Several years ago, I started keeping track of my "books read this year," and since then, I hate to carry books over from one year to the next. I always like to finish the current book on December 31. I have spent several New Year’s Eves frantically reading to get to the end of the book, so that as the clock ticks from 11:59 to 12:00, I can end with a satisfied whoosh, closing not only the year, but the book.
This year, to my astonished horror, I calculated wrong! I finished my book a day early. I finished the last of 2009's books on December 30. It left me feeling neither as satisfied nor as accomplished as I had hoped, but instead an empty failure. I am rarely without a book. But to start one today means I would have to finish it today and most of my 900+ books are far too long for that, especially on a day I must be at work; and the ones that are not, are guilty-pleasure books that my inner book-snob will not allow to be seen outside of the privacy of my bedroom.
This year, to my astonished horror, I calculated wrong! I finished my book a day early. I finished the last of 2009's books on December 30. It left me feeling neither as satisfied nor as accomplished as I had hoped, but instead an empty failure. I am rarely without a book. But to start one today means I would have to finish it today and most of my 900+ books are far too long for that, especially on a day I must be at work; and the ones that are not, are guilty-pleasure books that my inner book-snob will not allow to be seen outside of the privacy of my bedroom.
Standing in my bedroom this morning getting ready for work, I faced the very real possibility of a day without a book -- an unacceptable kind of nakedness. What shall I do? Shall I call in sick? After all, this is a personal crisis, which can be considered “sick,” isn't it? Shall I go to work book-less and have the world see me as the failure I know myself to be? I do not know what to do.
Finally it came to me: Short Stories! Novellas! Stand-Alone Excerpts! Reprints! And luckily I have some on hand. They were given to me by my thoughtful fiancé, who realized a need for them even before it existed. He picked an assortment of Pocket Penguin reprints from their 70th Birthday celebration for me. I dutifully cataloged them and placed them on my shelf in my obsessive-compulsive order and promptly forgot about them. But the slim little volumes are perfect for just such a book crisis. Long enough to last the day, but not so long as to carry over until tomorrow. I will not say that I will make it a tradition to savor a novella every December 31, but I will say, when the need arises, I am glad I have a supply.
And with that, I am off to start -- and finish -- Christmas in Stalingrad.
Happy New Year! -- and may you all finish your books tonight!
Update: I finished the book with enough time left in 2009 to watch the festivities from New York and then the local celebration -- on clear nights, as it is tonight, I can see the public fireworks display from the comfort of my bedroom window. Welcome 2010 - and with it, a new book.
Finally it came to me: Short Stories! Novellas! Stand-Alone Excerpts! Reprints! And luckily I have some on hand. They were given to me by my thoughtful fiancé, who realized a need for them even before it existed. He picked an assortment of Pocket Penguin reprints from their 70th Birthday celebration for me. I dutifully cataloged them and placed them on my shelf in my obsessive-compulsive order and promptly forgot about them. But the slim little volumes are perfect for just such a book crisis. Long enough to last the day, but not so long as to carry over until tomorrow. I will not say that I will make it a tradition to savor a novella every December 31, but I will say, when the need arises, I am glad I have a supply.
And with that, I am off to start -- and finish -- Christmas in Stalingrad.
Happy New Year! -- and may you all finish your books tonight!
Update: I finished the book with enough time left in 2009 to watch the festivities from New York and then the local celebration -- on clear nights, as it is tonight, I can see the public fireworks display from the comfort of my bedroom window. Welcome 2010 - and with it, a new book.
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