The lovely Jeane over at Dog Ear Diary has tagged me for a “7 Random Bookish Things About Me” meme. I usually ignore meme tags, not because I dislike getting tagged, but because I can never think of any good answers for them :p This one’s no exception, but I thought it would be fun…plus I want to hear other people’s answers, lol.
1. I tend to associate every stage of my life with certain books. I fondly remember Shel Silverstein, Maurice Sendak, little golden books, and a poetry book that I can’t recall the name of when I think back to my childhood years. 6th grade reminds me of Stephen King’s Misery and Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, a little older and it’s Clive Barker that starts to pop into my mind. Then I go on to Anne Rice, an obsession that lasted a long time, and Poppy Z. Brite. Then there’s Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series and Good Omens after that. When I get to my college years I think of Sophocles’ Oedipus Cycle, my favorite greek tragedy, Shakespeare (though I fell in love with The Tempest first in high school), and finally Orson Scott Card. I often wonder who I’ll look back on when I think of these years.
2. I get a little panicky when I think of all of the books that I want to read! Just looking at my TBR shelf freaks me out, but when I think of all of the books I want to read in my lifetime, it stresses me out. I start to realize my own mortality. I know, that’s sick, but that’s how this bibliophile’s mind thinks :p
3. I have an obsession with bookmarks! I’ve always loved bookmarks and I remember certain Christmas’ where I may have gotten a bookmark and it was one of my favorite gifts…or going to the elementary school bookfairs and seeing the tree of bookmarks and getting to choose one. They just make me happy.
4. I obsess over having all of my books arranged properly by author’s last names. I know this may not sound too odd, but when a new book arrives, I have to reorganize my entire bookshelf to fit it in where it belongs. And I always have to do that the second it arrives, right after it is cataloged on librarything. If I ever (and rarely do I do this) lone a book out it kills me to have that empty space on the shelf where the book belongs and I can’t wait to get it back :p
5. I love the physical feel and smell of books. I’ll never by an e-reader just because I couldn’t bear to read a book without holding it in my hands. If there are 2 editions of a book available, I’ll probably buy the nicer one because of the quality. I like the font to be nice, the paper to be thick (and cream colored if possible), either a hardcover or trade paperback book. I hate Mass-Markets!
6. This is no surprise really, but if a favorite author of mine releases a new book, it becomes a holiday for me. Sometimes literally as I’ll take off of work to get it and read it. I can’t remember a time that a book came out by a favorite author and I didn’t buy it that day!
7. I’ve always wanted a job that involves books and I still say that if I ever manage to make into private practice, I’d love to own a bookstore as well. That’s not feasible at all right now, but when I was having a hard time finding a job, I honestly considered opening a bookstore. Of course I never told you all that because I knew you would all push me over the edge and make me do it :p
So now it’s time to tag 7 people! OK, since Quixotical is doing NaBloPoMo too, I know she’ll need more stuff to blog about, so I tag her. And…Nymeth, Debi, Deslily, Bookfool, Stephanie of Confessions of a Book-a-holic, and Robin! Have fun guys…can’t wait to read your answers!
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Anne Rice = my college years. But then, I think I’m older than you. And I love bookmarks, too. When I travel I usually come home with a bookmark from that place. And then I end up using receipts or scraps of paper as bookmarks. Go figure.
I was probably the only kid in elementary school obsessed with Stephen King. Junior High I was a Barker fan-girl and High School found me writing a 15 page essay on Exquisite Corpse (I wish I had kept that)
I loved reading about your bookish ways – you sound like a truly devoted biblioholic
I may have to come to New Orleans and mix up your author book arrangement!
ho,ho,ho, I doubt I can come up with 7 “bookish things”… and I know I don’t have 7 people to tag…
As for you number 2 answer.. it gets worse,a lot worse….. just wait and see!
it’s neat that you remember people from certain books, I don’t think that’s ever happened to me
I had to laugh at #2…not that it’s funny in a ha-ha kind of way, but just that I can relate soooooo much! In fact, though I hate feeling like I’m copying one of your answers, I’ll probably have to use that too, because of the amount of time I spend stressing about it.
And man, I cannot believe you read Misery in 6th grade! I started reading Stephen King in middle school, but Misery is one of those books that freaked me out when it came out, and I was an adult (at least technically) at the time.
I am constantly shifting all the books on my shelves to fit in the newest ones. First they get unwrapped and cleaned or repaired (if needed). Then entered into LibraryThing catalog. Then given a spot on the shelf. If the book belongs near the beginning of the shelves this is very tedious, but i still can’t resist doing it right away.
I feel exactly the same way you do about the physical beauty of books. No electronic reading devices for me, ever!
I too am HUGE about alphabetizing my books, and will rearrange my bookshelves to squeeze them in! And I’m also one of those people who loves the physical smell and feel of books. I tried to read a book online once, and it hurt my eyes. Plus, reading electronically seems so impersonal to me.
Do you still have a bookmark obsession? When I read that I thought about these really cool bookmarks that I bought over the summer. They are hand-painted with bookish themes. If I can find them again they would be perfect for you, I think. Interested? I love bookmarks too, but yet, I tend to use receipts or random pieces of paper to mark my places in books because I put the bookmarks down somewhere and then can’t find them when I need them! If I collected all the bookmarks in one place that are scattered all over my house….
Oh, and I totally hear you on answer number two! I will be lucky if I read all the books I own right now in my lifetime, let alone all the ones that I will add over the years…
Softdrink, Anne Rice was my early high school years, maybe very late grade school. I loved her books! Still do really. I’ve been meaning to reread The Witching Hour for a while now. That’s one of my favorite books still.
Joanne, Whoa! Sounds like we’re two peas in a pod when it comes to books! lol…Exquisite Corpse was the one Brite book that I couldn’t make it through. I have a stomach for disturbing things too…they usually don’t bug me at all, but that book was just too much!
Deslily, Seriously, you don’t know the distress that you’d cause me if you mixed up all of my books, lol. I would literally have a panic attack. With the speed you’ve been reading lately you have nothing to worry about! You’ll get em all read
Debi, It’s frightening when I think of all of the books I want to read! Want to hear something really funny? Misery was actually ordered from my book order leaflet in 6th grade! They actually had that book on the form, so I had to get it. Of course my mom probably had no idea what I was reading. I read The Eyes of the Dragon right after that, but couldn’t really get into that one.
Jeane, Well I’m so glad that I’m not the only one out there obsessed with cataloging my books properly, lol! You even go to librarything right away just like me! And definitely “just say no to electronic reading devices!”
Katherine, Another obsessive organizer! How can you not love the physical feel of books…it’s a great feeling.
Kailana, Oh yeah…that bookmark obsession isn’t going away any time soon, lol. I’m very interested in those bookmarks! They sound really cool! Thanks
You’re sweet 
I feel the same way as you. My TBR pile is so huge that I don’t think I’ll ever get them all read. Never!
Okay, I will look this weekend! Want to email me your address?
[...] Chris tagged me for this meme, as I was at a loss for something to post about today. Well done Chris, you saved the [...]
Argh, third attempt to post. Are you moderating comments or is something hinky in blogland?
Okay, now that it’s working . . . . can’t remember what I said, before. Oh, yes! I love bookmarks, too. It was Nat (of In Spring it is the Dawn) who got me started making bookmarks out of my own photos, but I already had (cough, hack) a small drawer full of bookmarks. And, I color coordinate them with the book covers, when I read.
I’ve already actually done this meme and it’s fun — loved reading yours and thanks for tagging me. Maybe it was the fact that I tried to add a link that messed up my previous posting attempts? Anyway, it was earlier this week. I’ll skip posting a link because I will be very put out if this comment disappears for a third time.
Oh…this will be fun. Although, I think I could just cut and paste your answers and they’d work for me too!!
I don’t think I’ll be able to read all the books in my house in my lifetime. And that doesn’t even include all the books that will be published next week….and the week after….and the week after. See where I’m going with the this??
I thought number 2 was funny too. I actually commented to my husband a few months ago about how if I only read 70 books a year and lived 50 more years then I could only read 3500 more books in the rest of my lifetime. I just about hyperventilated. I suddenly started to think more about what books I REALLY want to read in this lifetime, because I can only read so many.
1 and 3 – that’s me too
and I try not to worry too much about 2, but I don’t always succeed.
I’d love a book related job too, and I wish I had been smarter about my choices earlier in life and done something like become a librarian. But hey, it’s never to late, and if I ever have some money to invest I’m starting an independent publishing house. Then I’ll hire you as an editor
Thanks for the tag, Chris! I’ll do this one soon.
i can totally relate to associating books with a certain period
its such a nice structure through which to look at your life.
i always wonder what will be the books that define my current period, or the next 5 years of my life or something…
its cool to see where rice, barker, card and gaiman come into the picture for you!haha!
i can relate to point two as well…!
and as i read on i can see i relate to all your points! haha! but especially point 5 too. i just love love those tangible things about a book, the feel, the texture, the smell, the look of it … everything! and how they each become a little being in their own right, because they’r all unique.
I can really identify with #2, too. I look at my two TBR bookcase and wonder if I could possibly live long enough to read them all. And #7. I have a bookshop/cafe all planned out for “someday.”
“I get a little panicky when I think of all of the books that I want to read!”
I’m glad I am not the only one who feels that way. One thing about having nicely organized shelves is that is it just that much more apparent that I have a TON of books that I own and have not read…and want to…
And I want to read so many more than those!!!