Number one on the list is a big one, a habit that I (somewhat) jokingly refer to as my propensity to book-hoard. Despite five moves in the last four years, and despite a tiny studio apartment, I have an insane amount of books. Out of room on the bookshelves? No problem. Fill up the closet. And the bottom dresser drawer. And the cabinet over the fridge. When I moved here, I had one book in my backpack: "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King. ONE BOOK came to California with me.
The other 302,938,221 of them arrived in my apartment stealthily (with the exception of the tipsy "Game of Thrones" book-buying extravaganza,) and I didn't really take stock of the situation until a bookcase collapsed on my foot. (Thanks for that, Ikea.) I tried to do a bit of purging at this point: everything came off the shelves, was dusted, was pored over. Marginalia was reviewed. (Admittedly, I spent a moment sniffing "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which still smells exactly like the man that loaned it to me.) In the end, I got rid of five books and even that pained me.
Add to this the fact that I live two blocks from a branch of the San Francisco Public Library, a place to which I am unhealthily addicted. Every time some luscious new read pops up on a book blog, I am instantly requesting it from the SFPL. There are about 30 books on my "hold" list, and I just got a glorious email that four of them have arrived and are ready for pick-up. So tonight, all of these will also be in my apartment:
These are on my desk at work right now:
My name is Karen, and I am a book glutton. Thank you.
8 comments:
WAIT!!! You're missing the middle book of the hunger games!
don't read them out of order!
i love that you book hoard!! thank goodness i'm not the only one! my very first stephen king book was eye of the dragon or something like that. loved it!! i love fantasy and sci fiction and classics. you read such a wide variety of genres!!!
I work for Wiley publishing and we do all the Dummies books ^_^
i moved out here with 27 boxes of books. i'm sure that's now up to almost double. book hoarder? no...book whore. i can't stop buying them.
having "The Gunslinger" as the only book that came with you is a bit of a surprise to me. i hate stephen king, but i've read that series of books some 8 or 9 times. absolutely phenomenal.
LOVE the Hunger Games Trilogy. read all three in about 2 1/2 days.
still being blown away by "House of Leaves" right now.
I love this about you!! I can't resist buying a good book.. unfortunately, I have to admit I have yet to read some of the good books lying around my house right now. I WILL read them someday! Hopefully on vacation on a beautiful beach with my own personal attendant bringing me margaritas :)
Hello Karen (said in the monotone of an AA meeting greeting).
I'm a recovering Book Glutton. 6 years clean. :D
After many years of overflowing everythings, I decided they weren't really adding to my life. I actually felt good purging!
Now I aim to only keep books I truly love, beautiful editions, want to pass on to my daughter, classics.... if I wasn't crazy about it and so will definitely never read it, then why am i keeping it?
the cool thing is that now rather than thinking - i have a lot of books... i think, i have a lot of beautiful/wonderful books.
p.s, SK's Carrie was my first adult book and began my love affair with him.
Oh, a good friend of mine just read "All about Lulu" and she was absolutely thrilled. She even compared it to John Irving, but of course not THAT good. Still, a very enjoyable read, I guess.
Have fun reading all these books! :) I'm a massive book glutton, too. Lately, I tried to cut it down a bit, but boy, that is hard.
Here's to a happy Halloween. XO.
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