Why my Reading Pile is always Growing

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My pile is always growing. Here is a snapshot of the current pile. The yellow
paper-riddled book (under the Revue Planches) is The Algal Bowl, Overfertilisation of the World’s Freswaters  and Estuaries, which I consult often. Plus a number of unopened magazines I suscribe to…

It’s a sad realisation that I will never have the time to read all the *good* books from my writers friends…  So I must proceed to a triage. If the story can’t retain my attention in the first 20 pages, I stop.  If I don’t like the direction of a 800-page book, I quit.

It’s always  difficult to tell a writer friend I won’t read her-his book. Most of them understand. I  taste a lot of different novels, even the 1100-page Donna Tartt bestseller received as a gift…