Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Looking for Balance

I'm having a little dilemma. I just got a subscription card from the TLS for a fantastic rate. I love the TLS, had a subscription to it last year but let it lapse in December because the renewal rate was significantly higher than the initial subscription rate. Seeing as how I like the TLS so much, what's the problem you ask? Well, since December I have subscribed to the New York Review of Books, Rain Taxi, and Bookforum. Even though I like the TLS much more than the NYRB, do I add it into the already full mix? My Bookman and sister say go for it. And for a little while I was giddy at the prospect. But then practical me started asking giddy me if I had finally gone insane. I get the NYRB every other week, Rain Taxi four times a year, and Bookforum 5 times a year. The TLS is weekly. Giddy me said I could handle it. Practical me forced giddy me to look in the basket by the bed where I keep my current book reviews and magazines. Giddy me cringed. What's there? Two NYRBs, a Rain Taxi, a Bookforum, two Paris Reviews, a Granta and a Yale Review. Practical me said, you're going to read the TLS when exactly? Giddy me wasn't so giddy anymore. What's more important, reading about new books or actually reading books? That's a no brainer. But I know my will is weak. Which means against my better judgment (assuming I had any to begin with), I am going to eventually give in and end up subscribing to the TLS again. And when it begins arriving in my mailbox I am going to freak out and worry about having the time to read them. Now I know I am not the only one in Bibliophileland who reads the book periodicals. So the question is, how do you balance your reading? Or are you caught in the same dilemma I am? Inquiring minds want to know.