I’m not ashamed to say that I am completely and hopelessly addicted to books. My house is full of them; some I’ve read, some I plan to read, some that have been bought for me that I will never read but couldn’t possibly throw away.
You’ve probably always suspected that you’re a book addict, but there are a few ways to confirm it:
- You can lose a whole afternoon in the library/bookshop just wandering around dreamily reading blurbs and studying book covers.
- Whenever you go to the library you come home with more books than you can possibly read in three weeks.
- Whenever you buy a new book, the first thing you do is smell the print.
- At first you refuse to buy a Kindle/Nook/iPad because they will never EVER replace a real life book. Once you get one you quickly become addicted.
- You get annoyed when people don’t look after their books. Folding the corners of pages instead of using a bookmark is sometimes an offence punishable by death.
- Not only are your bookshelves full, you have books piled up on the floor, on your bedside table, in the bathroom and on any available surface.
- If your other half suggests you might like to donate some of your books to charity and clear a bit of space you try to strangle them.
- You can’t resist buying a new book even though your reading schedule is full for the next six months.
- You take a book with you wherever you go.
- At the airport, your suitcase is always over the baggage allowance due to the weight of the dozen novels you are planning to read in the next week.
- No one bothers to buy you an actual birthday present any more, they just buy you a book voucher. You are extraordinarily grateful to them.
- You try to read four books at the same time.
- You will read anything, from a biography of an obscure writer from the seventeenth century to the latest tween romance epic.
- You get interior design tips from Bookshelf Porn.
- Your friends have forgotten what your face looks like because it is always obscured by a book.
- Your contribution to the conversation always starts with, “I read in a book that…”
- You buy alternative copies of books you already own because you like the cover design.
- You know where all your books are located on the shelf, even if they are in no particular order.
- You follow writers on Twitter instead of celebrities.
- Whenever a friend asks you to recommend a book, you give them a list.
I could go on…and on…
But let’s face it, being addicted to books is no bad thing. All the most interesting people are!
Janel @ Creating Tasty Stories says
I can relate to almost all of these. I have the stacks of books everywhere, but I also own three (yes, three) ereaders – not to mention having ereader apps on all of the computers in the house. I just love the convenience of carrying 1000 books in my purse!
Amy says
Ooh I love the idea of having 1000 books to hand! I’d never get anything else done I’m afraid!
Jenn says
RESPONSE TO THE 20:
#1 Have you ever heard of Powell’s New & Used Books, in Portland, Oregon? It’s the Pac-NW’s ‘Book Mecca’.
#3 I do this. I love the smell of books. (I used to do this thing at the B&N in Gulfport, where you open the first double doors, and they have piles of books there. It’s the scent of published paper, I know, but to me it’s ‘Parfum littéraire’. (Literary perfume)
#4 Yah, this is me, too.
#8 Me, too
#9 Oh, ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY!
#11 I get gift-cards for B&N or Powell’s, every b-day, every Xmas. 🙂
#19 I don’t Twitter. I’m too busy reading. (Except when I’m adding other writers to my ‘add to circles’ scope) : D
Amy says
Jenn, Powell’s sounds like a great shop and I’d love to visit Portland, however I’m in the UK so it’d be a bit of a trip! Haha glad you agree with some of these, always good to chat to a fellow book nerd!
Decay says
I’m not agree with the point 5: I think that a book get more life when it’s full of marking, like annotations writed by a pen (for exemple, I like to learn to the next writer where the references are from: In a book of Stephen King, I writed “confer Dracula” when Van Hellsing had been mentioned), or corners folded.
But I also think the views are all differents 😀
Amy says
Thanks for the comment, I kind of agree…personally I can’t damage a book in any way, I have a thing about keeping my books pristine. But I do love buying second hand books that are a bit bent and yellowed already and even have notes in them…they have extra life that way I think!