According to Urban Dictionary, that means I’m someone who keeps buying books to add to a stack of unread books. My husband would tell you that accurately describes me. He’s threatening to shore up the floorboards of the spare room before making it my library, and that’s only because he knows he can’t get away with using my books for fire starter, even though he threatens from time to time!
I’ve been an avid reader and book “collector” for as long as I can remember. I still have a decent collection of Little Golden Books, as well as Nancy Drew books, from my younger days. I have an assortment of hardcover fiction titles, and an even bigger assortment of paperbacks: cozy mysteries, biographies, horse stories, and boxes upon boxes of romances - all part of my To Be Read pile. I have milk crates at work overflowing with books others have given me. I sneak them home one or two at a time. On top of that, my Kindle library currently shows 597 items, most of which are also part of that To Be Read pile.
Despite my husband's insistence that I'll never read these books, I am reading them. Maybe not as fast as I'm collecting them, but hey - baby steps. One book at a time. I never go anywhere without at least one book.
This year I signed up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge, estimating that I would read 25 books this year. I have no idea how many books I normally read in a year, so 25 seemed like a reasonable number. So far, I’ve read 14 books and Goodreads tells me I'm ahead of schedule. I remember thinking when I was younger that I should have put a quarter in a jar for every book I read. At that point in my life, the books were all borrowed from the library. Saving a quarter each time wouldn’t have made me rich, but it would definitely have helped support my later-in-life book habit!
As most readers do, I have keeper books written by my favorite authors that I never plan to give up. But since I like to share my love of reading with others, I donate books to my local library, and trade books with friends who have similar tastes. Still other books I trade on PaperbackSwap.com. I love PaperbackSwap for finding backlists of new-to-me authors. It’s a great way to share the love of reading!
Why do I keep “collecting” books if I’m not reading them very quickly? Because, to borrow a quote from George R.R. Martin, "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."
I want to live a thousand lives! I want to live vicariously through the characters in the books I read, experiencing adventures I might never have the opportunity for in my real life.
Are you a bookaholic? What types of books do you collect?
3 comments:
For every book I finish, I add three more to my TBR list. Thanks for the post!
Oh, yes. I'm a definite bookaholic! My kindle holds more books than I could possibly read (until I retire, that is) and my bookshelves are overflowing, not to mention the toppled stack on my nightstand. One can never have too many books!
Angela, you sound like me. :) CJ, that's what I say too! When I retire, then I'll get to read all these books. I like that game plan. Thanks for stopping by today!
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