Books to read in my house.  376 books we already own, which I have not yet read.  I blame Scott, because a great number of the books on the unread list are books on history and Asian philosophy and Manly-Man brand fiction and such that he brought into the house.  And while the chances that I will actually read The Sword Polisher’s Record: The Way of Kung Fu are quite slim, I’m not ready to strike it from the list yet. 

What really strikes me, though, is what a racket my particular line of study is for book sellers.  We Celticists know that the books in our field will only be available in the US for a short while, so we jump to buy them as soon as possible.  About 100 of the books I’ve yet to read are Celtic Studies books.  Another dozen or so are Appalachian Studies books, and then there are the mythology and Classical Studies books–all told, those rare tomes that I must must must buy before they go out of print make up more than half of my personal unread books.  And you know what?  I’m not going to beat that game.  They have me, and I can’t fix it alone.  In this market, we folks who like less popular subjects are screwed.

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