Let’s hear it for books – an addiction that is healthy

Let’s talk about books. I’m an addict and I’m not afraid to admit it. I have thousands of the things and I keep buying more. My pile of books I mean to read never seems to diminish, however much time I devote to it, and I’m pretty sure that when I finally unpack my collection of books, comics and other tat, I will encounter the pile I meant to read before I moved house five years ago, but instead neatly packed away.

I tell myself that one day I will have time to read everything, and then I put one book down, want another and buy several more. Even my Kindle account is filled with bargains acquired in moments of mindless optimism. My addiction refuses to abate. That neglected collection amounts to about 60 unopened boxes and in the next few weeks I’m hoping to buy the last of many, many bookcases, so I can finally unpack.

Even worse, about a year ago I talked my way into reviewing books on a freelance basis for a newspaper and now publishers send me them faster than I can read them. I know – another First World problem. But I do love them so. The experience of reading a book, properly paced, can so consume me that I have difficulty focusing on conversations when it’s over.

The way they smell makes me sigh. I derive pleasure from holding one in my hands. I even feel satisfaction when I see a shelf full of books, all lined up neatly with matching spines, containing narratives in perfect order.

So, assuming that anyone still reading this must also like books, I want to refer my remaining reader to the new Independent Bookshops Alliance, which unites 130 booksellers in a movement worthy of a saga, or perhaps a trilogy of sagas.

The idea is to promote each other, and literacy, and the shared experience of reading.

Big chains do provide jobs, but there’s no substitute for an independent bookshop, with its unique atmosphere – and the experience of browsing, hunting, finding, wandering, dreaming and, hopefully, returning.

Let’s stay addicted to books. It’s healthy.

I even feel satisfaction when I see a shelf full of books…