Someone else's list of more books I should have read already, after a self-pitying preamble, followed by thoughts on keeping books

I didn't read anything yesterday, and I haven't yet today. Instead, I was running a yard sale at my library. Another member of the Friends of the Library really really wanted to have one, and was going to organize it all, and then let me know a few weeks ago that she'd actually be out of town today. la la la. So it became my yard sale. The world was peaceful at four this morning, washed clean by (yet another) heavy rain, that had soaked the tarps lovingly draped last night over the piles of yard salage (like silage, only junkier). Oh well. We made enough money to pay for 2 summer reading programs, 2 books I want to read, and some left over for the savings account (my dream is to have the hard cash on hand to buy the library solar panels some day. Think of all the money currently spent on air conditioning that could be used for books instead...).

So there was no time to read yesterday or today, which was sad.

And then I find lists like this, taken from Fantasy Book Reviews, over in the UK:

Must-reads

The following reviews are of books that begin the very best fantasy series available.

• The Curse of the Glomeglozer
• The Spook's Apprentice
• Gardens of the Moon
• A Game of Thrones
• A Wizard of Earthsea
• Ship of Magic
• Assassin's Apprentice
• The Colour of Magic
• Duncton Wood
• Legend

I have read two (Wizard of Earthsea and Ship of Magic). If I must read the others, so be it. I will try.

Speaking of reading, does anyone else pick what to read on the basis of what is going to happen to the book next? I am currently trying to read "books that will leave the house." Second choice: "books that will be neatly put on shelves." This sounds good, but unfortunately there is no shelf space left in the "recent books that have personal meaning to me," "British girls' books" and "general science fiction and fantasy." There is some space left in "early 20th-century English poetry," but that is not useful.

I had hoped to create more shelf space by disposing of sundry toys, puzzles, and videos at the library yard sale, but while I was away, time and space collapsed in the playroom, and the little clearings I had made are gone....perhaps to pay me back for not making space by getting rid of my own books. Once I've decided to keep a book, I keep it. This is why, even though I have little desire to read it again (although I might re-read its sequel), I still have my copy of Nancy Springer's The White Hart, and it will probably end up in the nursing home with me someday (if I have enough shelf space). But I can't get rid of it, because I do want to keep the next book in the series, The Silver Sun, simply because I loved it so much when I was a freshman in high school....


(Here, by the way, is the one line I remember from The White Hart (last read c. 1981): "My loins long for you." This took my innocent twelve-year old self somewhat aback. Still does).