The right time to read a book

I'm going to talk a little about Fight Club. 

I finished reading it while sitting in an ER waiting room to get my wrist examined.  I remember having a massive headache, which was probably a combination of feeling hangry (hungry+ angry; crankiness due to low blood sugar) and slightly peeved that I was a teenager and stuck in the waiting room of a children's hospital filled with bright colors and unhappy kids.  I had enjoyed the book, which my close friend at the time had recommended to me,  but wasn't really in the mood to read it; it just felt inappropriate to read while surrounded by kids.

But then a clown came in. 

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw him enter and watched kids flock to him and his bag of whatever.  I don't have a phobia of clowns per se but I don't like 'em.  I was worried that my grumpy countenance would tempt him to come over and Turn That Frown Upside-Down! so I grabbed my book and hid behind it, as if it would block out the noise he made as well.  I stuck my nose in the book and didn't look up until I reached the end-- I had maybe 30 or 40 page left when I arrived-- and thankfully by then the clown had left.  Crisis averted.  But my headache had worsened and the ending left my head boggy.  I had to re-read it several times to be certain about what happened.

I wish I had been in a more lucid state of mind when I finished the book; I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not forced myself to read it.  I haven't read it since but I hope to some day.  Ha, some day... my list of books to read gets longer every week, and I've done a fair bit of shuffling the order around.  All of the books are  classics or friends' recommendation.  Crime and Punishment fits both those categories and has been on my list for five years but I don't plan to read it until I'm in my thirties.  I met an author friend of an old English teacher who told me that Dostoevsky would make more of an impact me later in life, as an adult; the friend who recommended it to me told me to read it no more that twice in my life.  I trust these people to give sound advice and to follow it.  Especially after my experience reading Fight Club I try to consider all kinds of factors before committing myself to reading a book.  The factors include:
- my current emotional state
- the weather/time of year
- number of pages/ size
- cover images (will I be able to read it on the bus/train without feeling self-conscious?)
- paperback vs. hardcover
- readability (if it's something I can breeze through or sink my teeth into)
- how long it's been on my list

There are probably other, more idiosyncratic factors that I can't think up right now.  Lately I've been drawn to graphic novels because they're mostly paperback tomes (don't take up much space in my backpack) and can be easily digested.