I need to catch up

We are now in our third week of the Messy Summer Reading Club. How are you doing? Any progress on that TBR? Are you perhaps feeling behind already? Well, no fear, my friends, because that is the story we are here to examine this week. The one where we feel we need to “catch up.”

I feel that “need to catch up” when I look at those books packed together in my book cart. Yes, the cart is cute, and oh so useful, especially if you want to roll it around your home so it can silently taunt you. But that sentiment of being behind has been present long before I acquired an aesthetically pleasing carriage of delayed decision-making.

I think any reader has probably been “catching up” their whole lives. Before we even come into this world, the number of books already written exceeds what we can possibly read in this lifetime. And they just keep coming. Our to-be-read piles and lists are a teeter-totter between an abundance of books and a scarcity of time. And then with that, we layer on years of cultural messages about achievement. And here we find ourselves “needing to catch up.” But there is no destination where you can read ALL of the books. That teeter-totter leads to overwhelm, procrastination, and feelings of somehow not measuring up to “good reader” status. And dangerously high book piles.

I appreciate writer Oliver Burkeman’s arguments on books (and life). In his newsletter, The Imperfectionist, he encourages the practice of “treating your ‘to read’ pile like a river (a stream that flows past you, and from which you pluck a few choice items, here and there) instead of a bucket (which demands that you empty it).”

I would imagine that some feel their to-be-read pile has more of a whitewater rapids feeling than a gentle current. If you happen to visit any of the bookish corners of social media these days, the speed with which you get inundated with options does feel a little turbulent, to say the least. One obvious solution would be to get out of the water and find a quieter stream, think walking down the library stacks or basking in the joy of a bookstore. Another viable option is to change your view of the water. Instead of looking at this as an abundance versus scarcity situation, it’s actually an abundance within time situation. This means that there will always be a story available in the time we have.

Robust bookmarks.

You may need to drop that book to rescue the child, who, like a cat, has climbed up the playground equipment and now can’t get down. And you want to drop that book with confidence that your tired parent brain won’t need to try to remember where you were.

These are my favorites. I did a whole post on bookmarks last summer; you can check it out here.

Time for an icy treat to complement the comment section time. Cool down and come on in.

• Do you feel the need to “catch up” on reading?

• Do you have a TBR list or pile (or judgy/adorable book cart)?

• What’s new these days in your reading life?

Leave a comment

P.S. Next week we’ll be doing a good old For the Love of monthly round-up. It will be a travel flavor. And then the next week we are back to clubbin, have a great week!

*I am an affiliate of bookshop.org. If you purchase through this link, I will earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you)

As always, just a little reminder: The content on A Wonderful Mess posted by Dr. Kathryn Barbash, PsyD, is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical, clinical, legal, or professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk. Always seek the advice of your licensed mental health professional or other qualified health provider.