I devour Bookmarks magazine whenever it comes out. The magazine covers recent publications in a range of genres, and gives an excellent summary of the major reviews.

I read it cover-to-cover pencil in hand, marking the titles that interest me. Then I go to my computer and download a free Kindle sample of each book to my ebook reader.

This is rather like browsing books in a bookstore. I check each title out, and buy the books that hook me—print editions for the half of the year we are in Canada, (mostly) digital editions for the six months we live in Mexico.

This inevitably leads to book overload. In little over one month, we will be packing up, closing up, locking up, and flying from Canada to our second home in Mexico. I will need to decide which books go with me, and which ones stay. This is not easy for a bookaholic, much less a writer of historical fiction.

As it is, I have many, many unread books: books I will never read, books I am reading, books I intend to read soon. I certainly do not need more. I remind myself of this as I’m downloading samples of:

  • Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont;
  • Re Jane by Patricia Park;
  • The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño;
  • The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard;
  • The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendetta Vida;
  • The Rocks by Peter Nichols;
  • Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli;
  • The Millionaire and the Bard by Andrea Mays;
  • The Sea by John Banville.

You see what I mean? Where can I sign up for Bookaholics Anonymous?