You know you’re addicted to buying books when you think you’ve got approximately 30 sitting ready to read, but when you count them up they actually total a staggering 94.
I will confess, when it comes to addiction, those glossy, sometimes gold embossed covered books are my vice. Second-hand steals from the charity book sale are irresistible too. And the $7.95 previous block-buster remainders that I couldn’t leave lonely in the bargain bin speak enticingly to me as well.
I know that many people have that modest stack of books beside their bed that they desire to read if time would only permit. I’ve had to give up on the stack. There isn’t room for casual stacking when your stack is made of 94 titles of varying sizes.
Mine over-load my home-made bookcase in the living room. The full bookcase makes for great conversation, giving the impression that I’m well-read, hinting at a reading capacity of a book a night. Mostly I just run my fingers over the glossy book spines, marveling at the contrasting colours and thicknesses.
I’m lucky if I get through one book a month, although I do follow the 100 page rule: If I can’t get into the book by page 100 I ditch it. This rule is tempered by the amount of money laid down. If I’ve spent $50 or more, I want to get more reading out of it, even if it bores me to distraction or irks me with flaws. I’m a lot more ruthless with second-hand books.
A glance through my yet-to-read collection reveals my state of mind and curiosity at the time of purchase. I was excited when I bought Geoff Dyer’s Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi (signed) and Glyn Maxwell’s The Girl who was going to die (also signed) because I was at the Writers and Readers festival in Wellington.
I was feeling hopeful when I thought I could tackle all those Katharine Kerr’s (six), and Sara Douglass’s (three).
I was feeling mystical when I purchased a novel about Stonehenge, one on Atlantis, a few on Avalon, an experiential book on Shamanism, a book on The Magi and In Search of Ancient New Zealand. I was thrilled to find out of print Dion Fortune and Murry Hope titles. So thrilled I bought the lot.
I’d like to blame Margaret Mahy for being so prolific a writer that I have four of her books waiting to be read.
I have a complete Caiseal Mor trilogy at my beck and call, thanks to a remainder bin. I have two Barbaras – Erskine and Ewing to read, Elenor Gill and Elizabeth Knox also in the wings. Traci Harding is begging me to read her latest trilogy offerings but for now I’m reading Katherine Howe’s The Lost Book of Salem that I bought brand new in 2009 and I’m only just getting to.
By my calculations, I’ll have read the current 94 books by the end of 2019. Of course by then I’ll have bought at least another 94, most probably more. I’ll need massive insurance for books alone in the future, given proposed predictions of bound book demise.
My glossy-covered book addiction will perhaps be a rarity among common society? Home-made bookcases will replace my other living room furniture and guests will have to perch between the cases gasping at the antiquated-ness of it all.
by Penny M Geddis, Writer, Book Buyer at Otatara Bookshop
Ed: Penny’s blog post comes ahead of the massive Booksellers NZ Christmas giveaway. Show us your pile of books and we’ll put you in the draw to win even more! Details soon…
booksellersnz.wordpress.com 
94 in your pile. As a fellow bookseller I reckon you’re being optimistic about getting through them. Booksellers are like magpies with shiny things, or labradors with food, constantly aquiring more. Get through that 94 and you’ll likely find your secondary pile is well into triple figures! There are always more books…
I often feel like I have to save a book from a second hand store, or a sale bin, out of a sense of loyalty to it. Maybe because I’ve read it before, or love the author. Consequently some of my bookshelves are kind of like kennels for lost and lonely books, dog-eared and metaphoric. But the others? So, so many books I’ve never read but at some time thought absolutely vital to my continued existence… I’ve pretty much taken to viewing them as an investment apocalypse reading. If everything collapses, and the printing presses grind to a halt, I am totally fine for at least five to ten years.
I AM a magpie! That’s what my cousin and I nickname ourselves – ‘the magpies’ because we are addicted to collecting shiny things…
Oh dear goodness, I have 130. And I’m not even a bookseller. I have a problem, don’t I?
I think I’m a bit more calm about it because for the next couple of years I’m going to be a full-time student and I won’t necessarily be in the industry, so I’ll have more of a chance of getting through them. It gives me great satisfaction to know that I won’t be starved of books during that time!
In saying this, 6 books that I ordered a few months ago have just arrived, so by the time I’ve bought them, I’ll be into triple figures LOL
Penny 🙂
Books are like companions, not always necessry to speak to, some of them are there for a rainy day, a flick through or browse, to lend to a friend, use as a doorstop, a bit of research and because we like to have a choice at hand before deciding what the next one to read will be. I started collecting them when I was planning to live in a non-english speaking country, a good excuse to buy more than I knew I would read, except it became a bit of an addiction, so now I restrict myself to only owning two bookcases (and a bulging bedside cabinet) and I give books away if necessary. I do read a lot, but I also love to browse my shelves and I am comforted by those companions I’ve yet to converse with.
I certainly feel that way about my books to read too. I love that I have choices. Lots of lovely books to choose from depending on my mood. It has been a while since I’ve read a title that I wish hadn’t ended though. You know that book – the one that you’ve loved every minute of and you’ve spent every waking minute that you’re not working lost within. I haven’t read one of those for a while, so I’m also always anticipating that one book that will feel like that again when I make my choice…