I know that many people are embarrassed to be tagged as bookworms. However, I don’t suffer from any such inhibitions. Yes I am a bookworm or bookaholic as some would say and I don’t see anything wrong with it at all. As a bookaholic, here are 10 confessions which I am sure other bookaholics like me will be able to relate to:
1. People who borrow our books and don’t return them are our enemies. We hate them and are sure that there is a special place in hell reserved especially for them!
2. We do not like to lend books, precisely due to the above mentioned reason. Plus, even those who do return our books – after much pestering and wheedling from our end – tend to have handled the books badly and it saddens us to see our beloved books rumpled or worse.
3. We feel guilty about folding the pages of a book to mark where we have paused. It bothers us because we almost feel as though we are hurting the book. We always try our best to use bookmarks or atleast remember the page number in case a bookmark is not to be found.
4. We might hesitate to splurge on designer clothes or high-end cosmetics, but we don’t think twice about spending huge amounts of money on books. After all, we say to ourselves, the money is being spent on something useful.
5. While some people can spend hours at fashion boutiques, we bookaholics can spend hours in book stores. To us, it feels exactly the same as a child might feel being let loose in Charlie’s chocolate factory – or actually, even better. We love going to book stores and it doesn’t matter if they are big, shiny ones or the local, shabby one. Book stores are one of our all-time favourite places on earth – or in paradise, come to think of it.
6. We never fail to list the smell of books under our favourite smells. Much like the smell of freshly baked bread, the smell of a book talks to us, it calls out to us, it enchants us and we don't care if you call us dorks because of this!
7. We judge people who say that they don’t like to read. We think everybody must read.
8. We consider books to be our best friends. We laugh with them, we cry with them and we dream with them. That’s what best friends are for right?
9. We always have a book with us - one can never say when they will come in handy and we like to be prepared for emergencies.
10. We cannot begin to fathom a world without printed books. Whatever studies and trends show, and even if we begin embracing ebooks, we can never really give up on printed books.
So, my fellow bookaholics, do you have anything more to add?
