Finishing a book is usually one of my favorite feelings in the world. It’s right up there with whenever tacos are presented or when Hudson the Cat makes steady eye contact and then slow blinks at me. Finishing a book is a sense of victory and no matter how many books I’ve finished, and there have been a bunch, that feeling never goes away. And today, today I am finishing my book. I’ve been reading one of the new Star Wars High Republic books, Into the Dark, and I have very much enjoyed this. This High Republic era is a lot of fun and looks like it’s finding its legs, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. No, because today under that impending feeling of victory/excitement there is some stress. Not the type of stress that comes from knowing you sent an email to the everyone group bashing your boss but the type of stress that comes with having to make a choice. Choosing can be difficult. I imagine the difficulty of choosing is why so many of us watch and re-watch our favorite shows.

Normally I don’t stress out about what I’m going to read next. I try to line books up and then move accordingly. Of course, there are times where something jumps the pile because I talked to someone about a certain book or because I’m not as interested in the book in the batter’s circle, but it’s usually a smooth process. Until today.

Here’s the thing. I have a problem buying books. It’s well documented if you check the I Am Geek archives, you will see there are many columns discussing this fact. Having a Kindle makes this problem a bit better because the books I buy are only taking up digital space as opposed to actual apartment space. The Mrs. already thinks I have too many crates of books, I could only imagine how she would feel with stacks and stacks of them littering our apartment. Although, I would secretly enjoy this if only for the photo ops of Hudson the Cat lying on books. I would fill my Instagram with those pics. I’d maybe even start a whole new handle dedicated to Hudson the Cat lying on books. It would be glorious. Maybe I should make some book piles in secret and see what happens? None of this is what I’m here to talk about. You guys need to do a better job of getting me to focus!

When I find a book that interests me, I throw it on my Amazon Wishlist and then patiently wait to buy it. Unless it’s a new Stephen King book or something I have to read immediately like these Star Wars High Republic books or the upcoming third book in the You series. Mostly I allow books to sit on my Wishlist until they have massive price drops and then I scoop up a ton of books for $2.99 or so. One of the first things I do every morning when I wake up is check Amazon to see if any of my books are on sale. Is there a better way to start the morning than by buying a new book? Is there any clearer indication that I have a book buying problem?!

The sales during the end of December and January happened to be really good. Like stupid good. How good? Well, I ended up buying like fifteen books. Relax, I received some gift cards as gifts, but I really cleaned up on books. The problem is my Kindle is now filled with a ton of books. My “To Read Pile” is kind of insane at this point. If this was a real pile of books it would have totally spilled over. This would have to be multiple piles of books. I’m okay with it though and regret nothing. These books are waiting for me to open them and that thought makes me very happy. It’s the type of feeling you get from the last sip of a really good cup of tea. I have books for days and unless some Twilight Zone stuff happens to me, I’ll never be short for reading material.

Today’s issue, or stress if you will, concerns wanting to buy a new book. I know, I knooooow. I really shouldn’t. This book has been on my Wishlist for a while but has yet to hit that glorious on-sale price. That’s usually enough to deter me from making the purchase especially when there’s a small army of books on Gandalf the Kindle waiting to be read. But this book, V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, has been calling to me for a while and my buddy Kyle (Hi Kyle!) just finished reading it and now I want to read it too. I’m a fan of V.E. Schwab, I loved her Shades of Magic trilogy, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue has been getting tons of high praise and has been on the Best Seller list for a while now. So, in my opinion, that would make this a justifiable purchase.

Yet…

My To-Read Pile is massive and I really should focus on those books for now considering I’ve got two new books coming at the start of March, the finale of the Star Wars Alphabet Squadron trilogy and Stephen King’s Later. Those two books are already pushing back the To Read Pile which is all the more reason to put off this purchase…right?

Luckily, I have some time before I have to decide what to read next. After every novel I finish, I read a couple of stories from a short story collection the next day kind of as a pallet cleanser before the next big read. This means you have until Thursday to Geeklings to convince not to buy this book. No pressure. Be sure to sound off in the comments or throw me a line over on Twitter @iamgeek32. Try and talk reason into me if that’s even possible at this point. At this point, my To Read Pile is never going to end, which is a lovely sentiment, but I’d also like to get to some of these books before a possible Twilight Zone-like occurrence. I throw myself at your mercy… be kind.