WALK, TALK, AND READ

I've been thinking about Rebus' comment, asking me why I just don't return my long-held library books.

Why not bring the library books back? If you never finished them in that time then maybe they were not all that to begin with. Let them go, take some of the pressure off. And if you feel the need to to return to them later you'll know where they are.


It's not that I am not interested in them, or that they aren't pretty good books. I am a reading magpie. I skip around and look for the bright and shiny. In my reading life, "bright and shiny" can mean a short, satisfying read, a bestseller, or a subject that grabs top place in my current interest. I always have at least five or six things in progress. Books get shuffled back and forth.

And, these books, and I am aallmost through the longest one, represent an investment of time. I feel as if that investment would be a bit squandered if I didn't finish them. And once they go back to the library, that tends to be the end of it. There are lots of books vying for my immediate attention.

Also, there is a discipline involved. The books I have not torn through are more difficult reads, not easily consumed. But I think worth the investment.

Another kind of practice perhaps? I can't quite articulate this, but getting through these books is something related to my walking the walk I would like to walk, and talking the talk I want to be talking. Another aspiration?

And for any of you who might be interested in what these tomes are:

The Eitingons
101 Theory Drive
A Thousand Peaceful Cities