The Reader's Conundrum

What shall I read? What shall we read?

I am a reader by birth.  Reading has been a love for me.  I read everything, but that is true of all readers.  By everything, I mean all sorts of fiction, non-fiction, and the backs of cereal boxes.  My love translated into a Bachelor's degree in the English arts.  

I have a problem though.  I am certain that this is a common issue with all readers-by-birth.  This problem is that there are so many books and so little life span to read them all.  I have yet to come to terms with all I am missing by not being able to read every book ever written.  

So, I bought a Kindle.  I had intended to allow my children to use it upon occasion, but that changed quickly.  They never see it.  I put the Kindle app on the iPad as an apology.  I fill my Kindle with free books which means, for the most part, emerging and self-published authors.  I've found some great works that way.  I've also found some not-so-work that leaves me wondering why they bothered or who told them they were master enough of the craft to publish.  Everyone is a wanna be as much as everyone is a critic.  This is life.

I also seem to have missed famous writers along the way.  I only recently read my first Virginia Woolf book.  I'm reading D. H. Lawrence now.  I have, however, read Gulag Archipelago (the unabridged set.)   I devour Emily Dickinson and every now and then I torture my children with Poe.  I am currently thinking what we need to read next together.  We are finishing a book about mythology. We've read about the Conquistadors.  We tried The Little Prince and concluded it wasn't for us.  Perhaps Frankenstein.  Or War of the Worlds.  Or 15 Decisive Battles.  The Time Machine?  

You can see the conundrum.