Yup…I said it. I love books. I love to read. I love the sound of a brand new hardcover book being opened for the first time. I love the smell of a library full of old books – that slightly musty/dusty smell of old paper. I love having stacks of books on my nightstand, just waiting to be read. I love bookstores. I could spend hours looking at the shelves, trying to decide which book to add to my collection next. I love libraries – but to be honest, I’d much rather own a book and add it to my own library.
For my birthday, I took every cent that I got and bought books. I bought:
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
I’ve added them to an already huge stack of books that I need to read, and I love that. I’ve found my new favorite websites. The first is PaperBackSwap.com – you list paperbacks that you have and are willing to give to people. Once someone requests a book you mail it to them. When they’ve received it, you get a credit. With each credit you can choose one book from someone else who is offering up their books. Basically this means you are getting a book for the cost of media mail, which is about $2.23 – WAY less then going to your local bookstore or amazon.com to buy it! I love this website. I’ve gotten and given out so many books!
The second is Shelfari.com – a place where you make a virtual bookshelf with all of the books you’ve read, you own, you’re currently reading, you want to read and wish list items. I have 224 books on my virtual shelf. You can have shelfari “friends” to see what they are reading and get ideas. You can join groups of people with similar book interests and join in on discussions on book related things. It’s especially fun because some of my family members are on Shelfari, so I can see what they are all reading!
Also…shelfari just posted pictures up of Neil Gaiman’s library.
I want to live in his library. The above picture is only one of the MANY they posted, and according to Neil Gaiman’s Twitter account, they didn’t even put up the reference library pics (which he then linked too…more drooling). I’d even tolerate Hermione the Library Cat if I could live in his library! Surrounded by that many books all the time…I think it would be heaven.
My library is not nearly as impressive (though, this is just one of my 6 bookshelves):
I keep a running wish list of books that I want on Amazon.com – though I prefer to buy my books from a local place here in Chicago, Women & Children First. My Christmas wish list that is passed to the family every year is mostly books (for which I always get in trouble, because they apparently don’t want to buy me books).
I’ve always loved to read. I taught myself mostly, sitting in the library where my grandma worked in the children’s section pulling out books on the very end of the first row, the easy reader ones. I think the very first thing I remember reading and comprehending as a word was a STOP sign. I remember the first book I read, though I couldn’t tell you the name of it or the author. Hmm…I should try to track that down…wonder if the new library in my town still has those…
If I could, I would spend my days curled up reading my favorite books. My dream world: a secluded cabin in the forest with a roof top porch, a popasan chair or chaise lounge for me to curl up in to read. The cabin would be wall to wall books – my favs and ones I’ve never read, so that I could never run out and spend my days listening to the birds, feeling the breeze and inhaling deeply the scents of the forest while I read. Yeah…that would be heaven.
So, here’s to you books, I love ya man!
