Confessions of a Bookaholic

Wanted: Minimally noisy, comfortable, well lit spot to catch up on my growing pile of books.

Well I've done it again. See those two books at the top of the stack? I bought those today. Yup, me who has five other books in progress or begging to be picked up and read have just added two more to the stack.

Aggh!

The thing is, like always, I can't resist and good book.

Opening a new book is like opening a present! Opening a new book- even opening the wrapping makes me giddy with pleasure!

But its not just me right? Doesn't everyone love a new book? For me it's one of the most satisfying things in the world to open up a book fresh off the presses and smell that new ink and freshly milled paper! Doesn't everyone feel that anticipation in getting your hands on a new book? Do you wonder what the book-binders have come up with now in the texture and feel of a cover? Is it just me that cares about how important the feel of the cover is in the book reading experience? Gripping its smooth or glossy or soft matted or grainy surface for hours affects the whole of the reading experience... Don't you just love drinking in the fine details and saturated hues of the artists rendering that draws you from cover to under cover?  Do you appreciate fine paper and disdain cheep grainy stock paper? Is it just me that cares about the font used and the way the publisher lays out page breaks? 

What has a electronic book or book reader got on the read deal? Nothin'. Kindles and iPads may be convenient now but can you pass your book on and share it when your done? Will you ever get the same in-love feeling when you pick up the cold, artificial casing of an e-reader as you get when you touch and connect with the real, living, natural feel of a paper book?

While I'm confessing my book love affair let me confess one of my deepest darkest reading secrets (the one that drives my sister nuts!) and ask you this- how do you read a book? Yes, I'm serious! I mean do you read from front to back? Do you skip forward to see what's happening? Do you flip through before you begin to 'get the feel'? Do you read the end before you begin? That last one I will admit is my weakness. *blush* It's a shameful thing for an avid book reader to admit but honestly- I just can't get through a book without looking! The suspense kills me and have to be able to know that things will turn out fine in the end for me to be able to enjoy what I'm reading and so inevitably I sneak the last paragraph or two before I even begin!

My problem is that during this time of year I have no time for reading! It is a sad but true fact. From the time I begin BSF in the fall to the time we wrap up in May- essentially the whole of the winter/'school' year- I'm lucky if I get to read one or two books! It's pitiful, abominable, and tragic but that's the way it is. (Which is probably the reason I never am without a book in the summer!) However, I had to get involved with the reviewers program with Bethany House! I thought that one book at a time couldn't hurt and it would allow me to keep reading during the winter but although I have tried to keep up the problem is that books are my Lay's- I can't have just one... 

Here's a quick run down on what I wish/need to finish in the next month...

From Bethany I am currently reading "No We Can't" a great book on Islam and Secularism...and have been since the middle of December... Sigh. I also have "The Rose of Winslow Street" which is from a new author and looks like it has potential for being a good period drama/rom story set in 1879 Massachusetts.

From the section titled 'Books on my Christmas List' we have Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey's "Chasing Mona Lisa" which is a sequel to "The Swiss Courier". I am eagerly looking forward to this one as I enjoyed the first, and in my eyes at least, Goyer can do no wrong when it comes to the WWII novel. Additionally, there's the seemingly charming "The Great Christmas Bowl" which promises and short and humorous look at family and the holidays. 

Ah, yes them there is the fab chick lit compilation novel "Jane Austen Made Me Do It". I'm about half way through this little jem and having been picking my way back and forth through its short stories and have barely found a dud among them! For any Austen fan it is shaping up to be a must read- but more on that later...

So that's it, my book addiction in a nutshell. Obsessed. Impressed. Depressed.

Sigh.

In the end there must always be a moral to a story and mine is this- Don't bite off more then you can chew...unless it's a book- then put aside that other stuff, get busy and dig in!

Wanted: One minimally noisy life, comfortable and well lit, with time conducive for frequent book reading....