An embarrassment of reading riches

I have been a reading fiend lately, in large part because I have a list of books to read for the upcoming Mystery Structure Workshop. So far, I’ve read… 

• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
• The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
• Hark!, Ed McBain
• Black Echo, Michael Connelly
• “The Simple Art of Murder,” Raymond Chandler
• The Moving Finger, Agatha Christie
• The Guards, Ken Bruen (on the “if you have time” list)

 …and I still have to read… 

• A Caribbean Mystery, Agatha Christie (because the assignment was to read a Miss Marple novel, and Miss Marple didn’t show up ‘til the end of The Moving Finger, so I feel like I should read another one)
• Talking About Detective Fiction, PD James
• Tunnel Vision, Sara Paretsky (on the “if you have time” list)
• Death Du Jour, Kathy Reichs (on the “if you have time” list)

 …thankfully I’d already read…

•  A Dangerous Road, Kris Nelscott (although I wish I had time to re-read it)

 …but I’m not going to get to… 

• L.A. Requiem, Robert Crais (because I didn’t realize a different library branch had it, and I don’t have time to wait for the transfer)

 …meanwhile, I’m chomping at the bit to read several other books that are in my hot little hands, but I just don’t have time for yet…

• Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (I usually buy and read his books the millisecond they come out, so argh argh argh!)
• Arcadia Falls, Carol Goodman (I had it on hold at the library, but it’s a 14-day checkout, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it before I left for the workshop. So I asked if I could be put next on the list, and the lovely man checking me out [er, checking my books out for me] said nobody else was on the list, so he let me have an extended checkout, sssshhhh, don’t tell anybody, and I’ll hammer through it once I get home because Carol Goodman’s books are like crack to me and what I really want is to curl up with it and have someone bring me food and not bother me until I’m done.)

Oh, and I also have four other books on hold at the library. And about 200 books on my To Read bookcase. And I know I’ll be going to Powells while I’m in Portland (and then shipping the books home, because they won’t fit on the bike).

I’m comfortable in the knowledge that I won’t die for a very, very long time, because I have so many books left to read.  :-)