In various blogs which include reading and readers, we’ve all seen discussions of what to read next. My answer is always the same: if I have a library book, and thus a book with a deadline, that’s what I read first, after that I read the book that most interests me at the time.
So, here’s my small dilemma: I have two books from the library in hand now. I also just got delivered a book I pre-ordered six months ago. It’s a book I’ve been eager to get and I intended to read it the minute I got it. Now it’s in hand.
What would YOU do?
Finish reading the two library books first, or dive straight into the new book?
Tip the Wink 
Read the new book. You can always renew the library loan if need be.
I’m leaning that way…
I’d read the new book, too. You can always renew…
Me too. I would read the new book.
What they all said unless you can’t renew it because someone else has a hold on it.
Add me to the consensus: read the new book. Punt the Library books by renewing them. I usually mix new books with Library books based on interest. I have a Library book that’s a Sherlock Holmes pastiche in the On-Deck Circle. And, occasionally, I mix in a Big Fat Book (500+ pages) just to keep things interesting.
In general, I’d agree, but…it depends. How far into the library books are you? How long will it take to finish them? How much are you enjoying them?
I have a list of books on hold at the library, but only a few at the moment (6, I think). I also have 6 on the Kindle/ebook hold list. You never know when they are going to come in. So naturally, one Kindle book comes in and I download it. Two days later a second comes in. Fortunately, I am more than halfway through the first one, and I have 6 days before I have to download the second one. Also fortunately, I have been able to renew the library books I already had on hand.
The bad part is, I am now halfway through the Kindle book (THE NIGHT AGENT by Matthew Quirk), plus 150 pages into TITANSHADE (400 pages) by Dan Stout (library book), plus nearly halfway through Mark Greaney’s second Gray Man thriller (500 pages), ON TARGET. And we’ll be going out of town for the rest of the week tomorrow.
I’m not even going to mention the two short story collections and the non-fiction book I’m reading.
And did I say that the new Kate Atkinson book came in this week?
Your dilemma is not a problem for me, Rick, because I am generally a fast reader. I would vote for going with the new book, however, because life is short. The library books can be renewed or — if that is not an option — be borrowed again at a later time. My own reading is often interrupted because some new, bright, and shiny comes along.
Again, I have been reading mainly short stories this week, including those in Seabury Quinn’s DEMONS OF THE NIGHT AND OTHER EARLY TALES, my FFB this week. I know this sort of thing is not your cup of tea, but maybe THUNDER JIM WADE is. It’s the first (of five) “novels” Henry Kuttner wrote for THRILLING ADVENTURES magazine in the early Forties. Wade is a Doc Savage type who roams the globe fighting crime and evil. The first book in the series has Thunder Jim and his allies pitted against an international criminal intending to loot a forgotten African kingdom, the home of descendants of Ancient Crete. The kingdom also happens to be where Thunder Jim was raised but even he has no idea of the many secrets it holds. Good, old-fashioned pulp fun, not rising to the level of Doc Savage or The Shadow, but worthwhile nonetheless.
I’m still reading SHIRLEY JACKSON: A FAIRLY HAUNTING LIFE, approaching it in small pieces. Coming up is Neil Gaiman’s THE QUITE NICE AND FAIRLY ACCURATE GOOD OMENS SCRIPT BOOK, a dated YA nonfiction book by Lester del Rey, western collections by Max Brand and Frank Bonham, and Seam Murphy’s graphic novel BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT, in which Batman is the villain and The Joker is the hero.
I hope Barbara’s knee is getting better and that you both have a great Fourth!
Okay, I was leaning that way, as the new book has been calling to me, but now it’s the decision: I’ll be reading AGE OF LEGEND by Michael J. Sullivan. The only thing is, I’m having to reread the last third or so of the previous book in the series to get up to date as this is part of a series (book 4). That’s fine, as this series was my top favorite of last year. So off I go to reread the last of AGE OF WAR. Yippie!
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