Hi my name is Candace and I’m a bookaholic. Some people describe themselves as avid readers and some people describe themselves as booklovers. I am a bookaholic, a book fiend. I have a problem. I buy books all the time. Everything seems interesting to me and so, I’ll get pretty much anything, and if I have a coupon, forget it. I feel that I single-handedly support Borders Books. Their rewards program was the worst thing that could have happened to my book collection.
In my house there are 8 book cases. I put two in my son’s room and put my “kids” books on his shelves so I could free up space. I have an app on my imac that is basically a library of my books. So far I’ve only inputted most of the books on my shelves downstairs and I’m up to 134. I said I have a problem. I love the way they look on the shelves. My idea of heaven is a library of my own. I would turn a walk-in closet into a library if I had one.
I’m trying to cut the waste out of our lives and I noticed that we (I) spend a lot of money on books every year. So, back in April I did an inventory of all the books I own or have been lent that I have not read. Here is where it gets ugly. I ended up with over 48K pages of books which translates into between 100 and 120 books. Now I’m 28 so it’s not like I just bought them all yesterday and honestly some of them were gifts or bought with gift cards. But it’s still staggering, especially since those are just the ones I HAVEN’T read. What I really wanted was a Kindle 2. I just couldn’t justify paying that much for something that wasn’t even a book. (I know it’s amazing but still). I decided that I was going to keep track of my books from now on and read only the books I have, not buy anymore and then as a reward to myself get the Kindle 2. Hehe.
Oh did you hear that? Was that a big fat “YEAH RIGHT” ? So it’s August now and my list (which I have been diligent about keeping up to date) is now at 44, 774 pages and 110 books. So that’s a drop which is good, but considering I read 2500 pages last month, I should be down to 40K. The problem is I bought more books!
I know. I know. I know. When Border’s sends me 40% off coupons I can’t say no. When my favorite local used book store is having a pre-inventory sale where hardcover books are $1.00, I can’t say no. When my birthday comes around and people give me $100.00 worth of gift cards to bookstores, I can’t say no. When the next book in a series that I’m reading comes out (which apparently I love to read books in series) I can’t not buy it!
My hope for this website is to keep me honest about my books. I do love books and reading. There’s nothing better to me than digging into a new book, being totally taken in and exploring a new world unlike anything I’d ever imagined. And at the same time I know I can’t spend all my money on books, (they don’t digest well). The plan is to write reviews on the books as I finish them and get closer and closer to my reward. I promise to keep my list updated with any new additions no matter how embarrassing that might be for me. I want to get down to the manageable 5K-10K mark on pages. Wish me luck!