One of the many reasons that my wife and I get along so well is that we understand each other, and we each tolerate a silent addiction that we share. 
We love to read.
As for me, I am not what one would consider to be a "casual reader", although I guess "voracious reader" sounds a bit violent, as does "heavy user". :) I actually started reading at age two, and I was self-taught. Yes, really. My mom has shared this story dozens of times with me and others.
In a nutshell, we have literally 1000's of books in our house (thankfully, we have a pretty large home!). I just counted, and we have 17 bookshelves now. My wife once blogged about this a couple of years ago. I think her post was entitled, "I have more books in my bathroom than you have in your whole house" or something similar. This is probably not far from the truth, unless you are also a bibilophile. We share a dream of someday having a two-story (or maybe three-story?) library with a spiral staircase in the middle.
During my career in real estate, I have shown hundreds and hundreds of homes, and I am amazed whenever I show a house and there are no books in sight. To me, this is much like not having running water.
Every so often, we purge several boxes of books and either sell them in yard sales or give them away to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. I used to try the used bookstore route, but the return is simply not good enough there. I would rather donate them than accept a pittance.
Recently, I realized just how many books we have that I haven't yet finished. Every room has a good number of books that I want to check out (pun totally intended). With that in mind, I have begun to read much more earnestly these days, in an effort to:
- Learn something new
- Enjoy the simple pleasure of reading
- Become a better writer myself
- Accomplish something tangible that I can control
I probably read roughly two books per week these days. Sometimes I find an author I really like (such as Douglas Coupland, Malcolm Gladwell, or Michael Crichton) and I read everything by that author, even if it means a trip to the library to get them all. Other times, I fixate on a specific topic, and I read all of the most interesting-looking books on that subject.
I impressed my wife this past week by focusing enough to complete both books that I checked out from the library before they were due back! Clearly, I am easily distracted. I usually have 3-5 books in progress - one in the bathroom, one in the car, one on my desk - you get the jist.
My 8-year old daughter clearly has accepted the reading torch, so to speak. Last night, I was getting her in bed, and she was trying to figure out where to put one of her books, which is part of a box series of 20 volumes called "Horrible Histories". Each of them is about 100-150 pages long. I asked her which ones she had already finished reading.
"All of them."
Of course you did, sweetie. Of course you did.
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I want to read it all but there is never enough time!-Dinah Lee
Dinah - Believe me, I understand that feeling all too well. :)
Jason,
You can never have to many books! When our kids were young we read to them every night at bed time, I still shiver at "Saggy Baggy Elephant" Amy insisted we read it every night, she soon learned to recognize every word. Well the neat thing about Golden Books is that they only add a few words from book to book. Amy could read before she was three, so we got her a kids dictionary and by 4 she could read any thing and she did,
You've got four lucky kids.
Bill
Bill - Thank you, my friend! I agree with you - there's no such thing as too many books. I am about to read to my older kids right now. Have a great week -
Jason, I share your love for reading and I too am always surprised to walk into a home with no books or library. We've got bookcases in almost every room in my house and thankfully most of my 8 kids love reading as well (though none of them can match your daughter at eight). I've a grandson who taught himself to read at 3 and our local library is one of my grandkids favorite local haunts (we've got a really terrific one).
I too am a voracious reader. We had built in bookshelves put into our home office so that the bookshelves did not take over the whole room.
By the time I was 6, I was reading Nancy Drew or the like and frustrated with librarians who were trying to have me read picture books.
I try to get to the library for the novels so that I don't fill my entire house. It's a great addiction, and one one I have no desire to end ; )
Hi Jason! Glad to know that you enjoy a good book and that your kids have taken up the pleasure also. I think it is very important to kids in early years to have parents that take the time to read to them, I think they actually do better in school. I enjoy going to our local schools to read to their students classes, it is a fun day for everyone!
You will be the person you are five years from now Jason by the books you read and the people you meet. Looks like you are way on your path in both those areas for continued high growth. The last house we moved from we had about 40 boxes of books we donated away cause we just couldn't move them all. I have always been voracious. I apologize for reading too much which people say is a good thing cause I know all the trivia answers that people say how do you know all this stuff? I say I read a lot. And I mean a lot.
:) I sell real estate to be able to afford my reading habit. I thank my Mom for not allowing me to watch but 2 hours of tv a week when I was a child. I just wish my husband shared my love of books, the tv on all the time at night drives me insane, but after 22 years of marriage I guess I have to keep him.
Hey Jason,
After I was supposed to be sleeping soundly, with lights out, I would often sneak a book and a flashlight into my bed. Then I would read under my pillow!
I admit it. I'm a book addict too. :)
Did I see a dog eared "Digital Photography for Dummies" title somewhere in that rack? ;-) I think that I hear a new Nikon D-90 calling you...
Your building consultant for life in Nashville, TN
I quit buying books after a flooded basement during a move ruined most of mine. Instead I hit the local libraries to find what I want to read. It has cut down on the dust in the house and of course saves a good deal of money too :-)
I am a book addict too.
I have 2 in the bathroom, two by my bed, one in the car.
I go through all of them about every year and donate to our local library. But, something it is so hard to part with them as they have become my friends. I usually read 2-3 a week.
Now, I just finished Atlas Shrugged and it took me over a month.
It was REALLY thick but well worth the read.
Jason...
Oh wow, I love books too, but I don't read as much in print since the Internet came along. I have a wonderful collection of both garden books and art books, and my wife have about a million mysteries.
I also have a lot of technical books, and of course, every book ever written about the Great Smoky Mountains.
Thanks for the reminder, I think I'll reorganize the bookshelves soon!
Jason, I am an avid reader too but finding the time is another challenge.
Jason what a terrific habit to have! And to instill in your daughter. We're a little like Gary - we have so many books that when we have moved in the past - the movers groan when they see all the boxes!
I have a huge stack of books waiting to be read but it's not that I don't have time so much as it is I just don't MAKE the time to read because I consider it a luxury. I had quite a collection of books that I finally purged this past year...parting with some of my favorite from college was hard but I realized it was best to pass them along to others to enjoy. You are an inspiration!
Jason - I still love the feel of a book in my hand over reading online. My wife is an even bigger book person than I am. We also have thousands of books, although with having moved twice in the last five years we have culled many of them. I am in the process of building two more bookcases. I always have at least two, usually three books going at any one time. Interestingly, I was always a reader, my son followed suit, even as an adult he reads a lot. My daughter takes after her mother, books are for other people.
I read the same way you do Jason. In huge doses as often as I can. My kids have also been infected with the addiction to books. That's what happens when mom drags you to the library every couple days from the time you are born, LOL. Keep on reading and the world is at your fingertips.
I'm a freak as well. I mean, I'm a book freak. When I get busy, I get sidetracked, but I dug back down recently and Mem day weekend will offer me more time for reading. Should be a blast.
You would feel right at home here at the Lewis House! In addition, we also check out at least a hundred books from the library each year!
Jason, "Reading is Fundamental," and that says it all. We can travel to exotic places, participate in incredible adventures, and become expert in any subject, with the help of great books. I only keep a few as I like to pass on books that I don't use for reference. Thanks for the post.
Reading takes you to places you would never ordinarily go. I'm in a book group and have been pulled into many new worlds I would not have ventured into. Currently I'm reading Thomas Friedman's "The world is Flat" It has been a new way of looking at the world, and how technology has impacted the differences between countries. Technology (and other events) have levelled the playing field... ergo the world is flat.
I heart reading.
I'm a book addict who married a book addict. 37 years ago. It's not pretty.
When I was a little girl, your daughter's age or younger, and I loved to read at the dinner table, my mother asked me what I was going to do when I grew up and got married and my husband didn't like me reading at the table. I said, "I'm going to marry someone who likes to read at the table." And so I did.
We each brought 11 boxes (think paper box that holds many reams of paper sized boxes) of paperbacks to our marriage as our dowries. They breed, you know.
A few months ago, my daughter and started figuring out how many books we have. Most of them are currently in boxes in the attic, because there's no way they'd fit downstairs. We knew how many books fit in each box, and we knew how many cubic feet of boxes there were, and we did the math, and there are approximately 40,000 books just in the attic. Then, there are all of the books downstairs, multiple bookshelves in every room. (Well, not the bathroom, that just has the small magazine rack that has only a few books and magazines.) Then we emptied out my husband's businesses storage locker and about half the stuff in there was ours and yet more boxes of books came home.
It's a sickness, I tell you. A genetic one, evidently (our son at one point attended Columbia School of Publishing because he'd really love to be in publishing as a career, and both kids have many, many books of their own).
I liked you before but now I KNOW you are a great blogger. What is that quote?..How we change in the next 5 years, will depend on the books we read and the people we meet!!! Glad I "met" you!!!
Wow!! Two!! Your mom must be so proud!! :) My 13 year old son has had a love for reading all of his life, while my 10 1/2 year old daughter must be "forced" to read. They have different personalities. I remember reading to my son when he was 3 months old, propping him up in my lap. My daughter would not sit with me and let me read to her until she was almost 2. She would much rather be crawling, walking, running somewhere else!! Both precious...just different. Vive la differance!! I myself love a good book!! I should make time over the 3 day weekend to do some reading!!
Jason, I think its awesome that you read that much. I need to take some time to read more often. Im always hearing about good books that I have not read. Recently I reread 'to kill a mocking bird'. I know that is weird to read it after all these years but I just dont recall the story from when I was a kid and I know my kids will read it one day. My daughter is a HUGE reader. My son on the other hand... not as much.
Oh Jason, I feel your pain! I keep looking at the Kindle but it doesn't smell right, feel right or allow you to scan the piles all over the house to see what you feel like picking up! On the other hand...1500 books while on an airplane or in a hotel...priceless!
SarahGray - I have the Kindle application on my iPhone, which is FREE and pretty nifty. I just wish the books were cheaper - most of them appear to be $9.99, which isn't a bad price, but I do a lot of book shopping at Half Price Books and other places with really inexpensive prices. I probably pay an average of $1-2 per book most of the time.
Jason - with hand on heart, I too declare myself a bookaholic! Our home is a 3 storey Victorian and my entire 3rd floor has become my library. It is filled with books, floor to ceiling in some areas. There is a little area in our turret that is all windows and it is the most perfect place to hide away and read in the morning light. I've placed a gorgeous, unbelievably comfortable chair there with a side table for my coffee. What a way to begin the day!
One of the things I started when we moved to this place, is collecting 19th century books. After I've I read them, I use them in decorating some of the rooms. They're beautifully illustrated and the covers are just gorgeous. I can't even imagine what I'd do if we decided to move!!
Jason,
Maybe you should start an AR Book exchange? This could help others who share your addiction... like me. I read 3-4 books a month too.
Betina