Making a Dent

When the year began I never thought I’d get through my to be read pile. It had gotten too big. At one point it was no more than three or four books, but then I got gifted a couple books, took some from a free library, and was given gift cards I used to purchase books. I have books I bought months ago sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

I do not like that. I do not like being that way. I like more flexibility in what I read next and I like to finish the books I own. I don’t have a lot of unread books on my shelf, and I don’t like there being unread books on my shelf. When my guests ask if I have read all my books the answer needs to be yes.

Books shouldn’t be a source of stress. Having unread books or too large a pile of unread books is a source of stress. I am making a dent but something unfortunate is about to happen. Two things actually or more accurately three. Three pre-orders are arriving this week. Two books tomorrow and then a video game on Friday. I am going to play the video game and I am going to put the pre-orders near the back of the line.

I want to finish the books I have and get back to having a much smaller pile of to be read books. The problem is the video game if it can be called a problem. I think there are ways around it take away my reading time and the main one is to not sleep. It is easier than one might think. I tend to go to bed early but I function just the same if I go to bed at 8:00 PM or 11:00 PM. That is three hours a night I can set aside for video game playing.

That is probably what I need to do. It is difficult to get anything done when the kids are awake, I can’t take away my gym time as that is for my health, and I still have business to take care of. The other thing I keep forgetting is that I’ll reach the end of the video game. It isn’t that different from a book. It has an end and then it is over and I can move onto the next one.

Part of the reason I lowered my reading threshold to 30 pages a day was to account for this exact situation. I need to be okay with taking things slower. I can’t let books become a source of stress. I could always pick up some of the books I have to read as audio books and then shelve the physical books when done. There is nothing wrong with that. I will still have read the book.