Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Bookaholic

(Note: I already had this post ready  when I saw that Amy had posted about her love of reading and Goodreads. I considered saving this for another time because of the similarity of the two posts, but changed my mind.  I thought it was so funny that she and I were thinking so much about the same topic. Enjoy, and find a good book to read!)

I am a bookaholic.  I love books, always have.  My parents always said that the only things you take with you from this life are your relationships and your knowledge, and books  are a great source of knowledge. We have  always been  a family of book lovers.  I remember buying books for many birthday and Christmas gifts for my parents,  and I still see certain books that I think that mom or dad would have  liked. I remember learning to read with my mom, who had me read the Sunday comics to her each week when I was learning to read. I still have some of the books that I had as a child that my grandkids are now reading.   

Several years ago I got a job at a local bookstore, which started out just as seasonal help, but turned into a 16 year career.  Needless to say, I spent a lot of my pay for books over the years.  My daughters and their children all like books and I often buy them books as  gifts.  One of my favorite things to do with my grandkids is reading together.  We have some favorites, and it is so fun to cuddle with one or more of the kids with a stack of great books.  I read to our daughters as they were growing up, such favorites as Anne of Green Gables series, Wizard of Oz books, Nancy Drew, and more.  I get excited when I see my daughters reading with their children, and we often share books and book lists.

When we moved a couple of years ago, my husband said he would not move my books again, as there were so many.  I had more boxes of books than anything else (except maybe craft supplies!) I have my books stacked two piles deep (or more) on most of my bookshelves.  But still I buy more. I have a tablet reader that I got for reading eBooks, since they are often less expensive than hard copies.  I have found that convenient, and now I also have a reading app on my phone, which comes in handy when I am waiting at a doctor office, etc. but there is something about a book.  I love touching the pages, smelling the paper, seeing the cover.  Even when I worked at the bookstore, I would sometimes stop at Costco on the way home to see if there was a great price on a book I wanted. I can’t buy as many books now that I don’t work, but I still love to look at the kids’ school book orders, enjoy going to their book fairs, and shop often on Amazon.

I don’t buy every book I want to read. Now I am checking my local libraries more often.  I also listen to audio books, which help me get through my exercise in the morning, cleaning chores, driving, or working on projects.  There are so many books on my “to read” list that I need to employ every method I can to get through them all.  Seems that for every book I read from my list, I add several more onto the list.

I know that there are a lot of books out there that are not worth reading, are poorly written, have inappropriate content, or are just not the kind of book I like.  But I have never had a time in my life that I did not have a list or stack of books waiting for me, and I hope that never changes.

~Gayle

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