Reading 1,000 Books
Monday, February 22, 2010 | 3 Comments 
The very second item on my list of 50 Things to Do Before I Die is to read 1,000 books. Now, I’m pretty sure that I’ve already read that many book and then some—heck, I probably hit a thousand before my majority just with weekly trips to the library with my mom growing up. But since I can’t remember all of them, I’m only counting the ones that I can track.
A couple of weeks ago I started compiling a list. It’s all the books I can remember reading. It includes the 50+ Nancy Drew books and the 50+ Hardy Boys books and the Harry Potter books and the Amelia Peabody books and the three years of book club* books and the Ramona Quimby books and the travelogues and the books that got me through long nights in Sweden.
So far, I’ve tallied up 510 books (see them all here). Who-hoo, halfway there! I’m sure I’ll add another hundred or so just from memory, but then comes the hard part. I have run out of room in my life for new books—at least, the kind that I purchase and then put on my shelves. There is no more room, and no more budget.
I do believe I will have to get a library card, which I have neglected to do since moving to our new house 14 months ago. Shame on me, I know. But I really dislike the library. There is something about renting a book instead of owning it. It’s cheap. It doesn’t respect the wonder of the written word.
Here’s the metaphor that works for me. The library is essentially a book brothel, with the books whoring themselves out to whoever walks in with a card. I have too much respect for books to treat them like hookers. I want to marry my books, not rent them by the hour.
But clearly I need to get over it and start treating those books like the tawdry trollops they are. Let the games begin.
* I originally typed “boob club”. Wouldn’t that be fun!
Reader Comments (3)
So this is a difference between Mary and I. I got to the part about not having room and thought "Kindle or Nook", Mary is already a big library person.
To continue the metaphor:
Physical books that I own = wedlock
Books loaned from the library = prostitutes
Books downloaded on Kindle = internet porn
Not sure where audiobooks fall into that scheme.
I know that this list is too short. What about, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollen, The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Jacob Braff and all those Madeleine L'Engle books?