To Kindle or Not to Kindle

I like books. I love books. I like buying books and keeping books and loaning out my books and borrowing books.

I hardly ever get rid of my books, because I usually only buy books that I know I will want to read again and again. Or maybe I hope that I will read again and again (It's always a good idea, but then when I do pick up Eat Pray Love again, or Bird by Bird, or The Bell Jar, I think, "Oh, but there are so many other books that I haven't read yet....")

Since taking on personal essay writing and creative non-fiction writing, I have fallen deeply in love with memoir writers. For the past three years 90% of what I read is non-fiction, memoir or self-help. And I do miss fiction. Fiction reading uses a different part of my brain; I'm taken out of my world and hurled elsewhere, and usually elsewhere is a quite interesting place to be. Perhaps not more interesting that my current situation, but at least it gets me out of my own head for an hour or so.

As much as I love my NYC public library and take much satisfaction in going online, searching for a book, putting it in my list and receiving an email when it is ready and waiting on me in the "reserved book room," I wish I could have as much time with the book as I wanted. I wish I could underline the parts that speak to me & highlight the powerful passages. I've started requesting so many books that I don't even have enough time to read them when I get them--- and this stresses me out a bit. "What do I read first?" "What do I return without reading?" "What do I only scan for pertinent information...?" "Do you think the librarian knows that I didn't read this book?" It is a problem I'll admit.

Even now, I'm not just reading Tattoos on the Heart (Which I bought for two reasons. 1. It was referenced twice in a devotional I was reading, on two separate occasions - thus, peeking my interested. And 2. When I searched the book on Amazon, Anne Lamott's quote praising the author was right there across the front of the book jacket, so that pretty much sealed the deal for me.) This, in addition to:

Younger by the Day (which I got at an event where I heard the author speak and, it's also autographed!)

Walking with God (by John Eldridge. I read it on my lunch hour each day... amazing stuff. I highly recommend this book.)

Bittersweet, which is a book of about 15-20 short stories, and I have about six more left... so it's not like I'm in the middle of a huge novel or anything... But still, in my mind, it's unfinished.

Feeling Good & Learned Optimism are two I have on loan from the library, but I may just buy these. Oh, and I do have a third health/ wellness book a doctor recommended. Sitting on my nightstand. Still. On loan. From the library.

I can't even tell you how hard it was to not buy a book when I went to The Strand this past Thursday. I'm really wanting to read Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert and Visit From the Goon Squad.

All these books in addition to my prayer journal and personal journal... my nightstand and purse are weighed down. When it starts to really bother me, the clutter and books everywhere, all that seems to happen is that I move the pile from one location to the next; refusing to house them back on the bookshelf, or take them back to the library unread.

Maybe a Kindle would come in handy? Even though I'm not quite ready to give in, I think it would make my book reading quite easier. Or, maybe I should just commit to one book at a time. Maybe...