I read a lot. Maybe not as much as some people, but much more than anyone else in my household. Books are a decorating staple in our house. I’ve created end tables out of stacks of big or especially heavy books, used them as doorstops and even used them to put under furniture to “level” it.
My favorite way to buy books is at used book stores and yard sales because it’s like a treasure hunt, you never know what good (or terrible) stuff you might find. When I visit thrift shops, I always give the bookshelves at least a quick look. This means I have books on my shelves that range from tawdry romance novels to the economic history of the western world.
When I wrote last week about rearranging the living room, I had to ponder at least one of my overstuffed bookshelves, because it got moved across the room. There are now about a hundred books stacked on a bench, and two boxes more in the floor, waiting for a new home. I’m not sure what to do with them, and they will probably end up in a “free bin” at the local McKay Used Books.
Of course, handling and thinking about all of those books made me want to read, so I checked out the “book” section of the Dollar General while I was supposed to be buying toilet paper. Did you know the Dollar Store even sold books? I’ve bought quite a few there, and you reallydon’t know what you’re going to end up with there! A (very) few are excellent, some are good, many are fluffy entertainment, and this last one was just awful. So. Bad.
To get over being annoyed at having spent an evening reading twadle, I bought another book at CVS the next day. Sometimes, I like to think that reading is a form of motivation or that it can be inspiring and will help me reach goals. But truthfully, reading presents a method of escape from thinking – about what needs to be done, money, messes, whatever.
Maybe those escapes are necessary though. Maybe giving my mind a break is a good thing. The problem is that I’ve been known to not do the things that need to be done if there is a book to read instead. Sometimes, I really want to buy a book but won’t because there are deadlines to be met or serious messes to be cleaned. Sometimes I buy a book because there are deadlines to be met or serious messes to be cleaned. I’m going to keep on pretending that those “brain breaks” are necessary for getting real work done.