Incidental Musings

Waiting in the Wings

books piled on a fancy pillow
March 24, 2023 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

My advice to you is to always have a few good books waiting in the wings.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about reading a second book simultaneously with a first, if the first is difficult or not adequately holding the interest. I was engaging in this endeavor last week, but my plan backfired because the second book I chose to read also turned out to be difficult.

I felt that I needed a third book to keep me going, or at least I needed to swap the second book out for a different second book for a while. Unfortunately, I had no library books checked out at the time. And all of the the books I owned but had not read were also difficult (maybe that’s why I hadn’t read them yet – lol). So I was stuck in a low-motivation rut.

Let’s face it—book reading can be taxing. There’s a reason why more people don’t do it regularly. Book reading comes with immense rewards, but sometimes, though certainly not always, you have to work for them.

As soon as I could, I went to a local bookstore and bought some fun-looking books. And I checked out some fun-looking books from the library. Now I have a wide range of book choices, should I fall into a similar rut in the future.

I say “in the future” because I’ve managed to climb out of the rut I was in, by powering through to the end of my second difficult book. Now I’m reading my first difficult book (The Aeneid) along with one of my recently acquired easier reads. This feels more comfortable. Whew!

(I imagine that this problem does not happen to those of you who use e-readers or have audiobook subscriptions and such. I’m still old-fashioned – and proud – in my paper book reading.)

Do you keep good books waiting in the wings?