So much to read, so little time...
I started purging some of my books last year - books I knew I wouldn't read or read again, many of which I'd picked up at used bookstores several years ago, books I no longer had any interest in reading, books that were just taking up space on my shelves. I've continued this year and have even given up on a few books that I had started to read that just didn't hold my interest. Currently I have three bags of books and a few assorted CDs that I'm taking to Half Price to sell this week. As with everything else in life, interests change, they evolve, even deepen in unexpected areas. Sometimes, one topic that was so focused on in the past now holds nothing. So I'm clearing the way through what I don't want and finding things I do want (subject to change in the future, of course). While I use the public library and borrow books from friends, I will always have my own collection of books. Some may think it's excessive (I currently have just over 2125 books), but it is a modest collection when I consider a friend who has nearly 4 times as many as me. And I'm reading the books I want to read - if something hangs around too long and I have not had a desire to read it, it may find its way into the next set of bags to sell. Currently, I'm reading Heresy, by S.J. Parris. It's the start of a series of Giordano Bruno mysteries - he's a runaway monk in the 16th century who was caught reading a prohibited book and was going to be subject to the Inquisition. I just got my Amazon order with the next two books, Prophecy and Sacrilege. Up next though, is Under the Dome, which I think I'd like to read before watching the series later this month (yes, the series will sit on my DVR for a while). I will also dip into Geology of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail before heading to Wisconsin at the end of next month to do some hiking. And finally on my more immediate list is America's Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar as well as his The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction. We'll see how far I get with these. I know there will no doubt be at least two or three other books I'll read before I finish these - I'm planning on taking a couple paperbacks on my European vacation via Florida this September though I haven't selected which ones yet. Yes, there are several other books, some of which I have, some of which I'll borrow, that I want to read fairly soon, but this is my list so far.