Confessions of a Book Nerd: To Be Read

I ‘ve decided to start this new series to simply talk about my experiences as a reader. In truth I encourage you to share your experiences either by contributing to RLP or even commenting below.  My goal is to try and write a new piece for every Wednesday, to strike up conversation and to discuss my whims as a reader.

So my “To Be Read” shelf at my home is filled, packed, jammed from side to side with all the books I hope to read in the not too distant future. There are some stacked on top of the others, quaintly lined up with their titles and beautiful covers peeking out between every other spine on that cliff face of books.  This, I imagine, will never change.

A friend and I recently spoke about some of the math behind being a reader. Namely, if you were to read a book each week for the rest of your life, you still would only barely scratch the surface of the great treasure horde of stories available. This is a gift and a curse.  Say I live another 50 years. At 52 books a year that’s a mere 2600 books. Now I’m not a quick reader (I like to savor the words) so it’s unlikely that I will ever get to read even that many, unless of course I make reading my full time job.

So with our limited lifetimes how do you choose? There are times I pick a book up because the cover looks awesome. Sometimes I’ll read a book based on a recommendation, but I will never get to all the books I want to read.  As I said above this is a gift and a curse. There are books that I have read that I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on and books that would blow my mind that I may never experience.

Which can sometimes overwhelm me, but more often than not creates a sort of Zen like state.  Why would I even try to read every available story out there? It’s impossible.  So while my minor OCD forces me to count, almost weekly, all the books in my home I haven’t read, my more free-wheeling self relishes the thought that there will always, always be something new and fun to read, that my choices are limitless.  I can choose exactly what stories I will bring into my life.  Some may be bad, some may be great! One thing is for sure, “So Many books, So Little Time.”

How big is your To Read Shelf? How do you choose what does and doesn’t go on that shelf? What do you think about the fact that you will never read every book on the average To Read Shelf?