Help me pick my next book

Rainy weather is conducive to reading too, and I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn today. I agree, it is a must-read novel and deserves a place close to the top of my "second fifty" list.

I feel a little odd admitting that I most enjoyed the novel's portrayal of poverty. The Nolans live very poorly but find simple happiness in things like a clean shirt, a cup of coffee, or a library book. The imagery is vivid.

So, on to the next book, and I have to go back to The List. Help me decide what to read next. I have three books on the list in the house now. In no particular order:

Lolita

Catcher in the Rye

The Moviegoer

My thoughts: a) I've avoided Lolita for about a decade and a half now and should probably dive in; b) I've read Catcher in the Rye before, but after A Tree, I would welcome another coming-of-age novel; c) The Moviegoer is very short, and otherwise I know nothing of it.

Outdoor reading

I took this photo today - dressed in flip flops and a t-shirt. I read on the porch while the dogs sunbathed.

Hard to believe it's February!

Procrastination

I can't motivate to read. Even though I love the current book, even though I have time. I constantly wonder why it's so hard to just sit down and open a book. I have plenty of excuses. I tell myself it'll make me tired and I'll just end up falling asleep. I tell myself I won't have enough time to read an entire chapter (and it really irks me to stop mid chapter). Or I want to work on my knitting instead. And the perennial excuse, it is so much easier to just turn on the TV or waste time on the Internet. I don't even have my cable hooked up, and I still manage to watch hours on end of Farscape and Doctor Who... instead of reading.

And I spent 15 minutes just now reading about procrastination on the web. 

I'm about a quarter of the way through A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which is the first friend recommendation I added to the list (thanks JMZ). I love the characters and their voices. The family's poverty communicates essential truths about the complexities of life. The images are so rich - the meat on their table; the clothes on the dapper father; the Williamsburg street life.

I hear that many people read this book in their younger years, and I do recommend picking it up again - or if you're like me, trying it for the first time.

That is, if you can get over your own procrastination traps.