Back in the day, my husband and I consumed books so voraciously that we when of us would get to the bottom of our stack we would announce to the other, eyes a-twinkle, "I'm out of book!" This was a sad state of affairs only if we could not get to a book store by dinner time. In fact, it was understood that if one of us was "out of book," both of us got to replenish our stacks.
Things are different now. There's very little time to read. I have to be far more selective in the choices for, and even from, my dusty stack. I have to weigh cozy familiarity against expanding my horizons for the sake of my craft. I even consider how many times I'm likely to be interrupted in the course of a reading a book. Often I only manage half a page in a reading session. This ruins a lot of books.
This situation bums me out a little. I'd really like to know: how do you decide what to read next?
I should have mentioned: right now I'm reading Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon as part of Editorial Ass's read-along. This definitely falls into the category of horizon-expansion.
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