I have dragged home another box of books, but in my defense, it was full of classics. The likes of Jules Vern and H. G. Wells were filling this box. I would love to have a large collection of the classics. I am always on the look out for a definitive list of must reads. Once I find a good and proper list I enter it into a database and use it as a check list to aid in the compiling of my collection and it will be my magnum opus.
When I find a copy of a classic novel I purchase it and take it home. If it is older than the copy I have I may keep it and donate the newer copy to the library's book sale, depending on the condition and style of the older version. I try to trade up from paperback to hardcover when I can as well. I may have 2 copies of those I love to read frequently so as not to ruin the pages of the collected copy. Such is the workings of the mind of a hoarder.
On my desk at work I have a copy of the poetry and prose of Whitman, the works of Irving, 2 Dickens, 3 Hemingway, a D.H. Lawrence and a very beaten up 1936 copy of Gone with the Wind just to remind me why I am here. I enjoy working at the library. I enjoy the patrons and the comings and daily goings on of this small Hamlet. They are my job though. MY love, my hobby and my passion are the books. I truly love the books.
I had to become realistic about my book hoarding and pare down my masses though. If I have not read it, do not intend to read it or don't know the author I must get rid of it, unless the dust jacket is just so beautiful as to enhance the shelf it is on. I have allowed myself to collect without question only Anne Rice and Stephen King in contemporary authors until I have full collections. Within reason (if the price is right and it is 1st edition or if it is insanely inexpensive) I may purchase a few other authors I like, (Amy Tan, Michael Crichton,..) but not with free reign. I have an entire set of the Harry Potter Novels. Some are first editions and I have allowed myself to purchase, if one comes along, the replacement first editions of those I do not have. A few other rules and indulgences are... I am allowed to purchase any books on the metaphysical that I come across, because I would also like a large collection of books on Tarot, Astrology, Witchcraft, the occult, demonology, etc... and I allow myself to buy used copies of the classics to ultimately work up to 1st edition hard cover copies. Simply put, I want an interesting library full of my favorites, the classics and the curiosities. I figure I could be doing worse things than spending 5 bucks on a box of books.
