Tara’s Comments (group member since Sep 04, 2007)

Tara’s comments from the Book Buying Addicts Anonymous group.

Now my book club is reading The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which I've already read, so I'm currently reading The Boleyn Inheritance (at home) and Marie Antoinette (during my work day commute).

That picture is perfectly fitting for this group! I love it!

They count. I see it as "a book is a book is a book", so whether you own it, rent it, borrow it, pilfer it (not that I'm recommending that) or write it -- the book counts! Welcome to Goodreads, Judy!

Your library lets you check out 50 books at the same time? Wow, I think the library here puts a limit of like 5 or something. I usually buy my books but I LOVE libraries, they smell like home, paper, ink and joy to me. If I could take out more than 5 books, I would be in trouble (with myself). I'm planning on getting more books soon (as if I need more, I still have 6 books sitting on my couch waiting to be read, not to mention the books in my "to read" list that I have yet to check out, rent, buy, or borrow (not pilfer cause I have a guilty conscience).

Stephanie -- I think on my book buying trip tomorrow (it's almost payday, woohoo!) I'm going to get The Daring Book for Girls, another journal, Sidney Poitier's autobiography and maybe one other book if I find something that jumps off the shelf and attacks me.

Wes -- the camping idea would be great, and the mountains are really close to me, except that I'm not really allowed to camp. But I do find sitting in the a neighborhood park works well. There's a trail near my apartment that I walk on to clear my head and get the juices flowing.

I also try to keep my spines in good condition. If the spine gets bent too much, the pages start to loosen and fall out. I re-read books, so when pages fall out it defeats the purpose. On the few occassions I lent books out, I told the borrowers not to crack the spine, not to curl the cover and pages, not to eat greasy foods and touch the pages, not to place the book in any location where it might get wet or electrocuted (another long story) and not to take the book into the bathroom with them, cause I don't know where their hands have been. I don't loan out my books anymore!

Well, I don't mind when a story has a message, but I have to admit that there have been times when I completely missed the message. I don't want a message to be overly preachy and I don't want to feel like I'm being beaten with it, so the subtle ones are good, but if the message is too subtle, I completely miss it. I hated when my lit professors would ask the class what the message was in a book and I had no idea. There was a message? Then the professor would say what the message was and it was completely not what I got from reading the book, it wasn't even what I understood the story to be saying. I think my professors made up those messages just for kicks and giggles.

I have The Artist's Way and haven't been able to finish it because ot the reading deprivation. I may have to do what you did and just cut out TV. I think I might go through terrible withdrawal spasms if I cut out reading!

So, is this bad? I get paid in 2 days and I'm planning on heading straight to the bookstore during my lunch hour on payday. That's bad! I need help!

I finished In A Sunburned Country and then flew through The Way Life Should Be and now just started The Other Mother. So far it's good but I do find my mind wandering during some of the chapters.

Jordan, I am interested in reading The Golden Compass. What did you think of it?

I just got Almost Moon in the mail yesterday. I'm also thinking of getting The Daring Book for Girls. I think I'm ready to go through a second girlhood. I'm curious about The Dangerous Book for Boys, but I don't have any boys so I haven't picked it up. I think it would be kind of fun to have both books though, so I might get both of them. Am itching to go to the bookstore again! :)

Hi my name is Tara and I'm a bookaholic. I have about 20 or so books sitting waiting to be read, and rather than read them, I usually run right out and buy more. It's an addiction that is just getting a little out of control at this point. I usually go into a book buying frenzy as winter approaches, so I have a good supply just in case of a blizzard which keeps me from work for a few days.

I think I will read almost anything and there have been times where I was so desperate for reading material that I actually sat down and reread the Commercial Law book I had from my paralegal training. And I also read my econ book from college, years later, caus I was unhappy with my home library selection. Sad, very sad.

The B&N near me is a mess, every time I walk in it looks like a cyclone went through the place. So, I usually go to Borders cause it's a little more orderly. For years I was a huge B&N fan, but when I went to the one near me, I felt like I had fallen into insanity. Although, right now my absolute FAVE bookstore is The Tattered Cover! It is my dream bookstore! I want to live there!

I think I do a combination of what Seth and Jordan do when looking at books.

If the side title art interests me then I'll usually pull the book off the shelf and read the back blurb. If there's no back blurb, cause there are quotes from critics/authors who read the book, then I'll read the inside jacket flap. If that interests me, then I'll buy it.

I usually read 1 book at a time, but there have been many occassions where I had a book that was my "commute book" and a book that was my "read before bed book". That worked out pretty well cause I was reading a book that I had been dying to read for quite some time, and a book for my monthly book club meeting, so I read both. It actually took me longer to read my "before bed" book, than my book club book, which was interesting.

Ideal reading environment, hmm, let's see.

My Judge has this amazing recliner chair in his office. Sometimes I sit in it when we are interviewing children and he has said we can crash in it any time, which is awfully nice of him :). Anyway, that chair would be ideal for curling up in with a good book and getting some serious reading completed. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to get it out of his office and into my home without him noticing.

Another ideal situation would be lying on a porch swing, on a huge porch, swinging in the breeze surrounded by stacks of books so I can don't have to get up and go inside the house to get my next book. All the stacks have to be within arms' reach, or I have to have a well-trained dog who brings me the next book when I ask. That would be fantastic!

In reality, I usually read while riding the light rail to work, which sometimes can be fun. But, usually it is a rocky experience and there's always the risk of being distracted by the bodily gases of those around me. It happened today as a matter of fact. I also read at my desk during my lunch hour. Not very comfortable, but I'm a book addict, and the addiction must be fed!

On my last book shopping trip I got:

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism by Jenny McCarthy
The Penny by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Redford
The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline
The Other Mother by Gwendolyn Gross

I'm almost done with the Bryson book. Love it!

I think I hoard the largest amounts of books during the winter. When it's snowing outside, it's perfect to sit on the couch, curled up in a warm blanket and have a good book going. I like to face the windows so I can catch glimpses of the snow as it falls. If I trusted myself to actually make a fire, I would have one going in my fireplace, but I'm a little clumsy so I just light a candle. The candles that are in the jars, as opposed to in a candlestick holder, harder to knock over a jar.

Although, I read year round, but I get my best reading done during snowstorms. Plus, books keep me calm as the snowfall turns into a blizzard.

I am a complete and total book addict! I think my TBR shelf has close to 100 books on it. I keep coming across books that yank at my curiosity so I have to add them to my shelf. I went to Borders recently to buy 1 book and walked out with 4 (1 of them was a cookbook so I don't know if I should count it). I have 6 books being shipped to me through Doubleday Bookclub. I just don't think I can stop myself from buying books. I wonder if I need to consider going to Books Addicts Anonymous meetings.

"Hi, my name is Tara and I'm a book addict."
"Hi Tara."
"I first became addicted when I was 7 years old. My parents played vocabulary games with me and helped me read through several books over the summer, and I just haven't been able to get enough of books. I even love the smell of the bookstores!"

Yeah, I'm going to find a BAA meeting and start attending.

I agree with Doina, Goodreads is a great way to keep track of books that I have already read and books I want to read. I also think Goodreads is a great place to hear about books that I'm considering reading. I like being able to read another person's review of a book. I have even put books on my to read shelf after reading a review here on Goodreads. I like being able to have that kind of information available.

It really depends on the book. I buy both hardcover and softcover. I hate breaking the spines on softcover books but I do it anyway because it seems like I can't get teh book open very wide otherwise. I have all of the HP books in hardcover. If there's a new book coming out that I absolutely cannot wait to have, I'll get it in hardcover. I usually get my books from doubleday anyway, so a lot of the time they are in hardcover format. It doesn't matter though, when I go to the bookstore, I'll usually walk out with 6 softcover books. I have noticed that my hardcovers have survived my clumsiness much better than my softcovers :).

I am currently reading Memoirs of a Geisha. Mainly I'm reading it on the train during my morning and evening commute.

I've been very curious to read this book. I didn't know there are two versions. When did the version with the ending Burgess wanted come out? I think I would like to read that version. I have not seen the movie. I am curious about reading this book because we had a murder case back in 1998/99 where the two alleged murderers/kidnappers said that A Clockwork Orange was their inspiration for the crime they committed. They said they read the book and studied the movie and then devised a plan for the kidnapping and sexual assault of a young woman and came up with a "type" of victim they wanted to attack; unfortunately the murder was added to the plan at the last minute. I want to know what happens in this book that would make a 21 year old man and a 23 year old man want to kidnap and attack a 22 year old woman as she was entering her apartment building.

So, I understand from Dave that the book and movie were not very good (I'm also not a Kubrick fan), but what about everyone else? Would the rest of you suggest just reading the book and not seeing the movie OR read the book first then see the movie? My curiosity has been peaked for years.

My book club is going to read A Sunburned Country (I think I got that title wrong) this month for our meeting. I apologize if the title is wrong, I'm at work, listening to testimony and I'm about to fall asleep. :)

I definitely have experienced book serendipity. I read The Hours and saw the movie, and both of them came at into my life at the right time. There was something about these women and their stories and some difficulties I was going through and *boom* this book hits me on the head (seriously, I was at the bookstore reaching for something else and accidentally pulled this one down and it hit me in the middle of the forehead).

I think Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner did the same thing. I was having relationship issues and someone was raving about this book. I bought it, read it, laughed, cried and felt so much better about everything.

I definitely believe in book serendipity.