I graduated from my university just a little over a month ago, with a degree in English. It took me 4 1/2 years; add that to the 13 years in public school (kindergarten through 12th grade) and the 2 years of preschool/hanging out in my brother's home school lessons, and I have been in school for 19 1/2years. I'm only 22. The transition out of academia has been nice thus far--such a relief to have no papers or exams looming overhead; though, admittedly I have tried to assign myself a paper or two already. Despite the relief, I am still struggling to adjust to my new-found reading liberties. Ever since high school I've not had time for endless leisurely reading, and now that the freedom is found, I don't knowwhere to begin! For years, as a matter of self discipline, I've ignored books, their titles taunting me from the self. When I read nothing else happens; I reject socialization, I don't care to eat, I definitely don't sleep, I don't even check Facebook, and when in school, I didn't do homework.
Now that school is out of the way, I have more time and the freedom to pick my own books, but I'm alternately bored and overwhelmed with the choices. This very moment I have several books begging to be read: Seabiscuit, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Eragon, A Priest and Nun and their Son, Write To Ignite, If This Were a Dream What Would It Mean, and The Importance of Being Earnest. There are also other, less pressing, books: Anne of Green Gables (the series; I have all 6), A Picture of Dorian Gray, Sherlock Holmes (Vol 2), the last few books of Narnia, Joan of Arc, A Tale of Two Cities, etc.. A few weeks ago I read The Alchemist, and over the holidays I read Pride and Prejudice for the 10th time.
I know I'm over thinking this! I'm still regarding my reading time as too precious to be wasted on anything but the best book. I feel like that child adopted from a 3rd-world country that hides food for later rather than eating it, just I'm a college graduate hiding books.
Any advice on how to acclimate myself to the freedom to read? Anyone know any good books?