Another Small Character Flaw?

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am a serious bibliophile (bibliophile: lover of books). Some might even call my affection for the printed word a bit of an obsession. I’m not afraid to admit it. I love books. I love to look at them, to hold them in my hands, to smell that inky odor of the printed page, and, especially, to read them. Nothing is as soothing to me as curling up with a good book and letting the world run without my influence.

When I had a house on dirt, every main room had at least one bookcase and all of them were tightly packed with books that had been or were waiting to be read. Moving onto the boat caused no little anguish on my part as I was forced to find homes for quite a number of my inanimate friends. Still…there is no shortage of reading material on the boat. At the moment there are around 150 books (not counting the reference books) in residence, most of which are as yet unread.

Bookstores have always been a real problem for me. I can spend days perusing the shelves for new items to add to my collection. Powell’s City of Books in Portland (OR) is a particular roadblock. The main store encompasses an entire city block and is several stories tall. They carry many thousands of new and used books and especially refreshing is that they emphasize non-main stream books. Walk into any Barnes & Noble or Borders and the same “best sellers” will be prominently displayed just inside the door and on tables throughout the stores. Powell’s is more likely to exhibit books that are written by obscure or local authors. Publications that the big box stores often don’t even carry. Not to say I shop there exclusively because no bookstore is exempt. It’s just that, since I love discovering new authors and their works, I am likely to be “stuck” in Powell’s for a much longer period of time.

I have to admit that I have a few odd “quirks” when it comes to my books. First of all, I don’t like junk. To me, romance novels, mysteries and many of the high profile “best seller” novels are unbelievable drivel. That is not to say I don’t enjoy the efforts of Stephen King, John Irving, Anne Rice or Barbara Kingsolver but, quite honestly, if I never read another Danielle Steele or James Patterson (who apparently is incapable of writing without a co-author) I will survive quite well. My preference is fiction but non-fiction, biographies, real life adventures and travel writing also have their appeal…as long as they are well written. If the author doesn’t give his/her reader credit for having some intelligence I’m not interested.

I also have a rather bizarre need to finish a book in the same pristine condition it was in when I first purchased it (except, of course, used books). This becomes a bit of a problem when friends borrow books as others often don’t have the same respect (obsession?). It just drives me nuts when I see people bending pages down, highlighting or making notes and breaking the backs of books. I know…it is a little crazy. I’m trying to quit.

During my younger days I was stuck hard in the belief that once begun a book must be finished…no matter how bad or boring it was. Finally…I have reached a turning point. It finally dawned on me that if the author was not able to ignite my interest in the first 50 or so pages it isn’t likely to happen so the book goes to the local exchange and I am on to something new.

So what, you may ask, have I read of late that is good? At the top of the list is “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts. It was a very long book (almost 1,000 thin pages with small print) and took two months for me to get through it but the writing is stunningly beautiful and the story is riveting. This is the author’s first book and there were many, many passages I re-read and shared with Chris because they were so beautifully written.

Well, that is the latest, except to say how blessed I feel to have found and married a man who is as hooked on reading as I am. Chris, though, has gone to the dark side and purchased a Kindle. It isn’t the same as a “real” book but he seems to enjoy it…except when the battery dies!