Do you ever find yourself looking for a book and just not finding the right thing?
Or maybe you start a book and leave it, dipping back into it a few times and then finding yourself hooked.
Perhaps it’s that you just can’t get started. Nothing looks good. Nothing sounds good.
YOU JUST WANT A BOOK BUT THERE IS NO BOOK TO BE HAD.
(Sorry to shout. But it is a dilemma. And an all-caps one at that.)
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
And not bad guilty. Just…yeah, that’s my experience. Over and over and over. There seem to be a few times a year when I find myself between books, even though I invariably have a book or two due for review, a shelf or three of books to read, and many more books piled and waiting for me, not to mention the library stack.
And then, then, there’s my Kindle.
Well befitting my love-hate relationship with all things, my Kindle is a blessing…and a curse.
Oh yay! I get review copies of books and can read them early!
But egads! I already have piles and shelves and stacks to read!
Ah, yes, but when you find that book that’s been waiting for you, and you find yourself immersed in it…well, it feels like a Book Moment.
But how, HOW do you get to that wonderful Book Moment of Bliss and Completion?
If you were looking for a list, for advice, for the answer…
…sorry.
I have only my experience.
And a few tips that have worked for me.
Try something completely different.
What was the last thing you read? Go with the polar opposite, whether in genre or in tone or in expectation.
What do you usually read? Go with something that’s NOT usual for you.
What are you in the mood for? (Wait. If you know that, WHY ARE YOU HAVING A PROBLEM? OK, wait again. I get it. I DO. You are human.)
Play bookshelf roulette.
Doesn’t matter which bookshelf (or bookcase) it is. You may just make a random pile of books or go into someone else’s house.
Close your eyes and…point. That’s your book, the one at the end of your finger.
Another way to play this is to have a friend/spouse/other person wrap your book choices up and the one you unwrap is the one you start reading.
Just open a book.
Pick a saint. Read their work.
Pick an author. Read the first title you find in the library or on your shelf.
Email me. I will give you an assignment. (As my friends and colleagues will tell you, I am not joking.)
And let’s not forget the Bible. I mean…it is a book. In fact, it’s a library!
