What To Read Next?

I finished a book last night, so today I was faced with a wonderful decision: what to read next? My "to-read" pile is bigger than it's ever been, with stacks of books teetering on the shelves of my bedroom bookcase. They all look so enticing...

There are several books that my neighbor/book group buddy has lent me, including The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I've heard from many people that this is an excellent book, and I love memoirs, so it's certainly tempting. I'm wondering if my other book group might be interested in reading it, though, so I set it aside for now.

I have a couple of classics that I've been meaning to read. My list of "Great Authors I Can't Believe I've Never Read" is fairly long. My stack currently includes two from that list: Emma by Jane Austen and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.

Then there are some favorite authors waiting in my stacks. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb is on my shelf, but I loved She's Come Undone so much that I don't want to devour this one too quickly. I borrowed Summer Sisters from my mother-in-law at Thanksgiving. I don't expect it to be great literature, but I loved Judy Blume as an adolescent. I almost started that one today.

I have several books I've borrowed from my mother, including Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh. I read about this one in the Bas Bleu catalog awhile back and have wanted to read it ever since. Ken bought me The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon for Christmas, but it's one my book group is considering, so I decide to wait.

On Ken's side of the bookcase, there is a similarly enticing stack, many of which I chose for him with the intent of reading them myself! He's got Grisham's first foray into non-fiction, The Innocent Man, which my mom brought over this weekend and said was great. I gave him Richard Ford's Independence Day for Christmas, but he says he'll have to reread The Sportswriter first. That would be a two-book commitment for me, too, so I hold off for now. I also gave Ken Orbit by John J. Nance from the Chinaberry catalog and can't wait to read it myself. Our son, Jamie, gave Ken House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, a young adult sci-fi thriller whose cover is cluttered with awards, but it sort of seems unfair to read his gift before he does.

Finally, I have piles of middle-grade/young adult review books. I picked up Isabel Allende's Forest of the Pygmies today but saw it was the third in a trilogy, so I guess I better read the first book first.

So what did I choose after all that deliberation? The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult, another gift from Ken, called to me. She is one of my all-time favorite authors. I've only finished the Prologue, but she's already sucked me in. Ah, so many books, so little time...