I remember the joy of finding two or three books at the bookstore and then returning home to snuggle with a blanket on the sofa or in bed, with a cup a tea and cookie. I would read for a good three hours or so until I had finished one of the books I had bought...then most likely I would have started on the second. I had piles of books around my bed, under my bed, in shoe-box after shoe-box and in what closet space I could cram them into and in rubber maid containers stacked upon each other. With finally owning a home I determined to buy a bookcase which I then saved for and took my time picking out so I picked the right one.
When the bookcase first arrived I loved it, loved looking at it and running my eyes over all my precious books. Every time I walked into the house my eyes were drawn to it and I could smell the newness of the wood stain. Now more often than not to look at my bookcase raises anxiety instead of pleasure.
The left half of the bookcase are books I have read and the right half contains the unread ones...over 120 of them (and I have more put away in boxes and another bookshelf ). When I first started buying books to fill up the shelves I told myself I was doing so, so that when I retire or when I am on vacation I can pick from the bookshelf instead of going to the bookstore. That I would already have collected all my favourite fiction. What I did not realize was that the more unread books I have on the shelves the more difficulty I have in actually picking out a book to read. With wanting to read all the books I am finding it very difficult to pick just one.
I know I am lucky... not everyone can afford to buy books. I do miss the library but really not all that much because I have replaced that experience with the purchasing of books in a bookstore or online. I've turned into the type of person who cannot pass a bookstore by without stopping and hunting down books I've put on my To Buy list. I use Bookpedia to track the books I own and those on my wish list, which I then export to my iPod so I can always carry around a list of my To Buy. I spend a lot of time browsing online bookstores, LibraryThing, and GoodReads for reviews...time that could have been spent more enjoyably actually reading a book!! If only that darn bookcase would stop intimidating me.
Is there therapy for those who are book obsessed? I mean seriously, I need to create a plan of attack to stop allowing my bookcase to push me around. Instead of standing in front of it waiting for inspiration to strike, I think a good start may be to pick out three to five books that appeal, take them to another part of the house and see if one of them stands out. Do you have any helpful suggestions? Are you similarly book obsessed?
No worries. I think you'll find that most of us, book bloggers are similarly obssessed with not only reading but just buying and surrounding ourselves with more and more books. I have given up finding a cure. I don't think there is one.
ReplyDeleteI don't think so either. Would be nice if we had more time in each day to devote to reading though...
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem. I have forced myself to get rid of the same number of books that I buy. In other words, if I read three books on my TBR shelf, then I can buy three (or less). This doesn't make the pile smaller, but it does keep it consistent.
ReplyDeleteErin that is a great way to manage your tbr bookshelf. Every so often I look through my books to see if there is an author I have fallen out of love with...I usually trade them in or donate, making room for more. Think I am going to have to get another bookshelf though. :)
ReplyDeleteMy book obsession started when I was in grade school and first visited a library bus that travelled to our country school. I was fasinated by the number of books they could stack in a bus. For a bored farm girl this was another world. I picked out two Nancy Drew mysteries and thus began my disconnection with the real world as I knew it. I had a favorite huge flat rock by the edge of the forest that held the heat of the sun. I would take a blanket and lay there for as many hours as I could safely disappear for and get lost in mysteries and intrigue, from there it just expanded. When I was 18, a very wealthy local woman who owned a great Victorian house in our village asked me to clean for her on my week-ends off. She had rows and rows of library shelves down the hall-ways and in almost every room in her house, she also had a summer room made of glass with one whole wall made into a gigantic library, this is where she would sit in the winter and read until her heart was content. I made a vow that someday I would have books like that, well I havn't quite made it there yet but I think my daughter has inherited my obsession, you come by it honestly. I think it is a gift to have the sense of adventure within you to search out all knowledge, just enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mom! I really enjoyed the story of how you became book obsessed and I'm thankful to have inherited the same obsession. I don't know of many more things I find more enjoyable than reading a book and being transported into another world. I think you are pretty close to that huge library you always wanted though. :)
ReplyDeleteI am ADDICTED to buying books. It's horrible. Well not really, I love it. And my husband is border line thinking it's funny and cute and slightly annoying. We have a small apartment and I have run out of space. I need another bookshelf instead of the windowsill. I can't stop though! I LOVE your bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I can empathize with your addiction as I am addicted too...I spend so much time just searching for books I want to buy and making lists. This one is getting to overflowing now...and I have hust the perfect spot for a new one. :) Thanks for the compliment.
ReplyDeleteYour blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment Anonymous!
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