Boarding trains with books.

I dog-eared after the reading THE END, when it wasn’t. I still had 16 pages left.
I probably could have finished, I thought, as I sat in the train noticing that it
took longer than I estimated it would. I debated cracking it back open while I swayed staring aimlessly as the train tunneled from the point of entry from the bridge until the Atlantic-Pacific stop. Ah, well. Why rush? Let it all digest, I guess. Actually, it was little nagging. I really had anticipated finishing, even threw a couple of Buffy comics in my expandable file folder just in case. (The accordion style safekeeping was for work papers, just thought I should mention.)
But alas, I got through Julie’s Julia project, down to the duck de-bone, but there was a bit more to go. I preemptively thought about how nicely this book would look on top of Olive Kitteridge, the first book I had finished with my new-found transit time. It has been a long time that I was afforded significant subway time, and I have been relishing in it lately as I shuttle from place to place, making house calls doing estimates for a moving company that I work for. I have found myself eying the spines of the books in our apartments and mentally making a plan of attack. Fictions, Memoirs, Plays, Short Story collections and more seem to edge themselves off the shelves. A couple rereads tempt me (I read John Irving way to young, I think I can appreciate some parts of Garp with a little bit of experience below my belt.)
However, I have so many new things to sink my teeth into. I am not a particularly fast reader. The first time I read Wicked it took months, granted this was in college when I had school work, there was no musical to accompany, and it had slid down the back of my loft and hid behind my roommates bed. I always feel a sense of accomplishment finishing a book. It’s funny in some ways, being proud of doing something you love. But in some respects it takes work to make that time. Sometime literally, when the work you do gives you a commute and some sit down time.
So with that said, I am sharing with you an in progress piece that I am working on in the “things I miss” series I have mentioned a few times in the last few entries.
I used to work at a Border’s bookstore in Canton, Ohio. There was always a library cart that sat near the information desk where books were placed and shelved back to where they belonged in a continuous flow throughout the day and finished off at night. It was a great job, with great people.
The painting and this book (and the paperwork for the jobs today) are just a few things that I hope to complete soon.