I read an article years ago that pointed out that most fans of games as service video games end up with negative impressions of those games because the mechanics they use to keep people playing eventually turn the game into work. I remember having this exact reaction to the Destiny games. Upgrading the armor was fine for awhile but a person can only collect so many red pea pods or whatever before it becomes tedium.
I had that thought tonight about reading but at the same time not about reading. I am currently reading Stephen King’s new book Billy Summers and enjoying it as much as I enjoy most of King’s books. I have reached the downward sloop of the book and look forward to finishing it.
What prompted the thought to enter my mind was I picked up the second book in a series from a Free Little Library in the neighborhood. I had already put a book into one and was owed a book. I have now paid four books and have four books. I have read none of them, and this one isn’t the first from a series I have already started.
We could talk about investment theory at this point in time. I have noticed that I am more apt to finish a video game if I pay for it versus downloading it as the free game of the month or something like that. The same seems to be true of books. I prioritize the ones I buy, but it is also that I am reading so many series I have lost track of them and I need to finish something. I need to get that sense of accomplishment and some of the series have close to fifty books and I am nowhere near done.
At this point I could probably pinpoint the exact book, in the exact series, I will be reading when I die. Or not. It probably isn’t released yet, but I am telling you I am dying with a book unfinished on my bedside table and my loved ones better bury me with it so I can finish it in the afterlife.
My thought was more I need to read these books so I can get them out of the way and read more in the series I am trying to finish. I am starting to treat the series I am reading like being in debt. I need to start with the one with the fewest books remaining and concentrate on that until I’m done and move on.
I have forgotten that reading is pleasurable and that I enjoy it. I have somehow managed to turn it into a choir. Except for the fact that it doesn’t feel like that when I am reading. Only when I am thinking about reading and all the books I have left to read and how I may never finish some of these series if I keep picking up stray books off the street like this.
David Huzzard Writes 