Life's Library

I always try to make a point to read a lot during my breaks. At first, during this winter break I was failing a little. I was just watching How I Met Your Mother, and Angel and also cleaning my apartment to the point of being anal retentive.

But then I remembered that I wanted to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I couldn't go see it without reading the book first. So I pulled the book off my shelf that I bought in the summer at my church's carnival's used book store and began reading.

As usual, I couldn't stop reading. I finished it faster than I intended. I finished it while I was visiting my family, and I hadn't thought to bring an extra book. Which was stupid (but had I brought the extra book, I probably wouldn't have finished).

I wanted to keep reading, even though there is endless television to watch. So I borrowed The Help. I haven't seen the movie yet, and I've heard a lot of mixed reviews. My sisters seemed to like it, even though Sarah hadn't watched the movie either. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't comparable to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I finished The Help in a matter of days, and tried to go back to television (there's always so much left to watch). But I ended up reading (in one sitting) the first of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book series. After that I realized I really need to pace myself. Maybe one comic and then one real book? But what about HIMYM and Angel? Those need to be watched! And then I looked at my book shelf, and I realized on my tiny shelves I've crammed more books than the shelves can hold. I have also only read a little over half of them. Some of these unread books are from last Christmas, and some from this Christmas. Many are borrowed from friends, who have probably wondered by now what happened to their books. It almost makes me sad when I realize how little I have read. But I also know that I read all the time. This quarter alone I read approximately one book a week (plus poetry and short stories) for my classes. I'm also freaking out wondering how my next quarter classes haven't posted books, wondering if that means I have no books to read next quarter. That's unimaginable to me. No books for class! WHAT?!

Then I remembered this, “ 'Have you really read all those books in your room?'
Alaska laughing- 'Oh God no. I’ve maybe read a third of ‘em. But I’m going to read them all. I call it my Life’s Library. Every summer since I was little, I’ve gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting. So I always have something to read.' " - John Green, Looking for Alaska

It makes sense that my favorite novel sums up my problem, my life actually, completely. There's never enough time, but there will also never be enough books. So, I'm just going to keep reading, and keep watching television and not think about the time or how much is left. I'm just going to keep going.