My name is M.H. Lee and I am addicted to books. I love the feel of them. I love to think of the new worlds waiting for me within their pages. I know I’m trying to reduce the amount of crap I own, but I walk into a bookstore and I just can’t resist. One book. That’s all. One won’t hurt, right?
I was reminded of my little addiction today. I was out running a few errands (Do you know how hard it is to find #9 envelopes if you don’t want to buy them in batches of 500???? Grrr.) and figured I would just swing by the local independent bookstore and see if they had Among Others by Jo Walton. (They didn’t, sadly, which is a whole other rant I could go off on. Didn’t that book just win a major award???)
I did walk out of the store with The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. And when I got back in the car and went to set them on the passenger seat, I was reminded that I had made a little stop at the Barnes & Noble yesterday and picked up A Blight of Mages by Karen Miller. And that my mom had given me the final two Hunger Games books yesterday. And then I got home and was reminded that I had picked up a couple of Brad Thor books last week as well. (Ooops…)
That would be in addition to the book I’m currently reading and the twenty-one books (I just counted them) that have been waiting to be read for so long that they’ve just become part of my living room decor. (Of course, some of those, like The Basic Writings of Kant and a biography of Rasputin require a certain mindset before I can pick them up, but still…twenty-one books? I’m sure I could easily read one or two of them at least.)
I do not need to buy new books. But I love to.
My favorite book, one of my prized possessions, is a book I have never even read. I just think it’s beautiful.
Here’s a little random bookaholic porn for you:
(You can’t tell, but it’s like four inches thick.) See the beautiful cover? And the gorgeous photos inside? They even fold out into bigger photos! And it talks about Xcalumkin! (My random favorite Mayan ruin.)
I have a thing for Mayan culture, so when I saw this book when I was in college I didn’t care that I didn’t have the money to buy it. I HAD to own it. I LOVE this book. (More than some people I know. Let’s just say that if the house burns down those folks better hope they aren’t in the opposite direction of this book, because I’m going for the book…)
Ahhh. Books. Is there anything better?
Anyway. Time to wrap this up, because it seems I have a little bit of reading to do…
M.H. Lee 
No, there’s absolutely nothing better than books! And I can relate to you – I have so many books on my shelf waiting to be read, and I just keep my hands off of new ones!
I know exactly what you mean. I’ve been buying books like crazy, and I already have an entire (smallish) bookcase devoted to books I still need to read to remind myself that they’re there, so I don’t keep buying more. But I do.
I love finding other bookaholics! There are much worse things to be addicted to. My 9 year old daughter gets addicted to the same book/series and reads them until the pages fall out. It makes me sort of want to get an e-reader to avoid the wear and tear, but it’s just not the same as holding the paper copy in your hands.
I love physical books, but every time I move (which seems to be every couple of years) I get a ration from my family about all of the heavy boxes.
You’re right, though, an e-reader just isn’t the same. I have one, but I still do 2/3 of my reading using physical books. It’s nice for travel, but just not the same experience.