Books: March edition

Books bought:
"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris
"Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi
"Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama
"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen
"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

Books read:

Uh? Reading?

The problem with having a roommate who works part time at Barnes & Noble is the very tempting 30 percent discount. It makes you buy books even when you have so many unread ones you couldn't possibly read them all in the next five years — especially at the rate I read. My roommate, who also has an addiction to books, reads a ton of books. She tears through them to get to the end. Meanwhile, I wander slowly through mine, savoring the words. I actually read every word. I find it enjoyable, but frustrating because I can't read nearly as many books as I would like to.

This is why I've been reading my friend's copy of "Kavalier & Clay" since January. I also read every article in the weekly New York Magazine that I get and, of course, there's all that Spanish homework that isn't exactly reading itself. I'm also frustrated by my reading in foreign languages, as I've been reading "El Leon, la Bruja y el Ropero" for about two years and the first Harry Potter book in Greek for even longer. I'd like to finish both, so I could move on to Harry Potter book 2 in Greek and "El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera" in Spanish. But they just sit there mocking me.

I'm trying to make a little push here to do a whole lot of reading in a short period of time. I plan to finish "Kavalier & Clay" in the next two weeks, in time for my trip to England, where I can take two much smaller paper backs on the plane with me. I plan to finish both on the trip (I'm counting on the 8 hour flight to get me most of the way there — though of course I'll probably just watch movies. And then come home to start "The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao" before moving on to a book my roommate would like me to read. (People are constantly loaning me books, which I always return....eventually.)

Of course April will just bring a lot more books I'll buy and won't get around to reading for another six years. Sigh. I think I have an illness.