A Post For Bookworms Everywhere

At least I've read Fahrenheit 451

I am a bookworm, in case you hadn't figured it out yet. I do have a deep, dark confession to make though: I am also a book hoarder.

Okay, probably not so deep and dark, but hey, I had to get your attention, right?

I purchase books with the intent to read them cover-to-cover right away. New books are enticing and I prefer to own books rather than check them out in the library. I need to be able to make pencil marks in the margins of my favorite passages!

I think I need to spend more time at the library instead of bookstores. Now my problem is that I don't have enough bookshelves.

My books are stacked on the floor around my room. My poor books, without a proper home on a shelf. But hey! The floor is better than a box, right? Some people I know (names will not be revealed to protect individuals from bookworm wrath everywhere) tried to convince me to put some of them in a box. IN A BOX. Not happening. Ever.

Let's face it: I collect books. I basically own my own library filled with books I have and have not read. I stopped counting how many books I have after I reached the 100 mark. Many books have stayed with me throughout the years.

How often does it actually happen when I do finish books cover-to-cover immediately? Not as often as I'd like. Here are several examples of books yet to be finished:

1. A Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin

I purchased this series in December of 2013. The boxed set was on sale at Barnes & Noble for members and I had a store gift card, so they practically paid for themselves. I just started reading book one, A Game of Thrones, last week. In July. Seven months after acquiring them. Since then, they have sat on the floor in my room gathering dust. In my defense, each of the 5 novels in this series is roughly 800 pages (or more). What was a girl to do? I needed long chunks of time to make any progress in reading them!

2.  The Oz Collection by Frank L. Baum

Yes, the children's books that the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz is based upon. Did you know that there are 15 books in the original series?! I have the boxed set, each volume containing 3 novels. I will read them eventually. Probably after the Game of Thrones books because let's face it, I am going to need happy children stories after reading about all the characters Martin has brutally killed.

 3. An Odd Assortment of Classical Literature

I know I have an English degree! I swear I will finish all the classics, English gods! Have mercy! Yes, I purchased The Beautiful and Damned and This Side of Paradise during my Fitzgerald obsession after a re-read of The Great Gatsby. Yes, I started Emma and Sense and Sensibility. No, I have not finished them. Yes, I own Herman Melville's collected works (Moby-Dick anyone?) and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Yes, I will eventually get around to reading the Shakespeare plays I only SparkNotes referenced in college. IT WILL HAPPEN MY FRIENDS. Maybe I'll make it a multi-decade project.

4. The Final Novel Installments in Series

I have a habit of not finishing what I have started. As a teen, I read Inkheart and Inkspell, but not the final book Inkdeath. Same with Paolini's Inheritance Cycle - did not read Inheritance, the finale. I can also say this about The Chronicles of Narnia - did not read C.S. Lewis's final installment (please don't hurt me, Narnia fans). I think I may have a hard time coming to grips with the end of a good book series (see: sobbing through the final pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and rereading it for the duration of a month to convince myself it wasn't over yet). 

 5. Random Novels

This is the "other" category of this list. This includes books I've picked up at used bookstores, bargain books on sale, random "Friends of the Library" sales, and any other oddball places. Interestingly enough, these books are usually in the young adult literature or nonfiction genre. I will finish I am Malala and Stronger as soon as possible and those guilty pleasure Sarah Dessen YAL books that all my 13-year-old female students have insisted I read. Don't judge. We teachers have to stay on top of the reading. A special shout-out to Sarah: yes, Gone Girl is included in this category. I swear it's next!

I will finish all the books in said categories in the (hopefully) foreseeable future. Or if I'm ambitious, by the end of 2014. The only drawback there would be to have no life for the next 5 months.

I can say this: I will finish them eventually. I'm working on it. Proof? 807 pages of A Game of Thrones. Besides Les Miserables (alert: add that to the "classics" category of unfinished novels) I think A Game of Thrones is an accomplishment that I am (mostly) enjoying.

Disclaimer: I realize this post makes it sound like I never finish books. I finish a lot - more than I have that are sitting unfinished. This is a post to help me get my act together and finish the others, for bookworms everywhere!

What books do you have sitting around that are unfinished?