Bookitis

Loons · #1

It seems I get about halfway through a book before I encounter a new book I invariably must start reading, and can't stop until I encounter a new book (only occasionally a previously started book).

At the moment, I am half-way through:

Mountains of Madness - HP Lovecraft
Lives of the Poets - John Newton
A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
Syrup - Max(x) Barry
Savage Anxieties - Robert A. Williams jr.
A Universe From Nothing - Lawrence M. Krauss
The Litigators - John Grisham
And Another Thing - Eoin Colfer

That I can remember right now. Is there a known approach to dealing with this?

Backburnered:
The Carpathians - Janet Frame (I'm not sure where this is right now)
The Letters of Frank Sargeson - Sarah Sheiff (Ed.)
Snuff - Terry Pratchett

...Alternately, what are you reading right now?

Ortho · #2

What has historically happened to me is that I eventually come across a book that I can't put down and I read it all the way through. For whatever reason the other ones weren't holding my attention. When I find a book that fascinates me for whatever reason, I don't find myself looking for new books, because I know this is the one I want to read.

Eventually I just gave myself permission to not finish the books that weren't hooking me and put them aside either forever or until I felt like coming back to them. Sometimes I come back to a previously abandoned book and really enjoy it, but it's like 10% of the time, and it has certainly never been worth the huge amounts of time I wasted plowing through stuff that wasn't interesting me enough to commit to it.

Lamp · #3

I thought this was going to be about go books. I'm kind of the same way. I think part of the problem is that I have too many, but I can't help that either, I just can't resist having every book. It's a compulsion.

The approach, assuming you're capable of doing it, is only buying 1 book at a time, and not buying anotherone until you're finished.

Monadology · #4

I go through stages like this and then eventually get so sick of juggling them all I force myself to just focus on 2-3 at a time. So my only advice is to learn to get disgusted at yourself :razz:

I am, however, in the juggling phase at the moment. Currently reading:

Dead But Dreaming 2 (anthology)
Freedom and Reason in Kant, Schelling and Kierkegaaard - Michelle Kosch
Catching Scent of Victory - O Rissei
Matter and Memory - Henri Bergson
Kierkegaard's Relations to Hegel Reconsidered - Jon Stewart
Lovecraft and Philosophy: Weird Realism - Graham Harman
Content and Justification - Paul Boghossian
Rails to Infinity - Crispin Wright
Self-Constitution - Christine Korsgaard

P.S. Are you aware of the philosophical controversy surrounding A Universe from Nothing? If not, you should check out some of the back-and-forth on the blogosphere after finishing the book. IIRC, it all started here with a harsh review by David Albert (who, by the way has Doctorates in both philosophy and physics) and kind of ballooned from there.

jts · #5

1. Lots of bookmarks.
2. Get them from the library, don't buy. Then read them as they get recalled.
3. Tell lots of people you just finished it, or are about to. Now you have 48 hours to not get caught in the lie.
4. Make a list of books you want to read, and triumphantly cross them off as you dash across the finish line.

Bantari · #6

Try reading more interesting books?....
Just saying.

Inkwolf · #7

Audiobooks: how I deal with my lack of reading time! I listen while I shop, while I do housework, while I walk the dog, etc, etc. Most libraries have a good selection, you can usually get more on interlibrary loan, and some libraries have access to downloadable audiobooks, too.

It helps to have an MP3 player, a portable CD player, and a portable audiocassette player. (It's amazing, not only how many audiobooks the library has on cassette, but how many audiobooks they ONLY have available on cassette.)

What I'm reading on paper right now: Mail Order Mysteries, about what you actually got if you ordered stuff from comic book ads in the 60's and 70's. (You know, X-Ray Glasses and stuff.) On audio, listening to the Pendragon series. I like YA fantasy.

Loons · #8

Bantari wrote:

Try reading more interesting books?....
Just saying.

I was leaving out go books

Loons · #9

I am going to just place my bet that The Casual Vacancy will be pretty good. My logic is that by the end of Harry Potter, she was writing political/morality themed fiction for adults anyway. (I think she can handle the break with fantasy).

Edit:
While I don't believe I've previously read a drama, The Casual Vacancy seems to be a good one. [The first six chapters] are gritty, exciting, unpleasant, spiteful and painfully real-feeling (I assume anything strange can be chalked up to it being in England). I was hit by some obvious cleverness used that I didn't remember remarking on in Harry Potter; indeed I don't think anyone would have guessed the author of this' bestselling other work was a children's fantasy series.
Do be prepared for a moderately visceral read when you pick up this book.
J.K. Rowling has confirmed herself as more than a one-hit wonder.

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