One further suggestion from Fred Craddock’s list of suggestions for a life of study is to set up your own library to function efficiently. I’ll take his prompting and share my thoughts on the subject of reading:

Don’t shelve books until they have been read. Either a pile on your desk or a dedicated shelf for new books is the way to go. Once a book is shelved with the others of its kind, the chances of actually reading it are reduced drastically. Engage the content of a new book enough to know if you should keep it, where it should be shelved, why you would go back to it, etc.

Read wisely, books should not be making you feel guilty. Many people feel guilty if they have started a book and not finished it. I regularly interact with people unwilling to look at a new book because they have an old one they feel obliged to finish first. Read wise. You have paid an amount of money for the book. It may be that one chapter of that book is all you need to read for your purposes. If this is the case then you paid that much money for one chapter, the rest was a bonus from Amazon! Forcing yourself to move your eyes over pages of text that are not of interest right now may appease some guilt, but you’ll learn nothing, get tired eyes and procrastinate on reading what you actually need to read. For many of us, if we could be free of guilt from unfinished books, we would be free indeed . . . well, it’s not that good, but it certainly helps!

Shelve books for access. Some books should be consulted regularly, so shelve them within easy access. I have several reference works I consult regularly, and books on interpretation and literary structure which need to be close at hand. Everything else should be shelved in an orderly manner that allows you to find what you want when you want it.