Insomniac Nightmares

We’ve all had it, I bet. That moment where one of three thoughts occurs to you:

1. I’m reading something other than what I should be reading. There’s some book that really needs to get read, and it’s not happening because I’m reading this one instead.
2. I really shouldn’t be reading this. Either because it’s just plain awful but you’re determined to plow through anyway, or it’s “trash” (ala Stephen King’s mother, who he suspects would have called ‘Salem’s Lot “trash, but not bad trash.”) that you feel guilty for owning and/or enjoying.
3. I’m reading something for the sole purpose of destroying it later.

We’ve all done all three of them, I suspect. My Goodreads list has been occupied by several (in fact, right now, a glaring case of #2 lies there; The Black Awakening.) The Amityville Horror and related works are definitely squatting in spot #3.

But I’m mostly here to talk about reason #1. I have a lot of books and stories on the Kindle app right now. Most of them are from great authors, like Lucy Brazier and Troy Blackford. Yet they either remain unread or merely poked at.

Not because they’re bad, or in any way deficient. Merely because I have problems reading on Kindle. I’m one of those crusty bastards who enjoys the feel of actual paper in his hands for one, but also because I do most of my reading in the bathroom. A guilty habit that I’m quite sure most of you have engaged in at some point or another. What isn’t done in the bathroom is typically done at work.

I don’t really want to drag my hideously expensive tablet into the room of steam, mold and possible droppage, and at work, we are not allowed to have devices that have cameras on them. So I only get to them when I’m at my computer or tablet and not writing or playing World of Warcraft or The Binding of Isaac. This means I am slow to pick them up and slower to read them, while I can blast through something I own physically in a couple of days. (I spend a lot of time in the bathroom and sitting at my desk doing nothing at work. Not that you needed to know those things.)

I’ve tried to incorporate it into my New Years’ resolutions; “I will read more of my Kindle library. I will get caught up there and post reviews as is proper.” I’ve even managed to (sort of) keep to it, having read a whopping 100 pages on the Kindle app this year. But that doesn’t seem so great when I’m already 8 books into my Goodreads Challenge.

So, to those authors I’ve inadvertently snubbed merely because of the format I possess your books in, I’m sorry. I’ll get there, I promise.

What about you folks out there? Is there something you should be or want to be reading, but haven’t managed to get to yet? Share it down below, and a link, if you’re of a mind. Maybe you can get someone else hooked while you’re at it!