i'm running out of bookmarks!

I used to hate reading! My mother used to make me sit and listen to her read a book for school when I refused to read it myself. I would barely pay attention if at all. I was always annoyed at the idea that reading was necessary for me to get good grades in school. There were a couple of occasions when I was pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed reading a book. The best example of this was The Outsiders. There were a couple other books I ended up enjoying, but that was clearly my favorite.

When I started college, I was shocked and annoyed to learn that practically all I had to do was read. Thousands of pages worth of books I had no desire to read. Again, there were a couple of exceptions like Israel and the Nations. But for the most part, I mechanically worked my way through books, hardly ever retaining the information from them. I would get through chapters before I realized I had no clue what I had been reading. I never went back.

As an adult, however, I have discovered that I actually love reading...it's just that I enjoy reading books I want to read and not books I have to read. So, since college (actually, during my senior year) I started reading books I liked. I read The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, true crime books, history books, and quite a few suspense novels (almost all of Harlan Coben's) among others that I've read. All this is to say that I actually do enjoy reading these days. But I have developed a problem that I need some help with: I am running out of bookmarks.

You see, my real problem is that I start many books, find my way through over 75% of them, put them down and then forget about them. Then, instead of picking the book back up, I start a new book. As a result, I have numerous books with bookmarks deep inside sitting on my book shelf. My problem is not that I don't find the books interesting. I put books down far before I make it 75% through if I don't enjoy them. My problem is that I refuse to restart a book, but don't always remember everything I had read before.

I mean, let's face it. Many of us can sit and say how much we enjoyed a book without remembering all of the specifics of it years down the road. I know I enjoyed those books and I know I could probably figure out what happened to the point I left off at, but I guess I figure it's more work than it's worth sometime.

One of my 2011 resolutions is to read at least one book each month. My question is whether or not I should grab all of my unfinished books and finish them before I grab a new one or just let them go or start them over again. If I don't make a decision, I'll have to make or purchase more bookmarks...

I cannot be the only one with this issue. Thanks in advance for any advice/tips.