Books. Most definitely books. SO many books. ALL the books.
I realize this will surprise precisely no one, considering HOW MANY posts I have made about “hey check out this book I just got” or “look at my latest book haul!”
Finished reading the dark romance from kiddo late last night. Signed up for the author’s newsletter to get access to a free bonus epilogue chapter, delivered to my Kindle app. Still have to peruse that. Which, I had been thinking, now I need something to read, since I’ve returned all my library checkouts. That’s a good starting point!
Not that I’m in any kind of book shortage here. I had physical books and e-books waiting even BEFORE I got all those books free with my rewards points from work. To say nothing of the books from the author presentation at the library…
Library books, bookstore books, INDIE bookstore books, books through the mail, e-books.
Books from local authors, books written in other languages and translated, books describing customs, beliefs, or folklore from other cultures/distant countries.
Poetry, romance, a dash of mystery, the occasional non-fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, romantasy, dark romance, fairy tales, short stories, paranormal romance, vampire and werewolf fiction, shifter fiction, young adult fiction, collectible signed and/or special edition books, books that seem to defy genre pigeon-holing, like my last library find.
Unreliable narrator gone a little mad, or magical realism? Hard to say. It was inspired by the life story of an actual Beat writer, who’s not very well-known. I suppose I could do some digging there, and see what I could find? But that in and of itself wouldn’t necessarily reveal the “meaning” behind the journal-style novel.
I’ve seen comments that collecting books is a whole separate hobby, apart from reading them. If you’re in the habit of wishlisting or building a hypothetical TBR even before you buy or check them out, that’s more like 3 hobbies!
Then, there’s the WRITING of books.
Which is its own separate thing, but also equally life-affirming.
And the reviewing or discussing of books! I love checking out what other people thought of something I just read, then adding my own two cents.
(view of one section of a mural in one of the bedrooms here)
I may have also cited this conversation before, but when I interviewed for a possible position with the library, I had said I was finally utilizing my library again, rather than just buying books, because I was beginning to run out of space. (Still a possible issue, but I’m working around it).
One of the librarians interviewing me had commented, “I suppose you would run out of space for books long before you would run out of money to spend on them!” Which is so true. They’re the best lil treats.
All the Bright and Sparkly Things 
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