It is true, I do. I have a problem.
Last week I came home from a long day at work and waiting for me by the door were two boxes. One from Content Bookstore in Northfield, MN (use them, they are GREAT!) and the other from Barnes and Noble. Yep, I had ordered more books and it was a lovely sight, a balm to my soul as I decompressed from a full day.
Then I opened the box from Barnes and Noble and realized, I had pre-ordered, Elizabeth Lim’s Unravel the Dusk, not once, but twice. I had already received a copy from Amazon the week before and passed it along to some friends because I wasn’t going to have time to read it right now.
This was the moment. This was the eye opening incident forcing me to acknowledge I really do have a problem. I order so many books, I literally can’t remember those I have ordered.
Upon reflection I think book buying has become my unique(ish) vice of choice to survive the pandemic. I mean, when it started it was a drink most nights, but as this new reality began to settle in that habit was no longer sustainable and so I pivoted. I’m going to claim unconsciously, but pivoted non-the-less and have been binge book buying for the last 3.5 months.
I am not going to tell you how much I have spent because I don’t want to do the math and know for myself, but suffice it to say probably about 1/3 of the books pictured in the above shot were purchased since April. You see that bookshelf is my “to-read” bookshelf. It is where I keep all the books that I have bought recently or borrowed or even simply pulled off another shelf because I thought, “I should read that one soon.” And as you can clearly see, it is quickly running out of space.
All this to say, yep, I do have a problem and I am going to have to think of some creative ways to pivot once again. Like actually reading the books I currently own, or using the ever allusive “want-to-read list” on Goodreads, or I don’t know, borrowing a book from a friend. The struggle is real people, I love books, they are my vice, they are my everything but yes, I am starting to wake up to my problem here.
So happy pandemic reading Book War readers and please for the love everything that is holy and the limited space on my bookshelves, no more suggestion, k?
K.