I’m like that
I’ve had a book out the library for ages on politics and world issues by John Pilger. I read bits of it now and again.
At the moment I’m enjoying another Douglass Coupland book - ‘Shampoo planet’.
oooooh!! I love the library, I get so many books from there I seldom ever even read half of them, but man do I go crazy there 
Currently I’m into some 10 to 15 books covering a broad range of topics, including Japanese language studies and alternative history. I’ll give a representative sample:
Dreaming True (Robert Moss)
Explores our natural ability to dream the future, giving insightful anecdotes and advice on how to use this ability to do some good. Thought-provoking.
The Dreamers Book of the Dead (also by Moss)
According to Moss, the Other Side is a place we regularly visit in dreams. We also receive visitations from the Dead, who come to offer us advice on how to proceed with our lives. This book presents a great deal of convincing arguments as to the reality of life after death.
The Sirius Mystery (Robert Temple)
Throughout the thirties, a French anthropologist by the name Marcel Griaule did some pioneering research on an Africal tribe named the Dogon, discovering their ancient held belief that they stemmed from beings of the star system of Sirius. Now what’s interesting about all of this, is that this tribe held information about this star system that was unknown to scientists of the time. This information, including the fact that the system contains three stars (only 1 is visible without a telescope, if I remember correctly, but in any case not more than two), has later been confirmed by scientific findings.
Robert Temple goes into great detail about this, in the meantime drawing supporting evidence from a range of other sources, including greek mythology. This is mind-blowing reading for the supporter of the ancient austronaut theory, and a lot more credible than stuff by Däniken, Zetchin and other more popularly oriented researchers, who tend to see more or less everything as a sign of extraterrestrial intervention.
Remembering the Kanji III (James W. Heisig)
This is the third and final volume of James W. Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji-series, a set of books on how to effectively learn to read and write Japanase characters. Basically, what you do is make up a “story” for each character. So say you’re learning the character for “chatter”, which consists of the following elements: a mouth, the world and a tree. Then you could imagine a chattering tree, chattering and chattering until the whole world is sucked up its roots and spat out of its mouth. Bizarre? Yeah, but it works.
But I’m not all that happy about these books. While the method is great, the books do seem very rushed and the information is often misleading or even plain wrong. Also, you’re supposed to make up almost all of the stories for yourself, which can be an extremely time-consuming task. Sometimes you can’t even be sure what a character really means because the English keyword he has chosen has several possible meanings, depending on the context. For instance, think of all possible senses for the word “file” (I’m not taking this example from his books).
Probably worst of all though is that the readings of the characters in the first book all come in a separate volume! The idea is that you should learn to write the characters before you learn to read them, so that you don’t “clog” your memory with too much information at once! But that is a completely ungrounded notion!
To make a long story short, his method is great (although it really isn’t “his”, he was just the first one to make use of it on a large scale in this particular context, Japanese characters) and I’m sure his intentions are good as well, but, the structure of the books is simply awful. I can’t stress this well enough. It’s like he just introduces the method and then says good bye to let the reader do all the hard work. The bulk of these three books could be reduced to, like, 10 pages and then you could do the rest of the work for yourself with a decent character dictionary (which you will need anyway).
Populärmusik från Vittula (Mikael Niemi)
A Swedish bestseller, also available in English under the title Popular Music from Vittula, and recently made into a movie (which is Swedish). Basically, it’s a humorous novel about growing up in the middle of nowhere, and it’s awesome. Just read the reviews at amazon, this is an absolute classic.
You sure do keep yourself busy LarryBoy 
I used to be a little like this, with at least a dozen books on the go. Of couse, I had a lot of time on my hands at that point 
Well school’s off now during the summer and I haven’t found any job, so I have, quite literally, all the time in the world to read and indulge in my fantasies. 
I just finished the third book in The Wheel of Time series, The Dragon Reborn, so now I am moving on to the fourth book in the series, The Shadow Rising.
I am currently reading…The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. Well, I practically am, well, I haven’t got it yet, but will very soon. I just finished The Subtle Knife. I’ve already read them, though. I think they’re wonderful books, and now I have them I can read them another couple of times as I’ve read Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass) about four times more. They’re the type of book I love, with fantasy and adventure, and lovely characters. 
I’m also reading Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (by Stephan LaBerge of course) and I’m on the last chapter I think. It’s a great book and it’s helped me a lot.
Clive Barker’s Book Of Blood 1. Very amusing. 
CIA’s report: How will the World be in 2020?, by the United States’ goverment, both in Portuguese and French. Awesome material.
“The Golden Fool” from the Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Awesome writer, highly recommendable!!
I am reading “The wizard from Earthsea” or what it was called.
Have just started reading ‘Creative Dreaming’, as recommended on the top of Q’s lucid books list. Absolutely fantastic and inspiring book! Even though I’m only 50 pages in I highly recommend this book. Patrica Garfield suggests highly imaginative uses for regular and lucid dreams, and is generally very inspirational (where as LaBerge’s EWOLD is more scientifically oriented).
Must read!
Thanks for the recommendation Q!
I’m currently reading book nine, Winter’s Heart, of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time Series.
Taking a break from the Prince of Nothing series, by R. Scott Bakker, to read American Gods, by Neil Gaiman.
Have finished Creative Dreaming, now rereading The Demon Princes by Jack Vance (fantastic sci fi series).
I’m about half-way through Sun Tzu’s Art of War, it’s a relatively short book* so I may finish it tomorrow. I am convinced, however, that this classic piece is well worth the time spent reading it. On that note I would like to mention that almost all of the books I read tend to be non-fiction; I’m afraid fictional stories don’t really capture my attention (although I am very fond of the timeless classics such as the exceptional Sherlock Holmes series…), just a FYI. 
*it is actually a collection of essays.
I’ve been trying to find that series everywhere, but it’s out of print. I really want to read it. 
I just finished American Gods and it was amazing.
I recently finished “Showdown” by Ted Dekker, excellent read. Dekker is a fantastic author. I’m about to start “Phantastes” by George MacDonald. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the first modern fantasy written.
Really, out of print? They still sell it pretty much everywhere in Sydney - maybe you can order it on Amazon, it’s certainly worth it.
I’m also reading The Games People Play (concurrently), by Eric Burne
