Bibliophilia

It's after midnight as I sit here quietly in the living room of my mom's house, having sipped more than a few glasses of Yellowtail Shiraz wine over the past few hours and reminiscing about all the books I've read. In case you're wondering why, it's not so random. There's this cool application on Facebook called the Visual Bookshelf. You can 'add' or 'remove' books under other such categories as 'want to read,' 'already read,' and so forth. You can also click on a 'recommendations' category that will spit out recommendations based on books you have already read or want to read. I have been infatuated with this VB application quite a bit lately. It's like a personal little book 'game' I've started with myself tonight. How many books can you remember having read off the top of your head Katie? This is no easy challenge, especially having worked at a bookstore for 4 years in Chicago.

We (the store name shall remain nameless, though if you know me and/or are someone reading this whom has worked with me there....well, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout!) were allowed to check books out on what could be technically considered a 'library loan' of sorts for two weeks. There were only a few conditions: 1. It had to be either hard cover or what's known as a "QP" (quality paperback for those not in the know with the inside lingo), so as not to look all beat up, disheveled, mangled by water, your dog's mouth and that sort of thing. If it did, you had to buy it (naturally). 2. There had to be at least 2 copies total of a particular book in the store in order for you to check it out, that way you weren't impeding a customer from buying it by an employee having checked out the only copy. There were sneaky ways around this one. Yes, I'm guilty on a few counts with this rule. :) Anyway, my point is that because I had the advantage of checking out MANY books free of charge all at my convenient disposal...I probably read twice as many books as I do now (though I still can't ever really go into a bookstore without buying at least one book, even if it just sits on my bookshelf for awhile). So essentially, the possibilities for how many books I've racked up as 'already read' is mind boggling. It makes me wonder further, how many books have I read in my lifetime?!

Another reason I love books is not just the vast array of interesting topics of knowledge and/or imagination it invokes...it's also certain memories I associate with a particular book. I remember reading "Frankenstein" my senior year of high school for English class and how eager I was to just be done already and graduate. I remember reading "Scarlet Letter" one difficult summer in Kentucky when I was lost and trying to figure out the next course my life should take. I also remember "Emotional Alchemy" helping me to that next transitional level of life just a few months after that in 2001. I remember sitting in the living room of my on campus apartment at SWT/Texas State reading "Man's Search for Meaning," baffled and in awe of a brilliant and amazing human being who survived the atrocities of a concentration camp, thinking surely I had NOTHING to complain about in comparison! I remember sitting on a plane en route to Florida to visit my dad reading "The Beauty Myth," probably the only 14 or 15 year old girl who was reading about feminist thought! I remember reading "Passionate Marriage" during a jam packed year of practicum and graduate school classes in 2004, having stumbled across it as an 'extra' reading recommendation on Dr. Todd's syllabus for one of the marriage and family therapy classes I took. That book blew me away and really challenged me to think about true eroticism and intimacy versus 'piece of meat' sexuality. Wow. Love David Schnarch, so brilliant!

Then of course, there are those books I read prior to and/or during book events I worked. I remember reading Augusten Burroughs' books and then had the pleasure of working the book signing event when "Magical Thinking" came out... and chatting with him a bit after the event with some questions of my own on his writing. I remember being excited to meet and work the Dan Savage event when his book "The Commitment" came out. He told me he had some excerpts in mind that he'd like to read, but he needed one more and was unsure. "Read the part about when you smashed a cake in that one guy's face!!" I told him. (Some college guy had a cake fetish) As I stood there and listened to him read the excerpts, he actually took my suggestion and read it. I couldn't believe it! And it was a hit; the audience roared in laughter.

I remember sitting on a bus heading towards downtown Chicago as I read parts of "De Profundis" and wishing someone would feel THAT passionately about me. Ah, the romance in literature. I remember going through my FBI profiling book phase in college, reading John Douglas books ("Mindhunter," "Journey Into Darkness," etc) and watching biographies of famous killers on A & E with Bill Curtis...and sometimes being a little freaked out/paranoid that someone was watching me through my Comanche Hill apartment window. hahaha. I remember reading a book on writing for the first time during my short stint in Reno, Nevada...Julia Cameron's "The Right to Write." The phenomenal book helped give me courage and honesty to find my authentic 'voice' in developing my writing/style deeper. "Heroin" helped me understand the addicts I had been working with better, Osho books helped me understand myself better.

I remember sitting at a table in the front window of The Fixx on Sheffield in my Chicago neighborhood a year or two ago reading about all of Philip's experiences throughout his lifetime in "Of Human Bondage," totally engrossed with the character. I remember reading books that were recommended to me, which inevitably makes me think of that particular person..."Ishmael" and "Life of Pi" (Kristopher K.), "On Killing" (AJ), "The 48 Laws of Power" (Josh), the Dexter series books (Juan), and various literature books (Mom). I could go on and on, but I would be here all night and well, it's already after 1am here in Seattle.

With such great memories, can you see how books are a 'friend' to me in their own right? :)