Today I returned "Shades of Grey" (Fforde) to the library. I did not finish reading it, but I have renewed it twice. It is a good book, I am just not in the mood for Fforde now. Which made me start asking the question, "Should I have just bought the book?"
There are some books I just have to be in the mood to read. A book like "The Wind-Up Girl" (Bacigalupi ), which I am also reading now (and have been for about a month), is very dense reading. I have to read every word, because the writing is just so precise and the descriptions of the future world are vital to the story taking place. Because of that, this is a book I can't just pick up and read while I am watching kids take a test. It demands my attention. "Shades of Grey" is also a book that you have to give your full attention to, and be in the mood for. These books might sit on my shelf for months, until I am in the right mood. These are the books I buy, so that I remember I want to read them, and have them for when I want them.
But other books, like most series mystery, I can pick up and read anytime. I can read and knit, or read and watch a classroom, or read and cook. I love these books too, they just take a little less effort and dedication. And I can read them pretty much anytime. So those are the books that I tend to check out of the library, while I tend to buy the more complicated fiction. Yet I read many more of the series types mystery and thrillers. I think I need to have a rule to buy one or two of those for every three or four I read at the library. I want the authors to keep writing, so they need to be paid!
Read: Trio of Sorcery (bought), Revolution (Advanced Copy), Olive Kitteridge (library), Masked (read from library, but subsequently purchased for Mark).
