Bookaholism

Do your living room walls look like this?  (As well as your office and bedroom walls?  Okay, all of your walls?)

Do you visit friends' homes just to see their book collections (and capture the special moments with photos)?

Do you schedule special trips to bookstores during your vacation?

Does your nightstand look like this?

Do you have several storage units full of books and are considering renting another to store more?

Are you more interested in what’s happening with the characters in the book you are currently reading than with your real friends?

Then you might be suffering from bookaholism.  Unfortunately, I am not aware of any treatment or support group for this condition.  In fact, there are many websites, blogs, and book and reader conventions across the U.S. that encourage this condition, making it a national pandemic. 

While I only suffer from a few of the same symptoms as the person described above (a close family member who shall remain nameless, though not faceless), I do have an over-abundance of books stashed all around the house - so many that I may never have a chance to read all of them, yet I continue to buy more.  Both Kindle and hard copy.  They are everywhere.  Seeping off the shelves.  Falling out of the closet.  Taking up all of my iPad memory.  I am not a collector of precious or rare books, but accumulate things I like and intend to read ... someday.  The good thing is, I have them at my fingertips whenever I feel the urge to read, and I have a wide variety of genres and types from which to choose.  The bad thing is, I'm overwhelmed by the possibilities!  And that doesn't even take into consideration having to keep up with the different series of books I read or trying to read them in order, especially when I buy them piece meal at the used bookstores.  Just the other day, I ordered a book online, then found that same book in a box in the closet.  This is not the first time I have bought, or read, a book again, forgetting that I have previously read it or already own it. 

Do you suffer from bookaholism?  How do you manage it?  I have found Goodreads to be a good start at organizing what I have read, although this doesn’t take into account all of the books in the house.  Donating to local libraries and book mobiles is a good idea if you have no reason to keep the book after reading it.  Actually using the library rather than accruing more books would be a novel idea (no pun intended)!  In the big scheme of things, bookaholism is not the worst condition to suffer from; in fact, some might say it’s a great habit to feed, so I think I will probably go with that.     

Angela Crider Neary is an attorney by day and writer by night. She is an avid mystery reader and especially enjoys reading novels set in interesting locales. She was inspired to write her first mystery novella, Li'l Tom and the Pussyfoot Detective Bureau: The Case of the Parrots Desaparecidos, by one of her favorite areas in San Francisco, Telegraph Hill. To learn more, visit her on Facebook and Amazon.