Book(shop) Junkie
I love bookshops. Just walking into one does something to me. I go into a trancelike daze as I slowly make my way through their doors and subconsciously take a deep breath -dragging in the smell of the books mixed with the heady aroma of coffee coming from the in-store Costa or Starbucks, as I inhale. I can almost squeal and clap my hands in delight as I look around. The possibility of finding something – a GEM of a book – that will change
my life, transport me from the grind of my daily routine to a world of make believe, or give me the chance to morph into the character that I am reading about for a day or two or week- has me almost salivating at the mere thought.
There is just something about bookstores – they are a bit like a pair of comfortable house slippers that you have owned for as long as you can remember. Threadbare, but still doing a great job at keeping your feet warm. They have a ‘safe’ feeling about them, almost comforting in their ambiance. I can spend hours, and I mean hours in them. And although I usually come out empty handed, I am still filled with such a feeling of contentment you would think I had just won the lottery. And, and this may sound a bit loopy, but I feel instantly intelligent when I walk into a bookstore, don’t you? It’s like the words on each of the pages of the books I walk past take on a life of their own and seep into my brain by osmosis.
And this leads me on to another one of my weaknesses - I compulsively buy books. I love books that are bound beautifully, printed in particular fonts and on thick, luxurious paper and are hardback. All these features catch my eye first before the actual content or the name of the author. As a result of this unconventional approach to buying books, I have a weird and wonderful collection of books sitting on my bookshelves. From books on poetry to meditation to books on French cooking, candle making and more. And don’t even get me going on books whose titles start with ‘1001 ways to…., 21 steps to…, 100 methods of ….,’ I am an absolute sucker for books like that. I’ve got tonnes of them. Amazon has made a small fortune from all my purchases.
Yes, books and their stores are certainly up there on my ‘things I love’ list.
my life, transport me from the grind of my daily routine to a world of make believe, or give me the chance to morph into the character that I am reading about for a day or two or week- has me almost salivating at the mere thought.There is just something about bookstores – they are a bit like a pair of comfortable house slippers that you have owned for as long as you can remember. Threadbare, but still doing a great job at keeping your feet warm. They have a ‘safe’ feeling about them, almost comforting in their ambiance. I can spend hours, and I mean hours in them. And although I usually come out empty handed, I am still filled with such a feeling of contentment you would think I had just won the lottery. And, and this may sound a bit loopy, but I feel instantly intelligent when I walk into a bookstore, don’t you? It’s like the words on each of the pages of the books I walk past take on a life of their own and seep into my brain by osmosis.
And this leads me on to another one of my weaknesses - I compulsively buy books. I love books that are bound beautifully, printed in particular fonts and on thick, luxurious paper and are hardback. All these features catch my eye first before the actual content or the name of the author. As a result of this unconventional approach to buying books, I have a weird and wonderful collection of books sitting on my bookshelves. From books on poetry to meditation to books on French cooking, candle making and more. And don’t even get me going on books whose titles start with ‘1001 ways to…., 21 steps to…, 100 methods of ….,’ I am an absolute sucker for books like that. I’ve got tonnes of them. Amazon has made a small fortune from all my purchases.
Yes, books and their stores are certainly up there on my ‘things I love’ list.
Picture: Daily Candy
posted by Pilgrimage to Self at 10:26 pm
8 Comments:
OMG! You and me both! I love books and bookstores with a passion. And I CAN leave a bookstore with 5 or 6 new books, which I may not get around to reading for the next 2 years (Yup! Been there! Most definitely done that!).
I have sworn several times over that I will not buy another book until I have read everything in my library and many times over I have failed that promise to myself. I have since given up on that and buy books without guilt. I'll get around to reading them someday.
Oh what a relief to know there's another weirdo out there ;-) I just love to buy books that I never read!!!!
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A lot of my vacation time abroad is devoted to doing two things I really love - drinking coffee and reading books. Last year I spent inordinate amounts of time at the local B&N (well local to my friend, she lived in White Plains NY then) how I love books and coffee! No matter how tired I was from bargain hunting I would always spend atleast 2 hours in the book store and I never left empty handed, you can imagine how many books I must have transported back with me, its a wonder I didn't pay for excess. I would enter the store all tired, my head aching, and by the time I got to the first book case it would be like I had just woken up from a good nights sleep. The smell of new books is so so intoxicating, and seeing shelf after shelf of books waiting to be read is so ... the word escapes me. They had this really big comfortable arm chair into which I would snuggle with my pile of books and my favorite coffee drink (Vanilla Mocha with non fat and whip) and just escape earth, who needs drugs, books are it!
LOL! We could start a Books Anonymous group, only we would be encouraging each other to buy more books.
I always dreamt of opening a bookstore with comfy chairs and a coffee shop so people could sit and read. Looks like Nu Metro beat me to it.
Hmmmm Ore, I am loving that idea more and more... Books Anonymous. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
Soon after I arrived in the UK, I banned myself from going to bookshops and going to the public libraries instead. Otherwise I'd have bankrupted myself...
I nearly ran mad in Abuja when I lived there a while back. There was then only one bookshop (in the NIcon Noga Hilton hotel). Even in the markets, the stationery sellers only sold textbooks....
Thank God for the Media Store at Silverbird!
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