Too Many Books, Too Little Time

My current "To Read" stack is at least 35 books deep. I have this notion (perhaps silly?) that I can actually read them all before I start grad school in August, if only I put down the computer and really start reading again. The simple truth is that, of course, I could read 35 books by August. I used to read at least 2 books a week. Now, not so much....and the internet is mostly to blame. Damn you cursed internet! Why are you so beguiling?

Not having time, or at least feeling as though I didn't have time, during the last several of the 10 odd years it took me to finish my BA while working didn't help either. Somehow, it felt less like I was being too distracted from school if I spent time on the internet than if I spent time reading what I wanted to read (in book form.) I'm currently working diligently to break the habits of not reading enough books, often enough and to return to my former ways; I've read 7 books in the last month and having recently started/joined a book club with a friend helps. It's struggle though. And yet, somehow, that doesn't stop me from desiring more books on a pretty regular basis.

I was just made aware of this brand new book by way of another blog and am filled with such an intense desire to own it immediately that I just don't quite know what to do with myself. I suspect it would have been such a huge addition to the study I did two years ago for my senior thesis and contains at least one essay by one of my Anthropological heroes, Robbie Davis-Floyd. It's just a shame that the $189.00 price tag is so incredibly off-putting. However, with a title like Childbirth Across Cultures it will have to become a part of library at some point, and will hopefully be an invaluable reference for my eventual graduate level thesis research.

Speaking of too many books, as I went to add Childbirth Across Cultures to my Amazon wish-list (which I use more as a convenient way to keep track of the books I want to read/buy than to actually order off of Amazon) I noticed that it already contains 376 other books. Oy veigh. Someday we will have a house large enough for a real library....or at least one with many, many built in shelves all over the house.

T says I can't take all the books I currently own with us when we move to North Carolina next year. Given that, or even the option of taking them anyway, I should really should work on not adding anymore books to my collection between now and August, or at least attempt to glean the shelves of things I really don't want and can donate to Title Wave.

Really though....how is one ever supposed to read all the books one would hope to read in a lifetime? Aren't there just simply too many?