My Not-So-Secret Addiction



I own a lot of books. The four bookshelves in my apartments are almost completely full, and this does not count the ones I have stacked on my desk, the piano or the floor. These also do not include the five bookshelves I took to my classroom, or the half a dozen or more milk crates I've converted into book storage. In both places, I've run out of space... and I just keep buying more books.

I can't help myself. It's like an addiction. When I'm feeling blue, the best pick-me-up is going on Amazon and with one click, filling my basket. It's even better to walk into an actual bookstore, flip the pages, and take in that new-book smell. I've had to ban myself from both in recent weeks. While my bank account is thanking me, my habit isn't.

The funny thing, perhaps, is that I actually haven't read all the books I own. I'm like a collector that way, I suppose. I buy books just to have them... although, unlike a collector, I actually do want to read them. I just collect way too many to keep up sometimes. I never buy only one book, there's always two. Like shoes, they are better when they come in a pair. And generally, I buy a couple of pairs.

I despise owning incomplete series (I currently own four at the moment, and it's killing me. If anyone wants to send me the first two books of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (hardback), the final books in both the Inkheart and Peaches series, as well as Gallagher Girl #5, I'd appreciate it), and since it seems everybody writes series these days, buying one book usually means I'm buying 10.

And, I supposed, it doesn't help that I'm a pretty regular patron to the library. Even if I've just bought a book, I often find myself inside that book trove, pulling a few books of the shelf to borrow. And when I return them, I can't help but check out another. I own the ones piling up on my bedroom floor, I can always read them later.

Plus, I like to reread books and will often shun a new one to curl up with one that has been tried and found true.

To make matters worse, I was given a Kindle for my birthday. And the danger there is that there are tons of free books to download. Which, of course, I do.

Books are the easiest, and the most common gift from family and friends. And when people are purging theirs, it doesn't occur to me that I should do the same. Instead, I collect their rejects and add them to my growing library. During long winter or summer days, I pull them from their place on the shelf and discover them for the first time.

I'm sure one day, I would have read them all. And if not, it doesn't really matter. I find joy in simply having them.

Comments

  1. Impressive collection... A 'joke' I used to share with the kid sister was that all the unread books in her library would speak up demanding answers on the last/ judgement day on account of her not properly stewarding them...

    Oh, and the kindle's best gift I ever had too.. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure how I feel about my books speaking against me on judgement day... guess I better get on reading all of them :-)

      Although, that'd make an intriguing story...

      Delete

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