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Booking It! It’s happening again. For the last four years I have been able to control my urges. But in the last month I have lost all control.
I admit it. I’m a book addict. When I moved from the West to the Midwest, I divested myself of almost all except three shelves of books. I found a good home for them all at the local community college and I knew they would be gently used in their small library. I have contented myself to the occasional purchase of a book of poetry or a new novel by my favorite author and the Harry Potter books.
 Now, the insanity is again running rampant. In the last month I have either purchased or have been sent a total of 22 new books. It’s frightening. And not one of them is a popular novel. I have five new books of poetry, a couple of historical mythology, a couple of plays, memoirs and a whole raft of social commentary books.
Yes, a lot of them are for the class I’m taking. But a lot of them aren’t. And the justification, “I will use this one in the class” or “I need to review this one” has fueled this orgy of buying.
 It all started innocently enough. My first real trip into the world of book buying began innocuously when I attended the Minnesota Poetry Festival a couple of years ago. Maxine Kumin and Li Young Lee were the featured poets. Of course I had to have at least one of their books. There were a couple of trips to the local Barnes and Noble for Christmas gifts for friends. But I didn’t come out with just books for them. For every book as a gift there was one for me: John Grisham’s newest novel (in paperback, naturally), replacement of No More Masks, which I had given away, the Chinese poetry and a few other books on history and mythology.
But I was able to keep it under control. But in December of last year the flood gates opened. I prepared to take a class. And, wonder of wonders, all of the books were available online from Amazon. I didn’t have to hobble into the store. I could feed my hunger online.
 The only books not yet replaced are the ones on writing. But have no doubt, these too shall return to my library. I have found them online. I am definitely in dangerous territory. For someone who would rather purchase books than clothes, the discovery of ordering any book I would ever want online has become a dangerous option. All I need is my computer and debit/credit card and I’m off to reader’s nirvana.
Article by MsRogers
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