I notice that there are a lot of what I would call “confessional” blogs on the blogosphere. These are blogs where people feel compelled to reveal intimate, personal things about themselves to complete strangers for the sake of being honest. Or something. Which is fine. Perhaps it has a kind of healing aspect to it, like confession can have. This is why they have support groups in AA, right?
I have to confess, I’m not big on this kind of thing unless I know the person. I do a lot of confessing myself, on a daily basis, to God. And I have some people very close to me who I talk to about what’s going on in my life. I try to make them aware of my struggles without milking them for sympathy. I believe in being honest, and I like sharing my experiences with people, but everyone does not need to be all up in my laundry all the time, ya know? That's just me.
Still, I have decided on this day, for no apparent reason, to confess something about myself that I find a little troubling? Disturbing? Maybe just unusual? I don’t see it as a huge problem. Maybe it is, I don’t know. I know it’s not “normal.” Perhaps you will decide. I’ve hinted at it in the past, which I do a lot. I’m a big hinter. It’s part of my passive aggressive personality disorder. If you really want to know me, you are going to have to pay attention. (See, there’s some more confession, but that’s not the thing I’m confessing.)
The thing I’m going to put out there today is the disturbing number of books I read at the same time. I’m simply going to list them here, to show you how twisted it is, and you can think what you will. Offer support? Identify with me? Think I’m nuts? But I will have confessed it and we’ll see if it makes me or anyone else feel any better. Frankly, I doubt it. But I’m willing to try. For the sake of brevity, whatever, I’ll only list the books that I have read at least two chapters of. If I’ve only read one chapter, I won’t include it, but they are there, waiting in the shadows of my own personal Little Library of Horrors. “Read me, Seymour, read me!”
Okay. Here’s the list, compiled from what I think of as my different “reading stacks” strategically placed throughout our house (and in my car) in no particular order. Sometimes I finish a book in a few days, sometimes it takes years, but I’ve finished reading practically every book I’ve ever started, except for a few that I found, well, unreadable.
Please don’t hold it against me:
1. I Walked the Line - Vivian Cash
2. This Perfect Day - Ira Levin
3. Mister Slaughter - Robert McCammon
4. The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
5. Rediscovering Church - Lynne and Bill Hybels
6. The Koran - Muhammed
7. The Strong Willed Child - Dr. James Dobson
8. A Brief History of Time (rereading) - Stephen Hawking
9. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era - James M. McPherson
10. Mountains of the Mind - Robert MacFarlane
11. The Bible (rereading) - God
12. Ray Harryhausen, An Animated Life - Ray Harryhausen
13. The Dark Pond - Joseph Bruchak
14. Raising Your Child, Not Your Voice - Dr. Duane Cuthbertson
15. Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy - Gordon Ramsay
16. Eyewitness to Power - David Gergen
17. Celebration, U.S.A. - Frantz/Collins
18. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bain
19. Calvin’s Institutes - Calvin
20. I Was Right On Time - Buck O’Neil
21. So You Want to Be Like Christ - Chuck Swindoll
22. Fit Bodies, Fat Minds - Os Guinness
23. Shadowplay - Tad Williams
23.Until I Find You - John Irving
24. Blessings In Disguise - Alec Guinness
25. Mr. Darwin’s Shooter - Roger McDonald
26. Art: A New History - Paul Johnson
Read anything good lately?
Peace to you.
© LW Publishing 2010
I do the same thing...depending on my mood, I will pick up a book that reflects that...or what I'm really struggling with at that moment...or what needs addressing at that moment...or just whatever I feel like. Don't ever loan me a book if you expect to get it back within a few weeks (unless it can hold my attention for the duration of the content). Although, I think that it's pretty safe to say, I've never been in the middle of reading over 20 books at one time, I am currently at about a dozen, homeschooling kicks it up a bit throughout the year too.
ReplyDeleteBut the books, Dave, is not what makes you a "nerd" :) it's the Sci-fi in my book, but I have a weakness to that myself sometimes...shhh
what am i *not* reading would be easier to answer. i am just like you. i have piles of books all over the place. i read dozens of books at a time. like you, i do finish...eventually.
ReplyDeleteWe-R-fam-uh-lee...talkin' bout my sistuhs and me.
ReplyDeleteHoly wow. That is a LOT. I'm sure you could have some sort of disorder... But I think you are simply too excited to wait to read what you have your heart set on and therefore, read them all at once. It's okay. Sometimes we need diversions from diversions. I'm writing a few different things at once... NOT 26 different things with several more on deck... And when I cook, say Thanksgiving meal, I cook many, many things at once. So there. You're more normal than you think. :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, Lauren, you rationalize for me better than I do myself. Good job. Thank youuuuuu.
ReplyDeleteso that's what it is...passive aggressive disorder? i have it too.
ReplyDeleteHow do you keep all the stories straight when reading all of that at the same time!?! i just read Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. excellent.
When I start reading again, it all comes back to me, even if I haven't read it in a long time. I think if I started back up on a book and couldn't remember anything that had happened or been said, that would be the sign that I should toss it in the trash bin. -- Alan Brennert. I'll have to look him up.
ReplyDelete