Controlled Neurosis

I don't not meet goals I set for myself. Unless I'm in the hospital. Which is why I've refrained from joining the crew of cool bloggers who've all buckled down for the 50 book challenge. Sure, it sounded like something I'd enjoy. But, when push comes to shove, if I'd committed to reading 50 books, and it was, say, for example Decemeber 8th, and I had only read, like, 38 books. Yeah, I'm the kind of ridiculous "I follow through on my commitments" freaks that would read 12 books instead of study for finals. Or, rather, I'd try to identify 12 books that would help me study for finals that would also count, but I'd fail to find enough, and I'd feel guilty for cheating, so I'd just read pleasure books (because they are like crack to me) and my entire law school education would take a turn for the worse. Have I mentioned that I learn quite a bit of what this education is supposed to be teaching me during the cramming period each semester?

So, to date, I'm at 7 books for 2005, which leads me to believe that my self-restraint on joining the 50 book challenge was a good idea since at least 4 of the books were read over winter break. But regardless of the eventual total for the year, I've got a book related dilemma right now.

The problem?

Faced with a dearth of suggestions, I ordered Let's Go Puerto Rico, Lonely Planet Puerto Rico, The House on the Lagoon, and Boricuas. I can't wait to read them and enjoy Puerto Rico on our vacation.

But, I had previously ordered The Guns of August and it currently sits on my bedstand, waiting to be read. It isn't in the lower shelf, where my half-read copy of Ulysses rests, but it has been sitting there, biding its time politely for a good couple of months now. And then these upstart beach-going bikini-clad books arrived. What am I to do?

It's the serious book now and the fluff on vacation, or the fluff now and the serious book on vacation when I can spare all brain cells to focus on it. Oh, the glory of what passes for a reading-related conundrum this semester! Can you tell which way I'm leaning?

Yeah. So, if my reading for the year qualifies as bloggable, it's something along the lines of an "approximately 25 book challenge." Only it's more of a symbol of decadence than a challenge: It's a way of saying "I have more than enough time to pleasure read, but I'm not going to dedicate it to reading so much that I have to miss out on things like enjoying netflix, date night, or the cult cinema presentation of The Big Lebowski."

Oh, and I have no fear of failure. None at all.