Coincidence Again

I've written a few times on this site about my reading quest for the year: 52 books in 52 weeks. I've got a huge list of books that I'm trying to slog through. Right now, I'm tackling the books that I actually have in my possession, a collection that has happily grown over the last four months with the opening of a gigantic $1 used bookstore down the street. My current method of finding out "what do I read next?" goes something like this:

Me: Edgar, pick a number between one and a hundred.
Edgar: Forty-seven.
Me: Thanks.

And then I count through the books that I actually have on the list to number 47 and that's the one I read. Lather, rinse, repeat. I find this is an equal opportunity method. It cuts down on me going "Hmmm, not too sure I want to try that author right now....." or "Hmmmm, that one is kind of long, and the last one I read was kind of long, so I should probably skip to a shorter one...." It doesn't leave me with the responsibility of making the decision, and I like it like that.

The most recent pick-a-number experiment landed me on The Lord of the Rings. I know it's a trilogy (or as I have since learned, not really a trilogy but several volumes of the same story broken up into three sections--so as not to offend the Tolkien-ites) but I had it entered as one item on the list because I have a copy of it that is all three books in one volume. But you can be sure that I'll be counting it as three books towards my total when all is said and done. That trilogy racks up to over 1000 pages, and I already read Atlas Shrugged last year, thank you very much, so I've put in my time with these monstrous tomes.

For someone that really likes to read, it's probably surprising that I've never read these before. It seems like one of those things that everyone has read, just not me. I've started The Fellowship of the Ring several times, but I've never been able to get through more than a few chapters before something else has gotten in the way and distracted my attention. So I guess this is the perfect time for me to read it, since this is my project for myself and I'm making a conscious effort to not try reading four different books at the same time before I end up abandoning all four as a lost cause. The nature of the project is going to make me see this through (famous last words, I know).

Anyways, so here I am, reading the book, la la la, and then I saw online that today is like National Tolkien Reading Day. Which is awesome, because now when I'm standing in line at the DMV tomorrow to pay my renewal for our Civic (SINCE SOME STATE THAT SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS, OH WAIT, IT'S CALIFORNIA, DIDN'T SEND THE FORMS TO ME IN THE MAIL AND WON'T 'RESEND' THEM BECAUSE THEY WOULD RATHER I WOULD COME INTO THEIR OVERCROWDED AND UNDERSTAFFED AND STINKY OFFICE THAN HANDLE A SIMPLE TRANSACTION THROUGH THE MAIL*), reading this book to pass the time, some nerd in the know is gonna be all "Oh, hey, it's my compatriot!" And then I'll have to be all "No, you smell."

*Chalk this up to another reason why California is wearing on my last nerve.