Book Hoarders Nonanonymous
Mark Medley wrote about his book hoarding habits for all the world to see, so I thought I’d share my story too.
Bookshelves can be found in every room in my house – yes, even the bathroom. I began cataloguing them a few years ago to get an idea of what I had, and after getting about halfway (a little over 1700 – some 3000 in total) I found only one duplicate, and found myself exceedingly proud.
Like Mr Medley, I too worked in a bookstore for a number of years, and ended up spending most of my paycheque at the store buying things that caught my eye. In the years since I left the store, this trend has only slowed slightly. I’m a fast reader, but I buy more than I can read and I refuse to part with them – no matter how silly some of them are.
Now that I’m a reviewer, new titles come in every week, and it’s become impossible for me to keep on top of them. I’ve run out of wall space and am now seriously considering buying a larger house so I have somewhere to put new shelves. 1
As Kurt Vonnegut says in the fourteen books I have by him, “So it goes.”
Footnotes
- MLS.ca assures me I can’t afford to, but I keep looking anyway.[↩]
It’s spelled paychek, you filthy Canadian!
P.S. I love you.
They’re not sending me a check mark in the mail, like the Nike swoosh, it’s an order of payment.
Wikipedia knows.