proust and Foucault, and so on and so on. I've tried making lists of what books to read at which months, but that just overwhelms me even more.
So, between the time I spend at home, on the computer, going out, going to work, writing, listening to music, and so on, I only have so much time to read, and as of recently I just don't have much patience to sit down and read. I start a book but then my mind drifts to all the other books I could be reading and I just get distracted. Also, I think that, maybe being around books at my job all day makes me feel this subconcious wariness towards them: I thought it was just me but awhile back I spoke with another employee who told me he had the same problem: He used to be a voracious reader, but once he started working at a bookstore the urge decreased. It's very frustrating.
What I've been trying to do recently is read certain books at certain times. That is, I take one book to work with me, to read only during my breaks. Then I keep another book near my bed to read before I go to sleep each night. And I have a third book set aside for my bathroom visits. And a fourth book set aside for just reading when I feel like it. But the problem with this system is that it's hard to get engrossed in anyone book due to the choppy nature of the method. Argh...
Maybe I should just cut back to reading one book at a time and trying to focus, but it ain't easy... |
