It took some time to figure out what my current obsession is. Well, to be more accurate, it’s been a longstanding obsession. It’s one of those things that just stares me in the face but I don’t acknowledge it as an obsession because it would mean admitting I have a problem. And I’m happy with my obsession. After all, there are worse things than being obsessed with books, right?
And what an obsession it is. I have stacks upon stacks of books littering every surface available in my home. I even have books stacked up to the ceiling on the shelves in my closets. I still have books that need to be packed up at my parent’s home to finish my move. I once tried to count how many books I owned at the age of eleven; I got to 270 and gave up to watch a bit of TV for a change. When Hurricane Alex hit I was worried about flooding. I spent over eight hours unpacking boxes of books and carrying them up a stool so I could safely put them on the shelves in the closets. I took twenty minutes picking up cable wires to protect the electronics from being shorted out. It’s easy to see what concerned me most about which possessions needed saving.
I buy, on average, somewhere around 4 to 5 books a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. I have a special budget set aside specifically for my book-buying obsession. Luckily, my husband is very understanding of my budgeting and my book obsession. It’s probably because he has obsessions of his own when it comes to collecting. I understand about his so he has to understand about mine. It’s only fair.
I work hard at reading advanced reviews and perusing book forums, figuring out what books I should look into putting on my lists. I buy all kinds of books; average fiction, classics, young adults, science fiction, even theory. This week alone I bought nine books, seven of them at stores and two of them online. I have a bookmark tab on my computer entitled “To Be Released” which has every month from now until February 2012 tabbed. Each month’s tab contains a list of links of which books are being released that month. Some months even have a folder called “Most Important”. For those titles I just go to the store on the day of their release, pick them up and pay for them, no questions asked. For the rest of this month I have three books on my “Most Important” list, and five additional titles to be look into for the month of August. When I’ve bought something off my list, the link goes into a folder of titles I own, to keep track of what I have since everything just keeps piling up around the house.
I think the detail and organization with which I deal with books highlights the fact that this is an obsession. In a way, it’s kind of nice to finally admit that out loud and in writing.
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