Obsession

I've always been a bookworm. For as long as I can remember I've spent my summers lounging on the couch, my bed, or up a tree reading book after book. During the school years I did everything I could to keep my reading from being restricted to textbooks. Now that I'm no longer in school, I read as much as I can, whenever I can, of whatever I can get my hands on.

In college I actually liked reading many of my texts. Of course my minor in English meant I got to read all kinds of books that I already liked: Pride and Prejudice, Huck Finn, The Great Gatsby, etc..

I also got to discover books like I Heard the Old Fisherman Say, The Vanishing Hitchhiker, and Speak Bird, Speak Again. Fisherman is filled with traditions, superstitions, and stories from fisherman in the Texas Gulf Coast area (where I grew up). Hitchhiker is like a college version of the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark that we all read in elementary school and junior high. It compares different versions of the same stories and tries to track down where the stories originated. Speak Bird, on the other hand, is like nothing you've ever read. It is filled with Palestinian and Arab folktales that are strange and very funny. Some have similar themes or motifs to our own fairy tales, like Cinderella or Hansel and Gretel, but are so strange they may not be noticeable right away. My favorite is about a woman who farts in front of the vizier and gets swallowed up in the earth in her embarrassment. She has to go looking for her fart who, by the way, wears a very fine coat and hat.

I also rediscovered some books like Frankenstein, which I like better than I did in high school, but it still is a book I like to make fun of and probably won't pick up on my own.

Anyway, I guess since we've moved and I haven't met many people yet I've reverted back to my old friends--books. Since we've been here I've bought at least three books for me and a few others for the kids. It's a good thing I can get myself to Borders. . . . Plus, we've been to the library about six times already. I also plan on reserving a couple books soon, the new Stephenie Meyer and the new Brandon Sanderson.

When we got to our new apartment one of the first things to get set up was the bookshelf. Nathan had it all full of books before the kids and I arrived. When we got here and I started unpacking boxes I found more books. Then I unpacked more boxes and found more and more books. Every time I open a box there are books in it. Our bookshelf is over flowing as books are hiding behind other books. Here is a picture. Now keep in mind that we do still have a couple boxes that probably have a few books hiding in them, that I currently have a bathroom book and two books on my bedroom dresser. So there are at least three that aren't on the shelf. Oh what the hay, I'll go grab them and put them on a shelf before I take the picture. I also just bought an audio book for my iPod, but seeing as that one doesn't need to be on the bookshelf, we won't worry about that one. Don't forget the two books that really won't fit on the bookshelf, they are standing against it on the right. Those are Nathan's atlas and Cosmos books.

Now that I'm looking at it, I realize I need to go out and buy some more books. The void above the Stephenie Meyers books is haunting me. I need to fill it. Guess I'm going to Borders on Monday.