Posted in Random Musings
Confessions Of A Book Addict
Hello, my name is Christopher and I am addicted to books. I write this confession in a room which is currently filled with books. Every wall, every nook, every space I can cram a book in there is one. I have so much credit at the used book store here in town I have stopped trading in books. Now I give them away. To friends, to the library, to kids at school. Speaking of school my addiction runs deep there also. I have more books in my classroom then all of the 4th through 6th grade teachers combined. I recently brought in my old Kindle and am now lending that out to students as well.
This week was a bad week for book addictions. Amazon had a ginormous sale on e-books. I knew I shouldn’t have looked but I did. Not only did they have books I wanted but they had added large amounts of early works by writers I read. Then put them on sale for $2.99 a book. I think I bought 40 books. I didn’t count I was afraid of what the number would be. The books normally sold for $8 to $9. It was too good of a deal to pass up. I have already read several of them.
That’s the thing too. I am a veracious reader. I read between a 100 to 150 novels a year. It would be more if I didn’t spend so much time writing (I did have a little slump the last few years but it ended this year. I cut out probably 70% of the television I was watching). One of the reasons I can’t wait to be retired is the thought of all the books I will be able to read every year. I tease my wife that all the unread books in my house are my retirement fund.
I have gotten a little nastier over the last few years with my books. I used to be one of those people who would finish any book I started. No longer have enough time for that practice. I will kill a book quick now if it doesn’t catch my fancy (one of the reasons I like the Kindle. I get to sample). I have a lot of books on my shelf waiting to be read but I know some of them won’t make the cut. This week I killed a book after one page. Now to be fair I had tried reading the book once before and gotten a little farther. It didn’t hook me but I liked the author enough to hang onto the book for another try. I read a page and was quickly reminded why I put it down the first time. Off it went to some other reader who could give it the attention it deserved.
I consider myself fortunate. This isn’t a bad addiction to have. I get enjoyment, I get smart, I exercise the brain, and I learn a lot about writing. It was an addiction that got ahold of me early and one I will never try to cure myself of. Now, if I could lose a little of the chocolate addiction that would be okay (this is a blatant lie. I don’t want to lose the chocolate addiction either).
