Reader's Dilemma

I am an avid reader. As an only child I grew up with my nose in a book whenever I was home with no friends around. During long summers in the Finnish countryside I raided the local library and read almost everything suitable and not so suitable for whatever age I was at the time. I guess I've always been a bit of a dreamer and an escapist. I still always have a book (or two, or even three) that I am reading. I don't mind my long commute because it gives me time to read.. But I suffer from the very common reader's dilemma, i.e. deciding what to read next. It is always a tough choice to decide on the next book, but the decision is being made especially hard if the book that you're currently reading is very, very good. And some books are SO good, that they ruin just about any other book that you pick up after them (for example, The Kite Runner was this kind of book for me...it ruined other books for me for a long time). Anyway, I am reading one of those books now and it's John Irving's "The World According to Garp".

 

John Irving is one of my favorite authors and I have read almost all his books. For some reason, I never read Garp, which is probably his most famous book. I never even saw the movie that is based on the book. I did read the other Irving books and they are all great, but this one is above the others. And now that I am nearing the end of the book I have been worried about what to read next.

Until today...

I found the next book by accident. I had gone into a Border's bookstore to purchase a magazine, New York Spaces (interior decorating magazine devoted to homes around the NY metro area) when I saw that Carlos Ruiz Zafon had a new title out in paperback. Well ever since the "Shadow of the Wind" I have been crazy about him, so I picked up his new book "The Angel's Game".




Even though I am sad to be finishing "Garp" I am very happy because I know that "The Angel's Game" will be very enjoyable, and will hopefully avoid the letdown that usually happens after a book like "Garp".