Where "The Common Reader" book catalog comes in the mail, I leave it to the last. I want to enjoy reading the book reviews in it and to covet some of the books. Do I need to buy any more books, considering that I already have a bookcase filled with them? It's not as though there's something new under the sun. How many plots or situations are there?

Not all of the books are mine. Some are my daughter's college textbooks which are no longer current. And there are other books she does not have any room for. Yet, we buy books because we like to read.

What do we read? Our tastes are varied - a good mystery we can settle down with, an historical novel, archaeology, airplanes, biography, cookbooks (there's a whole shelf full!). Current best sellers often contain language or situations that shouldn't be in print, so I don't read them.

What do we do with books we no longer want? Some we give away to friends or the library for its book sale. We go to Ithaca to a used book store that sells used books and gives credit or cash for the books we bring in. Therein lies the temptation - we accept credit, which credit eventually gets whittled away.

Why read? For entertainment, for knowledge, a glimpse into the past, to fill in time. Once you were compelled to read books as part of an English class in school. Now, you can pick and choose. Will you?