Me Gots Another Meme/Award Thingamajiggy!

Yep, another award to add to my cache. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This beautiful award came to me from Donna, over at Our Adventures With Tassie. It's another bookish award, but with a twist in the meme.

Now what I've been told to do is to link to the awesome blogger who gave me this. Done that! Then I've gotta tell you 7 random/weird book things about me. After that, I have to give this award to 7 other people. But you know that sometimes I go against the rules and don't pass it on. This is one of those times, but if you like the award, or more specifically if you consider yourself a bookworm, well take it right along with you!

On to 7 weird book/reading things about me.

1) Well let's see. If at all possible, I have to read an author's books in the chronological order which they were written. Of course I can't do this all the time but I do try. If the book is one in a series than it's a must.

2) Unless I truly hate a book I feel the need to finish reading it. If the book is really bad (like Lisey's Story by Stephen King) I might actually give up on it after reading 200 pages. And along those same lines, I almost never get rid of a hardcover book. Again, unless I completely hated it enough to not even finish it.

3) Even if a book was beyond phenomenal it's doubtful I'll ever pick it up and read it again.

4) I adore the smell of old library books. I know that's kind of disgusting in a way. I mean, when you think about it, possibly thousands of people have had their scuzzy hands on it, eating while reading, smearing the pages with goo. Then you've got the bathroom readers. I don't even want to think about that.

5) If I don't give myself at least an hour in bed reading before I go to sleep I am not a happy camper. It's how I decompress from the day.

6) Like Donna, most of my hardcovers come from a used book store. My very favorite is Better World Books.com. They sell both new and used books at great prices, shipping is free in the U.S. and super cheap elsewhere, and part of the proceeds go to funding literacy. What more could you ask for from a web site? Oh, and their follow-up emails are pretty damn funny too.

7) I actually know and am friendly with two published authors, one a best seller (Michael Lee West, a.k.a. Gollum), and a not yet best-seller named Patrick Sanchez. I've mentioned his books in a long ago post, and let me tell you, they rock. Go visit him on the web!

So, that basically tells the story of my book quirks, but I don't even think there's a way to describe my love of reading. It's my very favorite thing to do, and sometimes, if the book is good, I feel transported to another place and time. Although I buy many of my books, I also borrow from the library a lot too. Keep that in mind when you look at the following picture. Since we moved into this rental nearly 2 years ago, I haven't had a bookcase. The books here are piled haphazardly against the wall like the leaning tower of Pisa, double parked near the bottom. So these are just the books I've bought in the time we've lived here. Imagine what the tower would look like if I added in the dozens and dozens of library books!