Piles of Books

The title of this blog describes the state of my study - and my bedside table - and my living room, on occasion.  My husband and I are avid readers, always have been (it's one of the things that made me know we were meant to be together), but I carry it to extreme.

I never go to the library without coming home with a bagful of new pages to read.  I'm always looking for work by new fiction writers - to check out my competition as I pursue selling my first novel.  I look at the new books section; something always catches my interest there.  I'm big on biographies, books on theatre, travel, history, how-to's on writing, books about writers, magazines that contain stories or info. I want to research, and the list could go on.

Once at home with my new stack of tomes, I peruse them all first and sometimes discard ones that prove to be not as interesting as I originally thought, or not very well written.  The rest I divide into books I need in the study for research, those I might read at night go into the bedroom, and a few are placed in the living room for scanning when I have some free moments or want reading matter while I drink my morning tea and examine the new day from my picture window.

My son, Sean, shares my affinity for never having enough books, and, when he is combing his local library, he usually has Fletcher (his almost 5-year-old) in tow, who will have his own pile of books and videos to check out.  I love that all the members of my family are voracious about books.  And I agree with Sean that always having a variety of things to read is a plus, and worth toting heavy book bags, and paying the occasional fine for the ones that get returned late.

I believe in the Stephen King maxim that a good writer is a good reader.  I feel I become a more accomplished writer every time I read a new novel, or discover something I didn't know about the world in the pages of nonfiction.   I never have a day when I don't read something.  I'm always rewarded by books, and I don't plan to change my habits in their regard. I recommend the practice highly - and having stacks like mine are not required!