Summer Reading Challenge

I have an addiction.

Luckily, my obsession isn't with drugs or alcohol or sex ala Tiger Woods, but it is instead with books. I know you're probably thinking that it isn't that big of a deal, but it is very serious issue. My tiny, 400 sq. ft. apartment, which lacks sufficient storage space, is filled to the brim with books. Even worse, many of these have never been read. 

It all started with a little used bookstore on Adams Ave. in San Diego. I would walk to the bus stop en route to school and back, stopping to check out what books they had. Well, I slowly started to build a collection, and though I knew that I had little free time due to a heavy class schedule and honors coursework, I always thought "Well, I'll read this over summer break."

Eventually summer break wasn't long enough to read the mountain of books that had mysteriously accumulated in my bedroom. Where had they all come from???

"I don't remember buying that."

"Is that mine, or did I borrow it?"

"Why do I have three copies of The Jungle?"

When I did have free time, I often reread my favorites (The Bell Jar, The Catcher in the Rye, A Clockwork Orange, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, American Psycho, Breakfast at Tiffany's, to name a few). The pile of unread books grew larger, sometimes on a weekly basis, even though I read during every dull moment.

Many people have asked me why I don't own an e-Reader of some sort, and it's because I enjoy holding a physical book. I love scouring used bookstores for old editions of classics, reading the dedications that loved ones had thoughtfully written for gift recipients, sitting in cobweb-infested corners as I choose what the next addition to my collection will be, returning home with three or four books at a time that I neatly scrawl my name into before placing them on the shelf. E-readers are impersonal and distracting, and anyone who knows me well knows that I am anything but impersonal and that I need no further distractions from my busy life.

So instead of reading The Catcher in the Rye for the 12th time this summer, I have decided to challenge myself to read all of the unread books on my shelf, regardless of length or genre. For my extensive cookbook collection, I will make a recipe from each book. 

My book collection takes up one full-sized bookshelf in my living room, one small bookshelf in the kitchen (for most of the cookbooks), a shelf on the hutch of my desk in my bedroom, and another small stack on my living room floor. These neglected, unread books account for about 70 of the 100 books in my library - yes, I realize that this is pretty sickening ratio.

So, I invite you join me in my travels, reading my blog posts as I read through my library. Feel free to comment as you see fit, enter into friendly debates with me where our views differ, and read along with me if you feel so inclined.