Learning to Settle

Okay, so I'm working on my English M.A. (Rhetoric & Composition emphasis) and I'm unhappy. Not because of the class/teaching load. Um...that's kinda a lie. I'll admit I'm not altogether pleased at how much time I spend at my desk versus time I could be spending outside enjoying the weather. I'm unhappy because I can't read as much as I'd like to.

Don't worry your pretty little head, I do read a lot. In fact, I have 70 pages of reading (and trust me, it's not light/mind candy reading) I need to do before classes tomorrow, but it's not really what I WANT to read. If anyone has ever seen my bookshelf you'll know it's full to bursting and it's just getting more packed. I love to go shopping at my local Costco/Hastings/Barnes & Noble, etc. and I can't seem to make it out of the store without one or more books in hand. The problem? I don't have time to read them. Needless to say I have a huge pile of books just waiting for me to finish my schooling and start reading. The authors include Azar Nafisi, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Stieg Larsson, Elie Wiesel, C.S. Lewis, Kathryn Stockett, Barbara Kingsolver, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and others. Right now my pile of never-read-books is 14 books high, and likely to get taller before the school year is out.

Now, you may think all I read are boring books, but that's not true. I've loved reading Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," works by Poe, Hawthorne, Shakespeare, Faulkner, Cather, Canin, Defoe, Steinbeck, Bradbury, McCarthy, Dahl, Edson, Twain, Lee, and a ton of other, but they've all been tied to "required" readings for class. I will admit most of the books were good because, well, there's a reason they've lasted so long and are classics (although I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of "The Great Gatsby." Yell and curse me all you want, but all I really want to do is smack the main characters upside the head and tell them to get a life! Sorry, a little emotional there).

Anyway, the moral of this posting? I'm just going to have to learn to settle for the classics and dense rhetorical theory books for the next few months and then I'll treat myself to the pile of never-reads that will join my list of I-have-reads. You've got to experience the pain before you truly appreciate the pleasure.

As always, I'm open to any of YOUR favorite books. I always love to find a new author or story. Send 'em my way!