A Dwindling List (!!) And Then...

http://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2011/09/something-had-to-give.html

Despite the best of intentions, I haven't yet returned to read a second book by any of the five "new" authors mentioned in the September 26, 2011 post above. If any of you are looking for an exceptional title to try, any of the five novels mentioned therein is well worth your time.

That aside, the new guideline I established in that same post - using my gut reaction to every book I read to decide if more of an author's work is worth my time - kept my "to read" list manageable for the next year and a half. For a semi-compulsive list maker like me this was liberating. Now if only my local librarian had never turned me onto Goodreads.  

Before Goodreads began making their spot-on recommendations to me in early 2013 (favorite so far - Jane Smiley's "Thirteen Ways of Looking At The Novel"), the remote possibility briefly existed that one day I might be able to scratch every title (if not every author) off my list. Perhaps only other semi-compulsive list makers will appreciate the potential rapture an event like this represents.

Meanwhile my posse of five trusted readers shows me little mercy - they too keep making book recommendations. Is there no peace?