I knew I was hopeless from the start. I was reading before I started kindergarten. At 10 I had an adult reading level. In high school I was the girl who was hiding a novel under her desk and surreptitiously turning pages when the teacher wasn’t looking. When other families headed out the movies on a Friday night, Dad and I headed for the Library. And things haven’t got any better.
In fact, they’ve got far worse.
Instead of trying to kick my habit, what do I do? Go and start a book club. And instead of trying to keep my possessions light because I’m leaving the country, what do I do? Go and buy a book shelf. And start filling it.
I just can’t help myself.
I thought this blog might help. Encourage my writing, share books with others, perhaps slow down my intake.
But if anything I’ve become more voracious. I’ve started surfing the public library catalogue when I should be doing work. I get at least a book a week delivered at home, as well as the three or four or five I check out from Central. I work in the National Library. I have accounts with Amazon, Fishpond, Usedbooks, Ferrit, Trademe.
On Saturday night I went out for my birthday. It’s 3am, and I’m sitting in a bar in town, sipping lemonade and vodka, and talking to the cute guy next to me about – get this – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
What is WRONG with me?
Here is my reading list for January:
Winner of the National Book Award, Jincy Willet
I was Told There’d be Cake, Sloane Crosley
Pride and Prejudice
The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde. (Perhaps I’ll find mine in here, as I’ve obviously lost it).
Things I’ve learned from Girls Who’ve Dumped Me
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
And, of course, whatever we choose for Book Club.
Ambitious, anyone?
Oh, and if you’re reading this, I like comments 🙂 So feel free to criticize or praise to your heart’s content.
addictions are bad things and you just have to manage it … keep it down to – say – 2 books a week. whenever you feel the urge to read, go for a walk instead. tell yourself that if you absorb that much information, your brain will explode. you need to let stuff OUT, aswell as taking it in. yin and yan. and hope for fate – ferrit is closing down, so that’s a sign …
I started reading Kafka on the Shore while I was at house sitting but unfortunately I had to leave it behind before I had finished it… I will have to get it out from the library.
I have a television attention span so I’ve always been a very slow reader… getting up for one thing or another every 20 minutes or so. Or I attempt to read before bed when I am totally exhausted so end up only reading a couple of pages.
My friend Elise is the same as you from the sounds, reading 2 or more books a week. I am really envious of you both, there are so many books on my ‘To read’ list. Perhaps I should actually write it down and include it in my new years resolution of using the city library more. Although it’s hard to read for enjoyment when there are a million texts books your should be reading instead. Sigh.