Literary overload

I've become addicted to the library, which in theory is really very good, and in practicality is really very overwhelming. There's an ever-increasing tower of books on my nightstand that beckon to me daily, each with a three-week expiration date (give or take a renewal). So I'm feeling no small amount of pressure to be reading - a lot - every day. Don't get me wrong, I love to read. Love it. I would do it all day if my children could feed and clothe themselves. And I really, really want to read all these books - they've all been carefully chosen, placed on hold, and then brought home for me to pore through and feed my soul. But... I'm not sure they'll all get read, and in reality, I'm pretty sure one or two will go back to the library without ever getting to the title page.

So in case you're wondering, my nightstand book list, in no particular order (notwithstanding the cookery books in the cupboard in the kitchen):

Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
Thinking Write, Kelly L. Stone
"You Can't Make Me," Cynthia Ulrich Tobias
Acedia & me, Kathleen Norris
Barron's Essential Words for the GRE
The Portable MFA in Creative Writing

Don't ask me what the MFA books are doing on this list... I don't really know yet, myself.

Coda: After soldiering halfway through Freedom, I've decided to close the book permanently. I don't consider myself particularly judgmental when it comes to literature, but surely there are better, more edifying and life-affirming things to spend my time on. Sorry, Franzen. It may have been Oprah-endorsed, but it has most definitely been Karen-rejected.

Onto the next...