Kayleen’s Comments (group member since Feb 26, 2008)

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

When I got married years ago we were both in the military. We agreed we would eventually settle in his hometown, but I got to design the house. 22 years later, I got my library!
My books are arranged by genre (history, self-help, biographies, fiction, children's books) with a few special interests (flying) having their own space. The history section is arranged chronologically, but every other section is alphabetical by author. It works for me. There's always a small stack waiting to be reshelved, but other than that, I can usually lay my hands on any book I'm looking for in a minute or two.

My favorite place to read? My hammock in the woods near the creek.

Where do I actually read? In the waiting room, in the car waiting for dance practice to end, on the elliptical machine, in a hot bubble bath, in airports, standing at the stove stirring dinner, on the sofa and every night when I get into bed. In other words, where ever I find a spare moment.

I can't walk out of a bookstore with one book. And now I can't tell my two school age daughters no because I love that they love to read as well. So I avoid bookstores at all costs.

But somehow I end up on amazon or half.com (wonderful site, that one!) nearly weekly and never fail to buy 5 more than I intended. When I'm feeling really strong I can resist buying and just put it on my wish list.

I just discovered paperbackswap and that just might save my checkbook! A week on the site and my wish list is two pages long.

I'm in the camp with the folks who've said, "I only lend to ___." I have one friend who cherishes books like I do, and I'll lend him anything. His wife, unfortunately, is a different case and I learned the hard way not to loan her anything I care about. (I've had to replace several of my vintage children's collection she borrowed.) Luckily they have completely different tastes, so she never wants a book he's borrowed.

My books tend to fall into two categories: those I love (or iritate me into a new way of thinking--also valuable)and will almost never leave my possession and those that I read for a diversion and am happily ready to pass along. My mother-in-law gifts me with shopping bags full of grocery store romances that are wonderful for a few hours of escapism. Those go on to book drives and USOs and anyone who asks. (And I just discovered paperbackswap--glory be!)