poll: are you a book addict?

Me and Luisa, at Michelle's birthday party.
Photo by Jeff.


My friend Parki has a brilliant idea. In addition to carrying regular books, bookstores should also sell the time to read the books. I love this! I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a tendency to acquire more books than I have time to read.

At the beginning of this whole tendinitis thing, I was going crazy because I didn't even have the strength to hold a paperback novel. Now I can read for about 15 minutes before I need to take a break. It's tough sometimes, especially when I start to getting into the story, having to close up the book and put it away for a bit. Sometimes I don't, and end up suffering later. :-(

Despite my substantial "To read" pile, it still hard to resist the siren call of a coveted new title in the bookstore. Last time Jeff and I were in Chapters, I was highly tempted to buy latest Natalie Goldman book (Goldman wrote the writer's classic, Writing Down The Bones), which was on the sale table in hardcover.

"You already have enough books," said Jeff.

I clutched the book in agonized indecision. "But. . . It's Natalie Goldman! In hardcover! On sale!"



Reid. Photo by Jeff.


Meanwhile, however, I could help but think of the many books still waiting to be read at home. Plus I had already resolved to start using the library more to save money. Plus Jeff had a point: I already have a ton of books. Too many, in fact, to fit in our apartment. A few months ago, I tried going through a lot of them in a feeble attempt to carve out some more space in my office (which I would inevitably fill up with more books), and that was part of what wrecked my arms. One corner of our apartment is still filled with piles of my books from that fateful day.

But I confess that I am somewhat of a book addict. Ok, maybe more than somewhat. I adore library book sales, browsing yard sale tables full of other people's book rejects, bookstores of all types. It causes me enormous mental pain to throw out a book, even if I know I will never read it again. I only managed to throw out my old university textbooks last year. Whenever possible, I would much rather give the books away, whether to Goodwill or a used bookstore.



Ruth and Annie. Photo by Jeff.

SURVEY: Are you a book addict?

Do you have too many books? How often do you purge your collection? Of all the books that you currently own, what percentage have you actually read?

(This entry was written with ViaVoice, a voice recognition program, which sometimes has its own sense of humor. Please forgive any spelling or grammar quirks which Debbie has missed while editing. Thank you. )

June/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ