I'm Buried in Books!
Recently, I've noticed a problem in my life. It's actually not a very problematic problem; I'm buried in books. Now, before you tell me about how wonderful e-readers are and how I don't have to have the clutter of physical books, let me tell you this. I have a nook and I like it a lot, but nothing compares to that book smell and the texture of the paper and all that other nostalgic, sentimental stuff that is causing me to lose all floor space in my room.
Seriously, I have three book shelves in my room, one with three shelves and two with five shelves, and I still have big piles of books lying on my floor. Not to say that my room is a mess. I have everything very organized. I have one pile for library books, one pile for textbooks I'll probably never look at again but I didn't want to sell, and about a bazillion piles for books that I bought in the past couple of weeks and can't find a place for. Yes, my friends, I'm buried alive in books.
I think my problem is that I feel the compulsion to own every book I may ever want to read at any point in my life. You can say anything you want about the benefits of going to the library, I tottally agree with you; my library's website is one of the 'most visited pages' that pops up when I open a new tab in Google Chrome. I go to the library a lot, and, if I read a library book and enjoy it, I promptly return the book to the library, go out and buy myself a copy, sit it on my book shelf and, 50% of the time, never touch it again. I just want to be able to be like "oh, Crime and Punishment, I really liked that book, I should re-read it some time, too bad I'm reading Anna Karenina and Dracula and Tale of Two Cities right now". It's not that I don't re-read books, it's just that there are so many books I want to read.
Sometimes, I even buy the same book more than once. Like, I'm pretty sure I have no fewer than three copies of Hamlet. I don't even really like Hamlet. If you're going to buy repeat copies of one of Shakespeare's plays, it might as well be of Richard III. It's like, "well, I already have this book, but this copy has a red flower on the cover" or "this copy is hardcover, that might make some meaningful impact on the story" or just "I want to have a copy of this book I can read and one, pretty copy for show on my book shelf".
Don't ask me why, that's just the way my brain works.
And if I buy one book in a series of books that's it, I have to buy all the books in the series, even if I don't want to read them. They just look so nice, sitting in a row on my book shelf. Again, don't ask me why; most of the time, I baffle myself. Nor can I sell or give away any of these books; that would be horrible. Once you read a book, you tie it up with a whole bunch of physical memories. It's like "oh yeah, I held this book while I was wearing my yellow shirt and eating chocolate cake. How can I sell my chocolate cake book!?".
Such thinking does not result in a neat, organized room. I suppose there are worse problems to have than too many books, but for now, I'm just working on clearing a path through my bedroom so I can get over to my desk, which I don't think I've sat at in over two years. That plan will probably fall through though, I'm getting more books at the library tomorrow.
Just sayin'
Seriously, I have three book shelves in my room, one with three shelves and two with five shelves, and I still have big piles of books lying on my floor. Not to say that my room is a mess. I have everything very organized. I have one pile for library books, one pile for textbooks I'll probably never look at again but I didn't want to sell, and about a bazillion piles for books that I bought in the past couple of weeks and can't find a place for. Yes, my friends, I'm buried alive in books.
I think my problem is that I feel the compulsion to own every book I may ever want to read at any point in my life. You can say anything you want about the benefits of going to the library, I tottally agree with you; my library's website is one of the 'most visited pages' that pops up when I open a new tab in Google Chrome. I go to the library a lot, and, if I read a library book and enjoy it, I promptly return the book to the library, go out and buy myself a copy, sit it on my book shelf and, 50% of the time, never touch it again. I just want to be able to be like "oh, Crime and Punishment, I really liked that book, I should re-read it some time, too bad I'm reading Anna Karenina and Dracula and Tale of Two Cities right now". It's not that I don't re-read books, it's just that there are so many books I want to read.
Sometimes, I even buy the same book more than once. Like, I'm pretty sure I have no fewer than three copies of Hamlet. I don't even really like Hamlet. If you're going to buy repeat copies of one of Shakespeare's plays, it might as well be of Richard III. It's like, "well, I already have this book, but this copy has a red flower on the cover" or "this copy is hardcover, that might make some meaningful impact on the story" or just "I want to have a copy of this book I can read and one, pretty copy for show on my book shelf".
Don't ask me why, that's just the way my brain works.
And if I buy one book in a series of books that's it, I have to buy all the books in the series, even if I don't want to read them. They just look so nice, sitting in a row on my book shelf. Again, don't ask me why; most of the time, I baffle myself. Nor can I sell or give away any of these books; that would be horrible. Once you read a book, you tie it up with a whole bunch of physical memories. It's like "oh yeah, I held this book while I was wearing my yellow shirt and eating chocolate cake. How can I sell my chocolate cake book!?".
Such thinking does not result in a neat, organized room. I suppose there are worse problems to have than too many books, but for now, I'm just working on clearing a path through my bedroom so I can get over to my desk, which I don't think I've sat at in over two years. That plan will probably fall through though, I'm getting more books at the library tomorrow.
Just sayin'
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