Ok. I admit it. I'm completely addicted to the "honor paperback" section at the library. Dave laughed at me when I came home last week with a dozen mysteries. Little does he know (ok, he probably knows now) that I came home yesterday with another 18 (that's my sweet ride there, as I load up books at the library). Of course, that's on top of the 10 books I already had on the shelf from library trips months ago... Sheesh, girl. Get a grip!But what can I say? It's my perfect storm of Simple-Green-Frugal. I love to read (especially mysteries), I hate deadlines, and I avoid spending money like the plague. So when the library has an entire section of paperbacks (about half of them mysteries) with no return date (thus the "honor" side of it), how can they expect me to resist? They're begging me to take them, really.
Of course, I feel like a complete piggy sitting on all these books when someone else could be enjoying them. And they do make it back to the library eventually...
So to help ease the guilt of my addiction, I'm making a vow right now: I WILL NOT TAKE OUT ANY MORE HONOR PAPERBACKS UNTIL I'VE READ EVERY LAST ONE OF THE ONES I'M HOARDING IN MY HOUSE. Of course, I said that last time. But I mean it this time! Yeah! No more. Um, yeah...
So what's your secret (or not so secret) addiction? Come on. Don't be shy. I won't tell anyone :)
16 comments:
I'm afraid to step into the library (just to browse) because I will leave with half the library in my backpack. Right now, I have about 20 books checked out along with 4 moves and about 6 music CDs.
I'm trying to read more literchur so I'm getting fancy with my reading now.
Uh...movies. Not moves.
I LOVE that section of the library. Its perfect for people that can't return items on time to save their lives! (like me)
Um, well my secret addiction is not so secret either, and it is books. I too will go to the library and pick up a stack of 10+ books, and have 'em read before a couple of weeks isn't even up. When I get home from work, I read until dinner, and then I usually read until bed after dinner, I just love to read.
My goodness Heather, you should see my list of books to read, there are literally HUNDREDS of books on that list.
I am like Beany, I currently have about 20 books checked out, have read about half of them now, and am going to be sending Brett on a library trip for me tomorrow.
Sigh, books.
Books and yarn. I can't write in a bookstore because I will spend more time wandering around (and money buying!) than actually getting work done. I can get away with a cheap coffee other places. The library is off limits for similar reasons but because I live a good 20 min away from the closest library - I don't go often. It's hard to justify the trip, especially since none of my other errands run in that direction. Thus I either reread good books or swap with friends.
Yarn on the other hand.... I will fork over a good chunk of change for nice yarn and wander around the store for hours 'petting' different types. But I feel justified. Knitting keeps my hands busy, means I don't have to buy many presents at Christmas/birthdays/babies, and is something I love. My husband just figured out how much yarn I really have since we've been cleaning out the guest room. It wasn't pretty. :)
Beany - Exactly! Often, I'll avoid the area completely so there's no temptation. The best trips to the library lately are the ones where I just bike through the drive-through to deposit my books. If you don't actually step foot in the library, you can't bring anything home, right? :)
Sharli - I agree. I hate looming due dates.
Jennifer - Books seem to be a very popular obsession. At least I'm not the only one. And, of course, if you're going to be addicted, books are a pretty tame way to go :)
Believe it or not, I also have a list - Authors I like and the books they've written, with the ones I've read already crossed out. It's um... 13 pages long with 2 columns per page. Yeah. I read A LOT too.
Kildare Girl - That's the nice thing about our library (for me). It's within a 15 minute bike ride so I'm there several times a week. It's just too easy! I understand the yarn thing too. What all do you know how to make? I only know one crochet stitch so I can only do blankets with lots of rows...
Just started reading your blog and I love it. As for addictions I agree books and the library in general but my newest one would have to be the garden. I find myself making up every excuse to go out and dig my hands in the dirt. Snacking on the fresh peas and smelling the sweet basil, life dosn't get much better.
Heather, you have read some of them already, right? Make a vow to return any you've already finished this week. Just walk up to the return slot and shove them in. Do not, I repeat, do NOT go into the library and look at the honor shelf. ;-)
Secret addiction for me? I love reading fiction but have to force myself to get other stuff done, including reading non-fiction when I want to go read fiction. When I'm in the middle of a really engaging book, I sometimes have to make deals with myself. "You can read one chapter (or 10 pages if the chapters are long) only after completing one task on the to-do list." That way I don't spend the entire day reading.
By the way, did you know that you can actually have a reading addiction? I know of a person who would disappear - from work, family, everything - and hole up for a couple of weeks reading. This was truly an unhealthy addiction!
It's nice to see someone else share my addiction! I can't walk out with of the library without the books falling out of my arms, lol. I'm also addicted to DIY/instructional books and have filled every inch of my tall bookcase, my husband's bookcase, and my second shorter bookcase :-( But, they're all purchased at garage sales or for very cheap on half.com. I'm addicted to organic food. My husband and our families think I'm nuts for wanting to spend twice as much for the "same" thing and sometimes I'm ashamed of it when our grocery bill is over our weekly limit. Geeze, now I feel like I need to start an Organics Anonymous group, lol!
Dan and Sarah - Ooh. Garden can definitely be addicting! And welcome to SGF!
Chile - Actually, no. These are only the ones I haven't read. I'm great about returning them once I've read them. That's why I end up at the library several times a week. I usually return a book within a day or two after I've read it. So, yeah, the close to 40 books are ones waiting to be read...
I read the occasional non-fiction (mostly for the Blogging Bookworm these days), but I find I need at least one or two fiction between each non-fiction. Those non-fiction books also tend to need time to be absorbed (in my brain anyway), so I can't do them one after the other anyway.
If I'm really into reading mode without much else going on (it's too hot to do much in the afternoons here), I can read a book in a day or two. The problem is that i pick them up way quicker than I read them. Although I don't know if I qualify for the real addiction. I'd better ask my hubby to make that call :)
Kristin - Just tell your family you're paying the "real" cost of the food. Cheap food eventually has a price tag that we don't associate with the initial purchase - things like health care costs, costs to the environment, etc. At least it'll give them something to think about before they raz you next time :)
Chile's comment about the guy who disappeared reminded me what my life used to be like. I used to be really bad in high school where I would read all the time.
I would read during lectures, during mass (I went to a Catholic high school), in front of the teacher's nose and then swap books with other friends who were also secretly reading. I used to read 2-3 fiction books every single day, not to mention countless comic books and what not. Lunch time was filled with discussing the various plots of the books we'd read.
At home I despised chores as it meant taking time away from reading. I was regularly under the blanket finishing books all the time instead of sleeping. I pulled an overnighter to read the Godfather.
It wasn't all lightweight fluff either...I was into the classics in a big way: Dickens, Verne, Twain, Bronte, everyone. I am still quite crazy about how much and how often I read. I thank my lucky stars that I met a bookworm. He is worse in the number of books he reads and checks out of the library on a weekly basis. But at least we both know not to bother each other when either one of us in engrossed in a book.
The good thing is, we learned this week that the more books get checked out of a library branch, the more funding that library branch gets.
So see? I am helping :)
books. I can usually reason with myself that they are used, and are educational (aka not frivolous) .
I have 3 book shelves of books but I don't seem to stop buying them (I'm an english major so I get to use that excuse a lot too...)
Beany - Wow! You WERE an addict. I want to want to read the classics, but those goofy mysteries just keep jumping out of the stack and landing in my bag. I have no control over it really...
Notwasted - so what kind of books to you usually buy? I guess that's why I love the library so much. It's all FREEEEEEEE :)
right now: well last book purchases: 2 attachment parenting book guides to discipline,
the master and the margarita, and we the living.
Notwasted - so it's not all one genre your addicted to. Just a little of everything. I'd say that's a fairly healthy form of addiction :)
UPDATE: I've managed to read and return about 1/3 of the 40 honor paperbacks I've been hoarding in my house and haven't brought a single new one home!
I still have 2/3's of the way to go though...
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