All Things Transcription

Hello, my name is Serena and I am a bookaholic. I try to be frugal and use the library and other resources that are available. However, the main problem I have is that I am a re-reader. I have been known to read the same books over and over and over. In fact, there are many books that I have read to tatters. I have paperbacks that are held together with rubber bands and masking tape. I also have books that I am on the second, third, or sometimes fourth copy of because I have read them until they couldn’t be held together anymore. There are no 12-step programs available for this problem that I know of, so the problem continues. I am not the only family member with this problem.

Follow up:

One of the problems that this mania causes is an issue with storage. A conservative estimate of the number of books in my house would probably be thousands. No kidding. There are books in every room. They are to be found double and triple shelved in cases, stacked on the unused fireplace hearth upstairs, in the bathrooms, on the nightstands, and in the kitchen. (I forgot to mention that I have a problem with cookbooks as well.) This does not include a large number of periodicals that are saved. I must be forever vigilant in making sure that we do not have an invasion of silverfish. These terrible little insects are the bane of a bibliophile. I am happy to say that I have never had this problem and do not want to, hence the vigilance.

The main problem is that I just can’t let go of a book once I have it in my possession. About 2 years ago, I went through them with the intention of taking a large number of them to a local book exchange shop. Well, you know what they say about good intentions and what road is paved with them. I managed to cull about 25 books out. It earned me $25 worth of credit at the exchange. I purchased a total of 30 books with this credit. Well, that just didn’t work out well, did it? I must say in my own defense that this shop has an excellent selection of titles and authors. Maybe I should have gone to a shop that carried more romance novels (ick).

We also have about 20 GB of books stored. Here’s where I can be really self indulgent. I have a lot of old cookbooks and etiquette books in this collection. I mean, some of them are really old. This format is great for these. I love books, yes, but I don’t want my whole house to smell like an old elementary school library. If you are of a certain age group, you will know exactly what I mean here.

There are many free resources on the internet for reading material. One of my favorites is Scribd. You can find tons of stuff there to read; fiction, non-fiction, self-help, etc. I have found all sorts of gems on here, including some of my favorite addiction, books for children. Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite authors and most of her titles can be located here. Many of the really old titles are now in the public domain so they can be legally downloaded. You may also want to try Project Gutenberg and Archive.org. These are irreplaceable sources of free reading material that have been a boon to me during the past year when I was absolutely forced to stop buying books.

My birthday is this week. Guess what I’m going to do? I get to go and purchase 2 shiny new paperbacks of a series I am quite fond of. I’m behind by those 2 volumes and I’ve been itching to catch up. I am proud to say that these will be the first new books I have purchased in over a year. (I did say new. Okay, okay, I’ve bought a couple of used books. I didn’t spend more then $3 each for them, I swear.) Happy Birthday to me! Snoopy Dance!