Biblio Addict

Hi, my name is Anne-Marie, and I have an addiction, I think I need help.
I have had this habit for…*counts the years on fingers….runs out of fingers*…..quite a long time.

I buy books.

Yes, a lot of people buy books, but I buy books in excess, I can’t stop myself. I am very good with money, but the ONE budgeting downfall I have is that when it comes to books it’s always “just one more” and the dollars add up very fast.

Example: a few months ago I discovered www.bookcloseouts.com, I found a book I’d been wanting for quite a while, and then started browsing around to see what else they had…and half an hour later I had 17 titles line up in my shopping cart.

Just for the record, I DO read the books, although not quite as fast as I buy them, but they do all get read, I am not merely collecting them. Also, I usually order them online at discount/used prices, I NEVER walk into Books A Million and pay retail prices for hardbacks and only occasionally buy paperbacks brand new. Books are kind of like cars, buying brand new ones isn’t that efficient because the value plummets as soon as you’ve “driven it off the lot.”

Today’s example of my literary dependency: I went into Hastings intent on getting a specific book, one paperback. Like I said, I usually don’t buy books new, but I needed this one fast, it’s going to be a movie on TV next week and I wanted to read it before the show airs, no time to wait for it to be shipped. I’ve been on a brutal budget this summer, but I worked tons of extra shifts over the holiday weekend and I’ve been a money nazi lately, I haven’t eaten out in over three weeks, which saves a ton of money.

So I felt justified in buying this one measly paperback. I knew exactly where it was located in the store. I had promised myself I would go in, make a beeline for that book and then proceed directly to the checkout. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

I didn’t pass Go, but I did pass a big sign that said “USED BOOK SALE, 4 for $10, THIS WEEK ONLY!!!”

To make a long story short, I went in for my one paperback, and came out with my one paperback…and fourteen other assorted books. . . for just $2.50 a piece, there was no way I could leave them behind, it really was a bargain….although that bargain cost more than I had earned in an entire shift of hosing nasty lab animal shit at the vet school…

Anyway, they say the first step to kicking a habit is acknowledging it, this is my confession.
;P