I usually read a couple of books at a time. Or three. Or four. Things seem to have gotten out of hand recently, though. I came back from the Humanities Montana Festival of the Book with a stack of about 10 books—new ones to add to the ones I was already reading.

Even though it made sense to wait to finish those before I dipped into the new acquisitions, I couldn’t resist peeking into some. The result? I got hooked, and ended up reading six books simultaneously. I’ve since finished a couple, including Spider Woman’s Daughter, by Anne Hillerman, an excellent continuation of her father Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn-Chee mysteries set on the Navajo Nation. Also, an advance copy of Laurie Halse Anderson’s new young adult novel, The Impossible Knife of Memory. Also most excellent. And, I ripped through Martin Cruz Smith’s Wolves Eat Dogs, an absolutely fascinating mystery set in Chernobyl.

That leaves Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford. (His Frost Willow Song is in the to-read pile.”) Baby’s Breath by Eugenie D. West, which features a reporter investigating the death of an infant. I’m also reading a friend’s as-yet-unpublished vampire rock-and-roll novel, Never Before Noon—it, too, features a reporter.

Awaiting my attention are Gregory Spatz‘s Inukshuk, Keith McCafferty‘s The Gray Ghost Murders (he names his mysteries after fishing flies. What’s not to love?) and two by James Lee Burke, Sunset Limited and Swan Peak. Oh, and a Nevada Barr and whole stack of Margaret Coel mysteries lent to me by Wellbuddies coaching friend and running guru Pam Gardiner. I’ve finished two of the latter, with three to go. And I’m pretty sure I bought Karen Joy Fowler‘s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, but I can’t find it, which is probably just as well.

Recently, my sweetie looked at the growing stack and observed, “You’re out of control.”

The next day, I was in Fact and Fiction Books, one of our local independent bookstores. (Yes! We have more than one!) “Scott says I’m out of control,” I told David. He nodded in a way that told me I’m not alone.

Then I bought another book.