I’ve been thinking about books today. I posted a few new mini book reviews on the site, and it was rather dismaying to note that when I first wrote about the whole book review thing at the start of November, I had a backlog of 16 books, and though I’ve posted several reviews since then, I still have a backlog of 15 books (not counting the one that I’m reading). Two steps forward, one step back.

I’m at a critical book-reading phase right now. Choosing a book to travel with is often a complex undertaking, and it’s one that I’m going to have to face in the next few days. We leave for Arizona on Friday, so I have 3 nights of book-reading before our trip (I generally only read novels at night after getting into bed, as a kind of buffer between the activities of the day and sleep). I’m nearing the end of the book I’m reading right now (The Blind Assassin), but I’m not so close to the end that I’m likely to finish it before we go. So I either have to take it with me, which isn’t a great option because it’s quite hefty and I’d have to take another book along anyway because I’m going to finish The Blind Assassin quite soon, or I have to leave it behind for two weeks even though, by the time we take off, I’ll be painfully close to finishing it and it will be hard to just put it down and pick up something else.

Oh, troubles, troubles. I think I will just have to leave it, as tough as it may be. And then I have to figure out what to read instead. Well, in addition to the backlog of books I’ve read but not reviewed, I have a huge backlog of books that I’ve purchased but not yet read, so there’s no shortage of things to choose from. I’ll need something compact and diverting—maybe Imperium; Robert Harris is always good for a bit of diversion. Or maybe The Ladies of Grace Adieu; after enjoying Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel so much, I’m interested in reading something else by Susanna Clarke, and it’s quite a slim volume to boot (particularly compared to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel).

Whatever I choose, I’ll probably wind up just reading the in-flight magazine, watching a movie and falling asleep on the flight over anyway. But I have to bring a book in any case. Traveling without a book would be like—like leaving the house wearing no clothes. It’s all but unthinkable.