Pile of Shame

So many books. So little time.

The June 10 & 17 edition of The New Yorker magazine just arrived in my mailbox today (Yes, I still subscribe to print magazines), and never have I ever seen a cover so relevant to my life. The title of the cover illustration is “Bedtime Stories” by American cartoonist Bruce Eric Kaplan, better known as BEK. I think a better name for this cartoon would be “Pile of Shame.” In other words, the books we buy, intending to read until we get distracted by another book that we want to read.

What avid reader/writer doesn’t have a pile of shame? While this is an obvious exaggeration of what most of our bedside tables look like, it is not uncommon for me to have piles of books all throughout the house. The anxiety-stricken looks on their faces say it all. So many books, so little time. Where do I begin? What do I read next? I am often reading two or three books at a time in different genres.

I am guilty of buying multiple books every time I go to the bookstore, fully understanding that I can only really read one at a time, but I worry that if I don’t buy them when I see them, I will forget that I want to read them. I tried just taking pictures of the covers I was interested in to document my intentions and reduce the anxiety I would inevitably feel when I couldn’t afford to buy them all, but now I have an entire album in my…