When I sit down to read a book - and I don't mean the physical act of sitting down to read a book, but the general mindset of choosing a book off the shelf and planning to read it - I feel tied to that particular book, like it's a movie playing in my head, and for the next few days I'll pause it often and get on with my life, but I don't want to have this paused scene from a movie stuck on my TV set all month. I have to finish the book. It's like any other task I might undertake, except that, like writing a blog post, I pick it up and continue with it every now and then, instead of getting it all done it one sitting.
It sounds like a chore when I put it in these terms, but I love reading, I really do. I really regret that I don't have enough time to read nowadays (Maybe I should cut back on Dragon Age), and I've already got a pile of books stacking up for when I finally finish what I'm working on now.
However, the worst part about loving to read, and not having enough time to read, is the inevitable feeling of infidelity. You know, those few times when you're halfway through one book and already have another one lined up, but whenever you have a chance to read you can't help thinking about how great the next book on your pile might be. It's not that the book you're reading now isn't great too, though occasionally that happens as well (Especially with school assignments - invariably, whatever you're assigned to read for class is a better read if you're reading it of your own free will). In my cases, the next book on my stack is something new I've just gotten, something I've been looking forward to or just bought because it sounded to great in the store.
I generally love whatever I'm reading at the moment, and I know that if I put it down to pick something else up, I'll lose the thread of plot and my interest as well, over time. So even if I'm excited for whatever's next on my list, I refuse to stop reading what I have at the moment, even if that means taking another few days to get through it. I feel unclean for thinking about putting the bookmark in prematurely and moving on to another story. I couldn't do that to the writer, or the publisher, or the characters.
Right now, I'm re-reading The Hobbit, because I was in an epic-fantasy mood and wanted to be ready before the movie comes out next year. I have a couple books planned after this, but nothing I'm explicitly excited for, so I can't say this is how I'm feeling right at this moment. I doubt I'm the only one who's ever felt this way, however, and I'll be looking forward to never having to go through all this again. Too many people just quit when things get a bit difficult and I don't want to be one of those people.
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