Books! Books! Books!

Maybe it's the change in weather---cool evenings and rainy days. Maybe it's thinking about grad school and the piles of textbooks and weekends spent writing papers. For whatever reason, I've gone on a total book orgy this month.

It started innocently enough with a trip to the library. Then, I discovered that I can request library books online and have them delivered to the branch down the street, rather than trekking all the way downtown (i.e., 15 minutes) on the off chance that the book that I want is there, and that I can renew the books online, as well. A cash-starved misanthropic shut-in's dream! I started requesting books right and left. No sooner would one come, then I'd request another. And when I picked up the books, I'd scan the front display of new releases and popular titles, grabbing one or two of those.

But even that hasn't been enough for me, and I've gone back to buying books. A bunch came a couple weeks ago. And this week, I got two more:

The Shame of the Nation by Jonathon Kozol
Kozol is one of the most important and compelling nonfiction writers of our time, exposing the truth about poverty and race in this country and finding humanity in the most inhumane conditions. If you aren't reading him, start. Now. I mean it. Amazing Grace is a good place to start.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
I've been meaning to read White Teeth for, about, forever. This one's been getting good reviews and lots of buzz and I admit to being swayed by popular culture.

Plus, my library request for Wicked has just been filled.

Now, I have a problem. I have so many books that I don't know where to start. I pick one up and then another and then another and I'm almost paralyzed by the overwhelming number of books from which to choose. I kind of want the light touch and wit of Jennifer Weiner, but A. L. Kennedy has sucked me in with her hazy, off-kilter, stream-of-conscious storytelling. I'm supposed to be reading Intuitive Eating. And The End of Poverty is due back in a week. I'm about a quarter of the way through Collapse. Should I press on with that, even though I still have a couple weeks plus the option to renew? I also want to read the Kozol and Smith books while they are still new---not years after everyone else has stopped talking about them, as I do with most books. And, well, with most movies. And music. And, well, let's just say I'm not exactly on the cusp of the trend curve.

What's a bookaholic to do?!

And then there's the pile of magazines . . .