Hobson’s Choice: I am very passionate about reading and writing, and have been so since I was a child. I remember when I was a boy in Cliffside Park walking during the summer with my brother Steve a few miles to the public library to take out books to read. I was still in elementary school when I learned to type so that I could write my own stories. A portion of my memories from any time in my life always include what I was reading and writing.

At the end of each year I always look back on my reading from the previous year. In 2005 I read approximately 20 books, which does not sound like many, but I also read a half-dozen magazines containing either fiction or articles related to fiction, plus I am slowly reading the entire 1950s collection of Galaxy which I purchased a few years ago. I also receive nearly a hundred fanzines in trade for my own. So I do a lot of reading, but not nearly as many books as I would like.

I bought or received as gifts 32 books this year, which means that my list of Books to be Read, which is books in my collection which I have not read yet, actually grew by a dozen books. The list now contains 87 books. All good books, since I would not have bought them were I not interested in reading them. However, at the rate I am working my way through those books, I will finish reading them...

...well, never, since the list is getting longer, not shorter.

The solution seems simple, right? Stop buying so many darned books! However, some of the magazines I read are primarily reviews and articles on new books being published, and it is inevitable that many of them interest me as well. Thus my list of Recommended Books has grown to 118 books. If I cut back my buying to 20 books per year–so that at least I am treading water in trying to wade through my unread books–it will take me 6 years to buy all of those mouth-watering books.

But if I do that, then I will never read the 87 books waiting patiently for my attention. So what should I do? Abandon the Recommended Books list and live only in the past? Or forget about the Books to be Read list and become one of those people who has more books than I can possibly read during the rest of my life? Hobson’s Choice means no choice at all, but I really do have a choice here. I am trying to compromise in both directions. In 2006 I will make a determined effort to cut back my book-buying to approximately 1 book per month, 15 books per year as the absolute maximum. That way, so long as my list of Recommended Books does not grow too fast, since I know it will grow some, I can anticipate winnowing it down in a dozen years or so. Meanwhile, I plan to let most of my magazine subscriptions lapse, so that hopefully I can increase my book reading a bit, perhaps 25 books a year, in which case I should be able to work my way through those much-too-patient unread books in less than a decade.

Sound feasible? Or is my passion for buying new books uncontrollable? Stop by these pages in 2015 and we’ll see if I have any self-control with regard to books.