Stacked

I have a big stack of books that I "want to read next." Typically, I never get around to reading anything from this stack--maybe it's because the stack seems like an assignment and high school and college got me in the habit of always forsaking my assigned work for the benefit of extra-curricular work. Instead of reading the books that are piled up next to my bed, I often find myself re-reading Tumble Home or taking up my roommate's advice when he urges me to read whatever the latest quirky book about words he read is.

However, as I was heading to bed tonight, I realized that I'm more excited about my stack right now than I have been in a long time.

As well as Bauckham's academic apologetic tome (which I've been swearing I will return for six months now) and a classic theological hardcover by John Stott, I'll also soon be reading a "classic of modern Jewish theology." I should be polishing off collections of short fiction by Fitzgerald, Julian Barnes, and Miranda July soon, plus a new translation of the complete fictions of Borges. Round that out with a roommate-recommended novel and some surely-eloquent letters and speeches by our most articulate president (those were the days, right?), and it's finally becoming clear to my inner slacker that my stack is not an assignment, it's a wish list. And I get to read it. How awesome is that?