Confessions of a bibliophile

Stuff and Nonsense by Amy Cockram is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

I've already decided that, if and when (hopefully when), I win money on the lottery, I need a house with lots of rooms. One bedroom for my husband and I, a spare room for friends to visit, a couple of extra rooms in case we have kids, a library for me, and a cinema room for Mark. That's not even counting the rooms I have taken for granted, like a nice kitchen, bathroom, dining room etc. I also think we should probably have some space for a bit of gym equipment, or maybe a pool (because reading and watching films are both sedentary pastimes).

But since the lottery isn't working out for me, I have to admit I have a dilemma. I have more space for books than I used to - but still not enough to house my books still at my parents' house. I admit I am quite a materialistic person. I can hardly deny it, having just admitted the desire for enough riches to have a mansion. And my main weakness is books. Even though I have shelves of books I intend to read, I still can't resist a visit to the library to seek out something new.

So a couple of months ago, I decided that I would be more ruthless. When I have read a book which I don't think I will want to reread, I will get rid of it. This backfired when I took 2 books to a second hand bookshop. This was a good start, which I ruined by buying 3 books. Since I made the decision to ruthlessly purge my books, I have probably bought more books than previously because I saw books I wanted to read in second hand shops, or on offer in bookshops.

One solution is my Sony ereader, which Mark got me. And I do love it, don't get me wrong. An ereader is an excellent solution to lack of space for a bibliophile, and I love the download sites for free out of copyright classics (my favourite is Feedbooks - which I will add an internet link to in the gadgets on this blog). I have cleared a bit of space by replacing some of my cheap classics with a downloaded version for the ereader. But, given a choice and unlimited space, you can't beat the feel and look of a traditional book.

I have just realised today though that I have found a solution to the problem of having too little space for my books, as well as having too little time to read them - and it's a solution of which I think Mark and some of his friends will approve. I need a fully functioning TARDIS. Unlimited space and time travel, bargain. And it has a library with a pool in it.