The Effect
Last year, I wrote a little bit about my mild obsession with bookstores.
Now, let me tell you the problem that comes from that.
I love books. I love the feeling of a book in my hands, I love their portability, I love that they never need charging, and I love (gasp!) being able to take notes right in them. I love being able to take one into a bar with me without being too concerned about consequences.
Not to say I wouldn't consider a Nook or a Kindle, but truth be told, I love my paper.
The catch here is that sometimes ... I go a bit overboard. I spend a lot of time and money in bookstores. I'm never safe at a library sale (but at least then I only spend $5!). When I had my big apartment all to myself, I spent a little too much of my disposable income filling it with books. I had about six different sets of shelves to fill and they were all packed -- fiction, nonfiction, travel, cook, serial killers and mental illness, science and the Tudor monarchs, Shakespeare and Vonnegut and Evanovich and Austen. If it tickled my fancy long enough, it ended up on a shelf.
The good thing about the last year is that I've been reading instead of acquiring. The bad thing is ... even without expanding, I don't have the shelf space anymore.
Which is when this happens.
Which is why tonight, I turned on "Dancing With The Stars" (blame Donald Driver and the fact that it's tango night) and started my every-so-often rearrangement, finding new homes for some of my books and pulling others, moving the ones I need to remember to the front and rotating others to boxes.
Although mostly it seems I'm making a mess.
(Hey, by the way ... I'm always up for suggestions. Anything out there I should be reading?)
Now, let me tell you the problem that comes from that.
I love books. I love the feeling of a book in my hands, I love their portability, I love that they never need charging, and I love (gasp!) being able to take notes right in them. I love being able to take one into a bar with me without being too concerned about consequences.
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| [Please ignore the bobbleheads.] |
The catch here is that sometimes ... I go a bit overboard. I spend a lot of time and money in bookstores. I'm never safe at a library sale (but at least then I only spend $5!). When I had my big apartment all to myself, I spent a little too much of my disposable income filling it with books. I had about six different sets of shelves to fill and they were all packed -- fiction, nonfiction, travel, cook, serial killers and mental illness, science and the Tudor monarchs, Shakespeare and Vonnegut and Evanovich and Austen. If it tickled my fancy long enough, it ended up on a shelf.
The good thing about the last year is that I've been reading instead of acquiring. The bad thing is ... even without expanding, I don't have the shelf space anymore.
Which is when this happens.
Which is why tonight, I turned on "Dancing With The Stars" (blame Donald Driver and the fact that it's tango night) and started my every-so-often rearrangement, finding new homes for some of my books and pulling others, moving the ones I need to remember to the front and rotating others to boxes.
Although mostly it seems I'm making a mess.
(Hey, by the way ... I'm always up for suggestions. Anything out there I should be reading?)
Comments
Also, I think you would find Bookcrossing (http://www.bookcrossing.com/) interesting. It's sort of like geocacheing for books. You label a book and "release" it into the wild. Then you post online where it's located. Sometimes a person will find it and go online to figure out what the weird label's all about, other times someone will actually seek it out. I haven't actually tried it but I like the concept.
And the Bookcrossing idea has be truly intrigued. Hmmmmmm...