Sunday, November 14, 2010

Sunday Salon: Books furnish a room (and a car)

I have had one of those weeks where I am unable to settle on a book so I have started many only to set them aside to start more. Because I am rather obsessive compulsive about my reading, I will indeed eventually finish them all but heaven only knows when that may happen. In the meantime, where do I put all of these partially read books? If I stack them all on my bedside table, I could die in the night under an avalanche of books. So I scatter them throughout the house to be stumbled on fortuitously. I truly do have books in almost every room in the house and I don't just mean books on shelves (which would also be a true statement), I mean books with bookmarks tucked between their pages waiting for the mood to strike and bring me back to them.

Obviously I have books on my bedside table. In this case, I have Great Lakes Nature because it is episodic and I read an entry a day or thereabouts. I also have whichever book has struck my fancy at the moment I decide to head to bed. In my bathroom, I laid down The Vagabond by Colette. I think it went in there with me while I turned the shower on and waited for it to warm up. But it wasn't the right book for me when I got out of the shower. In the kitchen, I have A Civil Contract because I decided it had been a while since I read Georgette Heyer and Regency-set romances generally help me out of the "inability to choose" state. Didn't seem to work. Beside the computer in the basement, I have The Lacuna, my latest book club book. I can't seem to get past my lack of desire to read it (but I need to since the meeting is coming up) and so it sits abandoned too. In my purse in the car, I have a copy of Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float because it is hilarious and easy to put down. Facebook and great literature, how can you go wrong? And yet I can't read it straight through because I know it will seem one note if I do that. And so it is my dip into book when I get stopped by a train or a long red light or have to sit at innumerable kid sports practices. Oddly enough, I don't have books sitting by the couches in two of the rooms I like to read most. But I could remedy that later today. At the moment, odds are that all the books I have bookmarks in currently will stay where they are and I will try something else. Call me fickle but don't comment on my decorating technique of strewing books everywhere the eye can see!

Do you read more than one book at a time? Do you leave a shelf's worth of books in your wake?

This past week I haven't finished much (witness the above post!) but I did raft down a wild river with a group of women all struggling with major life decisions and I lived in China with missionaries during some of the most turbulent times in China's twentieth century history.

6 comments:

  1. I have the Lacuna on audio book and hope I'll enjoy listening to it versus reading it!
    My Sunday Salon

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  2. I tend to read one book at a time but have sometimes started a book and another comes along that distracts me.

    I have been very good up until I started blogging this year, in that my books were confined to bookshelves in the living room and a couple by the bed. Blogging has increased not only my wishlist, but my TBR shelves and I am starting to wonder where I can stash books next without anyone else in the house noticing!

    carol

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  3. I usually have two or three books going at one time so I can switch back and forth depending on my mood!

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  4. I am the poster child for reading multiple books. I currently have bookmarks in 16 books, although really I'm only making progress in about six. I'll probably start the new Robin McKinley today.

    I try to round them up at my bedside table at night, but during the day I lose them all over the place.

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  5. My normal reading mode is to have one novel and one non-fiction book (like a cookbook) on the go. Lately, though, I've been giving myself permission to pick up a second novel if the one I started is tough for me to get through. In my knitting and my reading, I've always felt that I should finish the project/book I started before I move on to another one. This can be a problem if I run into a project/book that I'm not enjoying. My sense of obligation goes into overdrive and I feel like I HAVE to finish it. I'm learning to break free and move on :-).

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  6. I have a book for every place I might sit or lie down for a while. That way, if a cat sits on me, I can stay and provide a lap for a while. I usually have three books going at once, one on my beside table, one beside an easy chair, and one on the kitchen table.

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