Book Worms discussion

I'm wondering if anyone else does this...
I buy a copy of a book that I think will be absolutely wonderful and then I put it on the shelf and leave it there for a long time anticipating how great it will be. I don't read it because I think it's a sure thing and for some reason it feels like story insurance or enjoyment savings...

For example I have almost every SKPenman book sitting on the shelf but I'm not ready to read them just yet...

Anyone else suffer from this same neuroses?

"story insurance"

Love it. I've got tons of books that I know I'll live just sitting there waiting for me. Penman, though I'd never be able to wait on. You're missing out.

I sat on the Lymond Chronicles for eons as I was afraid to start them (they're thinkers). Once it picked the first up though I was hooked.

Sorry Barb, I think it's called OCD...lol I do the same thing. Everytime I hear of a good book, I write down the title and scour the thrift shops and look for it at book sales online. I'm so thrilled when I get it...and then it just sits. My reasoning and excuse is that someday I might be homebound or there might be a major catastrophe in the world and there won't be any books to buy....but I will have MINE!!
Yep, story insurance is good way to put it.

Barb wrote: "I'm wondering if anyone else does this...
I buy a copy of a book that I think will be absolutely wonderful and then I put it on the shelf and leave it there for a long time anticipating how great ..."

Haha! Yes, Barb, I do the same thing actually. I used to be in London a lot and always fell prey to the amazing 3-for-2 deals at Waterstones, etc., so I have scads of books that I bought then and haven't read yet (some of them from four or five years ago.) And I have the same idea that someday I'm going to be cut off from bookstores and libraries and therefore need to own all these unread books ;P

And there's also the thrill of finding a gem that sat on your shelf being overlooked for too long...
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters falls into that category for me.

And thanks...
I feel better knowing I'm not the only one.

Or finding and buying a book that you know you will want to read...and then get home and see you already have it. That makes me nuts!

Or (a good thing) when you are browsing on-line and see something that you want to read and going upstairs to the book shelf and finding that you already have a copy!

Pat wrote: "Or finding and buying a book that you know you will want to read...and then get home and see you already have it. That makes me nuts!"

Argh! I hate that, it happened a lot when I was reading true crime. They switch the damn covers around a lot and I'd be all set to settle down and then the story starts sounding familiar.

Okay...
confessions of the book obsessed;
I have a notebook in which I keep a list of the books that I'm looking for. I have a list of all of SKP's books in chronological order and check marks next to what I have at home. Same for a couple of other authors.

Someone should be working on making a gizmo so that we can zap the bar code on all of the books we have on our shelves and the gizmo would genreate a list in our blackberries/phones/cranial implants or what have you and we could happily book shop without fear of duplication ever again.

I'm guessing it's not too far off...

Barb wrote: "Okay...
confessions of the book obsessed;
I have a notebook in which I keep a list of the books that I'm looking for.

Well, that's basically why I joined Goodreads. I just update my "own" list whenever I buy a new book.

I agree, the read book shelf is pretty darn handy.

Barb wrote: "Okay...
confessions of the book obsessed;
I have a notebook in which I keep a list of the books that I'm looking for. I have a list of all of SKP's books in chronological order and check marks n..."

That gizmo already exists! It's called Delicious Library 2. You hold the book's barcode up to your computer's camera, and within seconds, the cover will appear on your screen. You can create shelves, and one of the views actually shows the covers on virtual bookshelves. It pulls info from Amazon, so reviews etc. are also available. It's really cool, but I haven't used mine since I joined Goodreads. You can download it for a reasonable cost - http://delicious-monster.com/

Pretty cool!

I have a HUGE list in my iPhone notes of all the books I've come across and interested in reading. They span all time periods, subjects, fiction, non-fiction, etc, so that the moment I need to make a decision about what to ILL next, I'll have SOMETHING at my fingertips that will appeal to me in that current mood. A couple of times, none of the books I've looked through have caught my eye at that moment, and I will admit -- I started to feel a little panicky and shaky, like I was jonesing for a new book and couldn't find a good hit.

It's called being a bibliophile? ;)