But I can't seem to repeat a book. I think it is because I know there are just too many really good ones that I haven't visited yet. I spend quite a bit of time searching, shopping. I look at the books I already have, nearly 2000 of them. You can't really look at 2000 books. If they are in alphabetical order or have been shelved according to the Dewey Decimal System (don't laugh, she is a librarian), you tend to notice the same ones all the time. Maybe you always start perusing at the same point or are attracted by the same covers or the same titles.
I am responsible since I expose myself to a steady stream of new titles and new authors and new fields of reading, which is the same as new people, places and things to explore. If you go on enough book trips, you know when you are on a superior journey with a superior guide. You don't want it to end but, like a doctor, a lawyer or a singer, books and writers retire or tire. The end comes.
At that point, I start searching and shopping. Usually shopping means stores and spending money but it isn't much different from searching. I have 100 or so books on the shelf in front of me. What appeals? Which have been started and would pay to finish? Which are written by writers that probably have new (and maybe better) books out?
I made a list the other day of books that are quite good but are only partly read. With the Kindle or the iPad Kindle app, it is easy to highlight the passages that stand out. The hardware and software makes it easy to see the parts highlighted and to start where I ended. I have at least 8 books that will be fun to finish, to re-immerse myself in. Even with only 8, I still have to mentally check myself out for mood and impulse, to see where I want to pick up the trail.
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