Ahhhh, books. I’m a total and complete book nut. Can’t help it and wouldn’t change it even if I could. You’ve just got to read.
I’m feeling generous today so I’ll give you a little sneak peek into my formative years. When I was younger, probably 10 or so, I decided to catalogue my books library style. I piled them all up and sorted them alphabetically. I then created index tabs with the first few letters of the title and a sequential number. These tabs were placed on the spine of each book. Next, I created a pocket and an in/out card for each book. Finally, I made a little card catalog of all the books in my collection. If I wanted to read one, I would flip through my catalog and select the book, then proceed to my shelve and locate it by its number. Finally, I would write my name and date on the card and check it out just in case, you know, I forgot who was reading it. Yup, all 12 books were properly shelved and accounted for at all times. I don’t ever remember fining myself for overdue books but hey, you never know.
(I just remembered that I did the same thing with all my clothes. I listed them on index cards and cross referenced them so if I decided to wear the blue Esprit shirt, my little card then listed all the matching skirts, pants and shorts that went with that particular piece of clothing. Once my clothes were selected, I proceeded to the closet where they were all hung by color and type. Scary.)
Unfortunately, my reading collecting has grown and my free time dwindled so I no longer catalogue my books. Instead, I have The Best Of Collection. I keep all my favorites on one shelf so I can grab them when needed. If someone is looking for a good read, I can direct them to The Best Of Collection confident that any book they choose will be a winner. To keep the numbers down, I limit the books in The Best Of Collection to the first in a series. So even though I love the entire Janet Evanovich series, only One for the Money gets the honor of being part of The Best of Collection. The rest are trundled away until needed. I find this creates a nice, manageable supply of good books that I can delve into as needed.
I still, however, index to-be-read books. I carry around this little, cheap flip notebook with one of those scary Anne Geddes babies on the cover. (It was 50% off.) In it, I jot down all the authors that I like, all the books that have been recommended to me and I want to try, and where I am in a series. I keep it with me, in my purse, so whenever I wander into a bookstore, I can whip it out and know exactly what I’m looking for. There is nothing I hate more than knowing you want a book but you find yourself unable to remember the author or where in the series you are. A little to-be-read notebook takes care of that nicely.
And lastly, you simply must have a buy back source. I read so many books that are good but not great. I’m not interested in reading them again but I don’t want to throw them out. Instead, they languish on my shelves, collecting dust and eating up valuable The Best Of Collection room. The answer is to sell ‘em. Most independent book stores will buy them from you and this allows you to feed you habit. Read it, sell it, buy something else. What a wonderful system.
All this talk of books, makes me want to head to Powell’s for a quick book fix. Sigh.