What's it like being an incurable book and word addict? you may ask. Here are some things I do on a regular basis that I chalk up to my biblio and logophile tendencies:
- Mull over random words whose meaning is a mystery. An obscure word will pop into my head, and it'll drive me nuts until I look it up in the dictionary and give it a definition.
- Carry a book with me most all the time. I carry a book with me to work every day because who knows, today may be too hot or rainy to eat outside, or maybe I'm just feeling introverted and want to read. I bring books to appointments because the minute I don't, I have a half-hour wait.
- Stalk the Goodwill bookshelves. Goodwill is one of my favorite places to find used books since their paperbacks are only $1. Many of the popular reads and classics on my shelf came from Goodwill.
- Ask for Amazon giftcards for birthday and Christmas. Barnes & Noble giftcards are awesome too, but their books are overpriced. Give me a gently used copy from Amazon any day.
- Talk about fictional characters like they're real people. Recently, a co-worker and I discussed a character from the 5th Wave series, and lamented about her life choices as if she was someone we knew personally.
- Talk about books for hours. I'll call my mom and we'll discuss a book we're reading for over an hour. It's one of my favorite things to do.
- Analyze writing style. Because I am a writer too, I'm always noting an author's writing style when I read. Some popular books I can't stand because of the writing style, mainly, and other books may have "just okay" plots but the writing style will redeem the entire book for me. Stringing words together well is a gift.
- Have a never-ending to-read list. My to-read list will outlive me and haunt my future children, begging to be read.
- Answer the question "If you could meet anyone, who would it be?" with an author's name. When I get asked this, I usually answer C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. I admire those men beyond words.
- Fill your Instagram feed with pics of books. My posts are usually of books, mugs/teacups, and my pets. Who has time for selfies when you have beautiful book covers?
- Give reading advice to strangers. Months ago at Barnes & Noble, I told a complete stranger looking at a book how much I recommended it, and that I really enjoyed it even though it was YA lit and I'm in my 20s (in case he thought he was too old to read it). Barnes & Noble should really hire me.
- Name my pets after literary characters and authors. I had a betta fish named Fitzgerald after the author, a betta fish named Amory after a Fitzgerald character, and a dog named Misty after the "Misty of Chincoteague" books. I also brainstorm literary names for my future children.
- Judge the quality of my weekend by how much I read. A coworker asked me how my weekend was, and I said it was fantastic because I read nearly 3 books. I had been starved for literature after having to focus on school work exclusively.
- Plan your next read before you're finished with your current read. What will I read next? This depends on if the book I read was emotionally draining and I need to recover, or if it was mentally taxing and now I just need a quick/fun read.
This list is hardly exhaustive, but for the sake of time I'm going to stop there. Can you relate to any of these? What would you add to this list?
Happy reading, my friends!
- The Word Nerdess
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