bookmarks

I've been mulling over my books for about two weeks now trying to decide what I have to read for school during the read-a-thon and what I get to read for myself. Since this is my last semester of coursework for my Ph.D. in English Literature, I'm working my rear end off trying to complete all of my assignments and finish what I start, which is a very hard thing for me to do when it comes to books. I LOVE books. I love, love, love them. But I have problems, too.

I have an entire house full of books that are only partially read. I did a quick head count of my shelves, and just glancing at one of my "novel" shelves, I saw around thirty books with bookmarks sticking out of them. I am pretty diligent about marking my place when I stop reading them, but I am very bad at ever getting around to finishing the books. I have very good intentions. In fact, I try all the time to go back to books that I never finished. The problem, of course, is that I want to start over from the beginning again, and then I usually get busy right around the time I stopped the last time, so the book mark goes in again and I never make it to the end.

Grad school has been brutal to my bookmark problem. In fact, the number of bookmarks I've lost to some really good books has probably quadrupled in the past four years. There is never enough time to finish one 800 page Victorian novel before it's time to read the next one, or the next one, or the one after that...and the tumultuous cycle continues. (That said, I've probably read *and finished* hundreds of books in the past four years...but I've stopped short too often due to the time constraints of school.)

Does anyone else have this problem? Am I the only one with book-marky bookshelves??

...I have made a vow to myself that I am going to finish before summer is over at least the books that I claim are my favorites. Then, once I finish my dissertation in 2011, I can revisit my bookmarks one by one.