the book hoarder

I cheated.

I have a reading list with ten books on it, and I read nine out of ten. One more to go, it just had to be The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, the thickest and possibly most challenging read in the bunch.

What did I do?

I went and skipped on over to my boss' copy of Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. It was a much simpler read-- almost too simple. The pacing was slow, the middle was too dragged out, and the end was the only thing that redeemed it, as I could picture the couple's scenes as parts of a movie. The imagery was that vivid, and it's probably the only thing I took away from the entire novel.

The Other Boleyn Girl remains untouched, and a new reading list is beginning to pile up. My boss is trying to get me on the Cecelia Ahern bandwagon by lending me her copy of A Place Called Here, whose premise interests me more than If You Could See Me Now, which she gave me as a Christmas gift because it's her all-time Ahern favorite (and I think it's a subtle way of trying to get me to agree). Ahern seems to have elements of magic realism woven into her stories, so it should be an interesting read (and maybe less complicated than getting a magic realism fix from Garcia Marquez!).

Also waiting in the wings are The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik, an impulse buy thanks to my indulgent boyfriend; Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, which Amazon reviews swear is more than your average chick lit; and The Amber Room by Steve Berry, which was given to me by my "mommy" in the recent Kris Kringle at our office and is a thriller that I've always wanted to read. I'm a fan of Steve Berry because he chooses to investigate other historical mysteries rather than do a Dan Brown and theorize on the templar legacy, the Magdalene gospels, and other religious themes.

Rounding up the list is the book I'm currently reading, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. The book talks about setting up a personal filing system that will help you become more organized and efficient, minus the stress. Sounds too good to be true? It's actually simple yet daunting at the same time. Before you can get to being organized and efficient, you have to sort through all your sh*t first and build your system from bottom up. So for every item on your desk (or email inbox, whichever applies), you have to decide: toss or keep? If keep, is it for future reference or is it actionable? If it's actionable, what are the next steps to take? Is it something that can be accomplished in under two minutes? If it is, get to it NOW. That's how the book talks, and it's not even done yet! It walks you through the nitty-gritty of collecting your stuff, processing them, and organizing them. The book is making me want to set up a filing system of my own and fulfill my dreams of owning a labeller. I now have a "legitimate" excuse to buy a labeller, though I'm sure my boyfriend will beg to disagree. I'm not even done reading yet, and already I want to get cleaning!

My cleaning will have to wait till the New Year. Until then, I'm off to a much-awaited vacation in Cebu! Merry Christmas! :)