Reader's Dilemma Number 678

Hullo again!

Since's it's been awhile since my last post I'm going to do the top four books I'm excited we got in the children's section in the last three weeks:

1. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (paperback)
Easily one of the best books I've read in the last few years...buy it

2. Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Anna Dewdney
My love for Llama Llama is, perhaps, excessive for a 25 year old.

3. Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block
Her books were such an important part of my high school life. I'm excited for her take on the Odyssey.

4. The new Harry Potter covers. They are absolutely lovely. Even if Dumbledore and Lupin have rather silly looking mustaches. I bought the boxed set.


And now, my current dilemma.

I am a rereader. I know a lot of people who aren't. That's fine, I don't understand it, but hey, if that's your thing go for it. I just have problems reading a book once and then letting it go. There are too many that change every time I read them. Too many that I just want to read again and again.

Which leads to my problem. The thing about reading lists is that they keep growing. This is a beautiful and terrible thing. I will never be caught up, no matter how hard I try. I love that there's always something new but also feel immediately bad when someone asks "have you read..." and I have to say 'no.'

But with so many new books coming out it's hard to make time to reread my favorites. My most common method is to make a list and alternate. Currently I am rereading Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series but I feel bad that I have so many books that I haven't read that are out or coming out that I've broken it up, saying that I'll read two of those and then another, newer, book and then the other two. But sometimes I get grumpy about breaking up a series like that.

If I can find them in audio format I'll listen to them on my way to work (I won't listen to an audio book unless I've read the book before. I get less upset if I miss parts when the bus gets particularly loud) while still reading newer books. Not every title is available in audio format though and some of them are expensive and/or difficult to find.

I can't not reread, I just end up pining for the old favorites (I'm looking at you Howl's Moving Castle) but I also begin to despair over the growing to-be-read pile as I'm sliding comfortably back into familiar worlds.

There isn't really a solution to this problem and, in terms of problems, it's really not a bad one to have. But if you ask me if I've read a book and I looked pained and say 'no' please know that it's a legitimate pain.

-Amy