I'm Obsessed With Books!

By OBSESSED I mean---OCD obsessed! Besides my approximately 10-15 hours a week that I actually spend reading, I spend at least 3 hours a week just looking at books---New York Times best seller list---what Amazon Kindle recommends for me---what new books have come in at my library---books my friends recommend. I jot down the recommendations or email them to myself, or save emails I receive from Amazon, Good Reads, photos I've taken at Target or Sam's book section and other sources.

Of course, I'm very organized and methodical about the entire process. That's where my OCD comes in. Once or twice a week, I pull all these book ideas together. For each book that I'm interested in, I do the following:

1. I check the book title on Amazon.
2. It must have 4.5 or 5 stars by at least 100 people before it will even get my attention. I don't have time to read less than stellar books!
3.Then I read the book synopsis. If it looks interesting to me, I move to step 4.
4. Look the book up on my R.E.A.D.S. app for my library.
5. If they have the book, I add it to my Wish List. If they do not have the book, I'll "recommend" it. That way it will automatically be added to my list when/if the library buys it.

My electronic library account has three distinct areas:
Loans---these are the books I currently have "checked out." I borrow the books for 21 days. That way if I have more than one, I don't feel so pressured. I read a book about every 5 days. I can always return it early when I finish.
Holds---these are the books I'm waiting to get. I can only have 15 books on this list. It looks like this:

As you can see, I have to wait a long time for books. If, all of a sudden, too many books look like they are going to come in at the same time, you can suspend them---as in the Pat Conroy book, lower left. Now when I'm ready for that book, I can just remove the suspension and it will come in rather quickly. I choose the books to put on this list from my Wishlist.

Wishlist--these are the books I would like to get sometime. You can have 5,000 books on this list. I currently have 54. This is what the Wishlist looks like:

The beauty of the Wishlist is that you can see at a glance what books are available immediately---as in The Girls She Left Behind. Currently, of the 53 books I have on here, 10 are available right away. That means, there should never be a time that I'm without a book!

Now that's my process for remembering which books I would like to read. But my OCD doesn't stop there. The actual reading part adds another series of steps to my book process. When I download a book to my Kindle, I:

1. Add the title to my Books Read 2017 document on my computer. I put the title of the book in italics because I haven't actually read it yet. 

2. I put down the cost of the book, if I were to buy it. I want to know how much money I've saved by borrowing books rather than buying them. Right now, I've saved $418.02.

3. I also have a section on this document for how much I've spent on books I've had to buy. Mostly these are book club books that I'm not able to get in time for book club. So far, I've spent $24.95 on books for 2017. That alone is incredible. Seriously, I used to spend over $1000 a year on books. Besides the ones I actually read, there were many bought that I didn't get to. Plus, I had to have hard backs. They are a minimum of $24.95 each! I've always loved books!

Well, my book obsession doesn't end there. AFTER I finish the book:

1. I go to Amazon and return it to the library.

2. I go to my Books Read 2017 document and remove the italics. That means I've finished the book.

3. If it was a book club book, I make some notes so I'll remember a few things about the book when the time comes. This is another document. I keep those along with my Books Read 2017 document in a Books folder on my computer desktop. There's another document in this folder that lists the books I would recommend for other people. I have lots of family and friends who are always asking me for book recommendations. It's hard to think off the top of my head.

4. I download my next book and start the process all over again!

So far this year, I've read 52 books. The only person I know that reads more than me is Connie. She reads about 10 books more than I do in a year. Either I'm a slower reader, or she spends more time reading. I think that's the answer since she's not stitching much! 

I follow several blogs where people read 5 books a week! Some of them even have young children. I have no idea how they do it. No judgment here, but I'd love to see their house, laundry and the meals they put on the table! Okay, I guess that is judgement. Sorry, I have standards. I only have so much free time, so I have to decide how I want to spend it.

I'm doing something now that I NEVER do. I'm reading two books at the same time. One of the books is more of a documentary type while the other is a memoir. Both are very good. I started the memoir because the other one is a bit dry---interesting, but not riveting. Since they are both so different, there's no chance of confusing the two.

I guess, now I have to add another hour for my book obsession---to account for now writing about books! Oh, and then there's the time I spend "talking" about books with family and friends. Sheesh, where will it end....

I hope it never does.