Confessions Of A Bibliophile

I have a confession to make. And, judging from the title of this entry, I am sure you can guess what it is. I love books. But when I say I love them, I mean, I really, really, really love books. I own a small library, yet I am pretty certain that, outside an actual library, my book collection would probably rival most of those held by private citizens not blessed with family legacies stretching back to the Virginia plantations.

I haven't counted my books, nor have I catalogued them. However, after spending most of today packing up my books, I have realised that this is going to be a major product that I will undertake in August. I want to have a list of all the books I own. I am strongly considering sorting them according to the Dewey Decimal System. However, I don't know if I will actually label them accordingly. Possibly on the inside cover. We'll see.

I lay blame for my bibliphilia squarely on my parents. Mum read to me when I was very young. I remember her reading The Chronicles of Narnia to my sister Amanda and me each night. At least, she read the first volume ("The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe", not "The Magician's Nephew".) The first book I ever read completely on my own was "Danny and the Dinosaur" by Syd Hoff. (Sadly, I do not actually own this book. Yet.) Our living room always had this amazing collection of books that Dad had somehow acquired, the Nobel Prize Library. Dad also had tons of books he acquired in college, all marked on the inside cover with a red stamp that said "Property of A. T. Valencic" followed by something about thieves being executed, I believe.

Of course, my brothers also contributed to this love of reading. Each night before bed, we would all stay up reading. (This is also why I tend to fall asleep with the lights on. Before I could read, they would stay up, so I would just go to sleep.) To this day, I try to read before I go to bed, even though I know that it annoys Gretch a bit. I am trying to convince her to do the same, though. Even my sisters, though younger than me, have contributed to my love of books. There are books I would never have read except that they recommended them. I recommend books to them, as well, more so to my baby sister than anyone, though.

One of the hardest questions for me to answer is, "What is your favourite book?" I tend to shy away from answers that are related to religious texts, like "The Bible" or "The Book of Mormon" - those are just in a completely different category, although I do have two shelves of a bookcase devoted to different versions of the former and different translations of the latter. I will usually cite Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" when pressed for an answer, possibly because it is the book I have read more often than any other single book. (I have averaged reading it about once a year for the past ten years.) But there are so many good books out there! And even though I will definitely read a good book more than once, which is why I have my personal library in the first place, I am also constantly seeking out new literature, so it is hard to really pick one as a favourite.

When it comes to the question of what I read, this, too, is difficult. My tastes in literature are about as broad as one can get, although I haven't really tried harlequin romances. Other than that, if you can name the subject, it is quite possible that I have at least one book that is related. My collection also spans every age level, from beginning readers to advanced literature on quantum physics. I am just as happy reading a work of fiction as I am reading a textbook on Operations Management. I have no idea how many books I have read in my life, nor do I have a clue as to how many hundreds of thousands of pages I have turned. I do know that it is a rare day that I do not have a book in my bag that I carry around as I am working through it.

So yes, I definitely love books. The next time someone comments on my wife's vast collection of Snoopy-related items, and then asks what I collect, I finally have an answer that goes beyond my letter openers, business cards, and baseball caps. I collect knowledge, and I do it most notably through my books. So thanks, Mum and Pops, for teaching me to love literature. And thanks to all of my family, friends, neighbours, and teachers who have introduced me to the vast scope that is the world of books!