Wednesday 28 August 2013

Confession Time

Hello. My name is Jill, and I have a problem.

It started when I was young. It was always laying around at home, and I was probably only 4 when I tried it on my own for the first time. There was a readily accessible stash in the basement, and I didn't hesitate to help myself. My mother facilitated my addiction by regularly bringing me to the local library. At first it was the fluffy stuff like the Mandie books, and the Animal Ark series...it seemed harmless at the time. But it wasn't long before I started indiscriminately devouring anything I could get my hands on. My preferences were L.M Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and Laura Ingalls Wilder, with a dash of fantasy like The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Phantom Tollbooth.
In more recent years my condition has become more serious. Dystopian fiction, epic fantasies, autobiographies and memoirs, whodunnits, classics, YA fiction, even nonfiction, has made its way into my hands. But its not enough just to read the books anymore. I needed to collect them. Read them, again, and again. Loan them to my friends.

After (literally) keeping my stash in the closet for many years, last year I did the unthinkable and bought a bookshelf. It was basically full the moment I unpacked the boxes that had been hidden away. But I couldn't stop buying them. The second-hand bookstores call to me, and I struggle to leave before purchasing at least one old friend or new acquaintance. The bookshelf is full to bursting, but I can't stop. The books are starting to pile up beside my bed, on my desk, and at random places on the floor. This isn't including the books I've loaned out. Their places on the shelf were quickly filled. And I have a list of books that I have yet to track down and add to the collection; many a series that needs to be completed!

So as if that isn't embarrassing enough, guess what I did today?

I bought 5 books at the thrift store, and 3 new textbooks for school.
And I don't know where to put them.

It's time for another bookshelf.

(What have you been reading lately? Hook me up with some good new material!)

1 comment:

netablogs said...

I don't usually look for books in Thrift Stores...too overwhelming for me! I go straight to Amazon and look for deals for my Kindle with regular email subscriptions. I have a wish list the length of the Great Wall of China, I think!
Can't help you with your addiction... we go in for therapy together! You've read way more classics than I have... Jane Eyre is my fave, but I know you've read that..