I guess it is time to make a confession: Books Are My Addiction. (Or at least my main one). I have stashes of books I have not yet read. More than one stash.
One stash is on a shelf in the snug--mainly books I have found at Little Free Libraries in our neighborhood.
Another stash is hidden from view--on the back side of a pillar in the garret.
And then there are the miscellaneous books stacked on other shelves throughout the house. I think I have actually read more books currently in the house than there are books waiting to be read, but I am not willing to do a count.
And still I add more books, although not at the same rate as I did in earlier times of my life. Since January I have acquired eighteen books, and I confess that I purchased most of those. But not all, I hasten to add.
I know I could go a long time--a VERY long time--just reading what I have at my fingertips, but sometimes my TBR (To Be Read) list tugs, and I yearn to wander the stacks in the library. There is a kind of thrill, a rush, when I find a book that is on my TBR lists. One list in rough alphabetical order is for fiction and the other, which is more random, is nonfiction. Both lists are on my phone--handy when the car stops all on its own by the library entrance.
I decided the first book I would read from this current treasure chest would be On Beauty by Zadie Smith, a writer I have heard about, but have never read, and I love this book. Now you know what that means--her other books are now on my TBR list! As luck would have it, a few days after I started On Beauty I spotted her book White Noise in a Little Free Library--no question about bringing that home with me.
Has anyone read books by Maggie O'Farrell? Well, I checked out two novels by her the day I roamed the library--Instructions for a Heatwave and This Must Be The Place. I have no idea how those titles ended up on my TBR lists, but would you believe in the next couple days I heard glowing reviews of her books on a couple podcasts about books? I will read one of those titles next.
I know there are people who do not keep a backlog of books, who don't worry about having a book for every mood, every reading emergency, and who only bring one book at a time into the house and then read that one before getting another book, but that clearly is not me. Who are those people anyway? And I know there are people who have a philosophy of one book in/one book out. I do that with pairs of shoes and blouses, but not books.
I am apologizing ahead of time to my family when it is time to dispose of my books. I have been trying to clear the space of other belongings, but that just is not going to happen with my books. Here's my suggestion: Invite everyone who comes to my memorial service to take a book or two or three. Open the house to everyone on the block and tell them they can't leave without an armload of books. You are smart people, and I know you will figure out what to do.
In the act of confessing there is the underlying intention to do better, to change one's wayward ways. Well, I have another confession, I am not going to conquer my book addiction. I love having a store of books, read and unread, to remind me of all the beauty in the world, of how much I still need to learn and all the ways I need to grow, and to inspire me to stay awake to the glorious diversity around me.
I have 20 more pages in On Beauty to read, and I am going to do that right now.
An Invitation
What addiction do you have no intention of reforming? I would love to know.
