I am An Addict
By patgalca
@patgalca (18481)
Orangeville, Ontario
January 20, 2023 12:49pm CST
Honestly, people, I am out of control. I can't help myself. I love it and just can't stop.
The number of books I have in my house that I want to read and haven't read yet is out of control. I keep entering giveaways, keep winning books. If I had to count there's probably over 200 of them. I have a bookshelf in the basement on which 3 shelves 2 rows deep have books I haven't read. Then I bought a lamp shelf to stand next to me at my spot in the family room. Books piled on the 3 shelves. Then I filled two shelves in the cupboard next to that. Now that has extended to a shelf on the bookcase above, piled on top of a row of CD's, fronted with a collection of unused candles.
Yes, I want to read every single one of them. Will I in my lifetime? Not if I keep getting new ones. But giveaway after giveaway after giveaway I keep entering. Thank God I don't do e-books which are often free downloads. I have a couple on my tablet, two I have read, two I haven't.
God forbid anyone should get me into a thrift store or used book store.
My only defense is most (but not all) I didn't pay for AND, it's not drugs or alcohol.
In the picture above, that is the two shelves in the cupboard. The tiny middle shelf is filled with blank journal and writing books/prompts. To the left you can see a bit of the lamp/shelf stand.
Yup, I know I have a problem. And once the books are read, I can't part with them. My new bookcases in the living room will be filled up eventually but there isn't enough room there for all those I haven't read yet.
I'm nuts. I know I'm nuts.
5 people like this
4 responses
Do you set a goal to read one a week or something like that?@patgalca (18481)
• Orangeville, Ontario
21 Jan 23
No. I try to read a couple of chapters every night before I go to bed but ever since I got back from St. Lucia I have been weary eyed before 11pm (usually I'm awake until 2 or even 3). I've also been in a lot of pain since I got back.
I set a goal for 35 books in 2022 because that's what I read the year before. I read 53. So 2023 goal is set for 60. I'm not confident I will make it if I turn my focus to writing and querying.
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18481)
• Orangeville, Ontario
20 Jan 23
I did do a clean out of books a couple of years ago and donated them. And recently I went around to mini libraries and donated some books. I still have a whole bin of books in the basement that I have to go through and decide whether I want to keep them or not. The books I am getting these days I don't want to let go of.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
20 Jan 23
Well, if you didn't enter those giveaways you wouldn't win, would you? And maybe you're the only one who enters, so that's why you keep winning. 
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18481)
• Orangeville, Ontario
20 Jan 23
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one entering. The book community on Instagram is huge and it's full of giveaways galore with everyone tagging each other to enter. I go through dry spells and then the last month I have won quite a few books. They are all here now... but I keep entering.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (69157)
• Centralia, Washington
20 Jan 23
I'm delighted to know there is a reading addict in this crazy world today. I had to confront my book issues when we moved. I refused to give up my large and cumbersome art and garden books though I gave away boxes and boxes of paperbacks.
1 person likes this
