Besotted by Books

For readers of the ReD Zone who don't know me that well, I have a confession:
I am addicted to books.

It doesn't matter if they are online, on the shelf at a bookstore or my local library, I can spend hours-- HOURS people!-- browsing titles, skimming chapters inside, and blinking my contacts dry comparing this selection with that one, then turning a corner only to find -- aha!-- an even more intriguing book. Do I want "1,001 Commonly Misspelled Words" or "The Busy Girl's Guide to Looking Good? Both are awfully practical .... hmmm .... And hey, which"Rival Crock Pot's Slow Cooker Recipes" is the better buy, spiral-bound or the fun, hard-back "shape?" I mean, both are $7.98. Get me inside almost any major bookstore and you -- er, the sales clerks-- are guaranteed I won't leave without spending money. Usually a lot of it.

My friend Emily and her mom have the perfect signature phrase to describe the compulsive shopping impulse that takes over: "I blacked out and when I woke up, all this [__item of choice__] was in my cart." They fill in their "blank" with toys for children; I fill mine in with books. Neither one of us comes to until we're in line to check out. Even then, it's near torture putting something back in a half-hearted attempt to hold out for a far lower price at half.com.

Let's put it this way: a visit to my sister's in PA feels incomplete until I've gone to the bookstore less than 10 minutes from her house (I'm sooooo jealous!). My family pretty much understands that once I head that way, they won't see me again for a few hours, or more likely, an entire afternoon.

And you know it's an addiction when you've already put in a 9-hour day and yet, for some odd reason, the wheels of your car just magically turn toward the nearest bookstore. That's what happened tonight. Forget tired. Forget rushed. Barnes & Noble requires a bit of stopping to smell the roses, so to speak. The one up near my "new" office in Pittsford has a sale annex and several shelves of used books, where I scored Emma Thompson's "Sense & Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries" for $4, among other worthy deals and steals. (That's right, hook me with one of my favorite movies, packaged in book form, and I'm done for.)

And since Pittsford's B & N also boasts a Starbucks cafe that not only serves coffee, but panini sandwiches, strata and cheesecake, well, let's just say I'm set. I could easily spend an entire day, or, I venture, entire week inside without getting bored or hungry. I'm not kidding. I do imagine, however, I would ultimately leave flat broke. But I'm sure I'd be smiling.

Hi, my name is Rachel D. and I'm a (book) addict. And now, if you'll excuse me, a screenplay is calling my name.