Percolating and hunkering

It is true. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

Due to publication dates and other somewhat time sensitive matters, I have three book reviews that are simmering and percolating. Bits and pieces have been written but the summer doldrums combined with the lack of a pressing deadline to push them to the back burner. Meanwhile, a serious stack grows on the nearby bookshelf.

In addition to the three pending reviews, I have four other books I need to read and review by the end of the month. Fortunately (or not) a couple have not arrived yet so it gives me breathing room. That breathing room, though, has been seriously hampered by the library.

First, two books for which I’d been on the hold list for a while were available at the same time. And, of course, the longest one is only a 14-day book. Then, when I was in a lull a couple weeks ago, I made interlibrary loan requests for three books I’ve been wanting to read. (As if they aren’t plenty of books waiting to be read around the house.) As things go, they all showed up the same time as the two library reserve books.

That gives me nine books with deadlines or due dates in the next three and a half weeks. So between the three reviews I need to write and making progress on those nine, I plan on hunkering down over the three-day weekend with my laptop and a pile of books. I know. Sitting on the deck reading is tough — but somebody’s got to do it.

G.K. Chesterton, quoted in Dudley Barker, G.K. Chesterton