Tuesday, July 1, 2008

And You Thought It Was Just a Name...

I have a confession to make.

Besides being a compulsive reader, I am also a compulsive buyer. Of books, that is. You simply cannot stop me in a bookstore. Amazon's free shipping with orders over 25 dollars? Sucks me in every time. Wal-mart paperbacks with their marked down prices, conveniently juxtaposed next to the list price? I simply cannot resist.

It's a bit of a bad habit that oftentimes leaves me without much spare cash, but I deal with it the best I can. In my constant state of trying to catch up on my compulsive buys these past years, this has left me ample room to buy a book, not have time for it, read it weeks later, and then consequently kick myself for not reading it the exact minute I got because it is just that AMAZING.


This has been true with Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I bought it in August before my sophomore year of high school on a whim. I liked the cover. And the new releases were on sale. Then school started. I was busy with school work and making friends. Finally, one day in October, I picked it up. It did not leave my hands, except to be taken away in Spanish class. As I mourned the loss of it, I was also berating myself for not reading the minute I bought it. But maybe it was all for the best, because when I went to get my book back at the end of the day, I met my best friend…who had also gotten her copy taken away just an hour after me. Go figure.


Another such occurrence was with Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. Oh my goodness, that book made me laugh! It was completely and utterly entertaining. I've never met a character with so much energy and life. I do not know why I waited three months to read it, and I am very sad that I did.



And, more recently, the House of Night series. I've had the first three books since January, and always they sat on my shelf, waiting to be read. I lent them to a friend of mine who had a book project, and isn't much into reading, but way into horror movies. Since I wasn't reading them, and they were about vampires (ahem, I mean vampyres), I thought she might enjoy them. She did. And then she pestered and pestered me until I read them myself. And now, I am questioning my sanity for letting so many good books go unread (I finished Chosen, and NEED Untamed…). What am I thinking?


And sadly, these are not the only books that I've been slow to get…The Mortal Instruments series, A Curse Dark as Gold, The Book Thief, Enthusiasm. This has left me quite "paranoid". Now I stare at my shelves, looking at all the unread books, and despairing of missing a single great one. Do you ever do that? Please tell me I am not alone in this.
Anyways, I've been such a lousy blogger recently...I have hardly posted anything in the past week, though I am in the middle of The Host. I've been focusing all of my attentions on this. Check it out....there's WAY more to come.

2 comments:

Chelsie said...

I understand exactly what you're saying about waiting for books! It gets on my nerves when I stare at all the unread books on my bookshelf...

I have read the House of Night series, and Audrey, Wait! and they are exactly those types of books =D

-Chelsie-

Anonymous said...

I think this is a common affliction. Almost two years ago I blogged about my stack of 50 unread books next to my bed, and vowed I would buy no more until I had read them.

Yeah. That lasted... about six books.

Fortunately, they don't have expiration dates. CURSE will keep for you. :)

~ecb