It is a structural feature but still I buy more!
Books are a blessing in my life.
I have been a fierce reader for as long as I can remember. My childhood was built on books. The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, Disney stories, Enid Blyton—you name it, I read it. While other children were outside climbing trees, I was usually curled up somewhere with my nose in a book, completely lost in another world.
As I have grown older, my reading tastes have changed, but my love of books has never wavered. My shelves now feature authors such as Tom Clancy, Lisa Gardner, Araminta Hall, Alice Hunter, and Lee Child, along with countless others. Books have always been a constant in my life.
But with every great passion comes a problem.
The problem is this: when you already have more than enough books to read, why do you keep buying more?
That is where the title comes in. My “to be read” pile has become less of a pile and more of a permanent structural feature of the house. Yet somehow, I continue to add to it.
It is only September, and I already have eight books on order to arrive between now and the end of the year. That is before we even consider the books already sitting on my shelves or the ones waiting patiently on my iPad.
Let us begin with the iPad.
Currently, there are 36 unread books sitting there. The collection is an eclectic mix of history, politics, military history, Oppenheimer, Churchill, Reagan, Queen Victoria and much more. There is social commentary from Douglas Murray and Konstantin Kisin. There are biographies of Bernard Cribbins, Ivan Cleary and Elon Musk, plus a handful of novels, and, because I am ever the optimist, two cookbooks.
Then there are the physical shelves.
More than fifty books are waiting their turn. Politics, military history, biographies, comedy, fiction, non-fiction, horror—you name it, it is somewhere in the collection. Altogether, I am edging towards one hundred unread books.
One hundred.
At this point, I feel less like a reader and more like the curator of a small library.
There are books on the bookshelves. Books stacked on another shelf. Books on the hall table. A book on the sofa. A book in my handbag.
Are you beginning to see a pattern?
The truth is that book lovers understand a simple fact: buying books and reading books are two entirely separate hobbies. We tell ourselves that one day we will have endless free time and finally conquer the mountain of unread novels and biographies. Deep down, however, we know that the mountain will simply grow a little taller with every trip to the bookshop.
And honestly, I would not have it any other way.
My name is Joanne, and I have a problem: too many books and never enough time.
If you would like to read reviews of some of the “commentary” books I’ve read:
The MAGA Doctrine by Charlie Kirk
What is a Woman? by Matt Walsh
The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad
