My Ten Most Obsessive Bookish Habits

“So I am making peace with the emptiness, the hollowness/Because I refuse to fill it with lies.”

Unwoman

1. I always finish a book. Unless I actually physically lose it or something. A lot of people I know think this is Very Obsessive; personally, I think it is only Quite Obsessive, since I like to review everything I read on this blog, and trying to review a half-read book is neither very fair nor very interesting.
2. I always read my TBR pile in order. New books go at the top of the pile, which is admittedly not a very good system since it means I never get to the bottom of the pile, but godsdammit that’s how I do it. No one said it had to make sense.
3. My books are in alphabetical order. The Circumlocutor in particular thinks this is Very Obsessive, and also Wrong. I just enjoy the contradictions I get when they’re in that order – Jane Austen next to Isaac Asimov, a Shopaholic book nestling up to Lovecraft, House of Leaves next to Charles Dickens. The whole point is that it’s delightfully and automatically eclectic.
4. I always have a book with me. You never, ever know when you might need it, to avoid social awkwardness or unwanted attention (which is to say, all attention), or just to chat about what you’re currently-reading.
5. I try to update Booklikes as soon as I finish a book. My Booklikes blog is for instant reactions – swearing, squeeing and everything in between – and I also like to make sure it’s kept up to date. Just because.
6. I sleep with my book under my pillow. I started doing this because of Meggie from Inkheart, and now I do it…erm…just because. The books totally whisper their secrets to me in my dreams. I’m not crazy or anything.
7. I have a book spreadsheet. Partly because I really love spreadsheets, and possibly my favourite part of the reading year is that time around New Year when I get to analyse my year’s reading.
8. Whenever I’m staying anywhere overnight, I always take two books with me. What would happen if I ran out of books? What? The world would explode, that’s what.
9. I make sure I read every day. I actually forgot to read one day last month, and I legitimately had a tiny identity crisis. Even if it’s only a page, it’s symbolically important to me that I continue to make that time to read. (I will admit that this one is probably Very Obsessive.)
10. I like to read over breakfast. Even if this involves getting up super early, I just feel like it’s a nice bit of quiet time that sets me up for the day, centred in myself.

(The theme for this post was suggested by the Broke and the Bookish’s weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday.)