Keeping fed

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

- Ray Bradbury -

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I have a voracious appetite...for reading and books. OK, if I'm honest I like to eat too, but that's a whole other post; this one is about books and my almost insatiable appetite for them and the reading they provide.

I've always been what I'd call, a reader, right from a very young age and throughout my life have read countless books of all sorts from training manuals, true crime, fantasy, sci-fi, historical-fiction, folklore, military, humour, mythology, narrative non-fiction, biographical and autobiographical, travel and so on; a lot of books.

I buy them new generally, although can be found browsing (and buying) in second-hand bookstores and thrift-shops also. I don't download them though, or read on a device - I can't stand doing that.

Today I took the morning off work for some personal reasons and whilst waiting for some results headed over to the bookshop at the mall, conveniently located across the road from the facility where my appointment was. I wandered about and checked out some books deciding to take a risk on a new author by the name of Mark Lawrence. The book was on a discount table, I hope that doesn't mean it was on sale because it's shit, but I'll soon find out I guess.

I went to one of the café's in the mall, ordered some breakfast and coffee and, because I couldn't help myself, started reading.

I'm currently in the middle of a book by well-known author, Conn Iggulden called Emperor - The Gates Of Rome, although it's not unusual for me to read two books at one time. I read the first chapter of the Mark Lawrence book, called Prince of Thorns, and decided it was not too bad at all...I generally know if a book will suck ass within the first chapter. I'll keep reading, although I think I'll finish the Iggulden book first, it's rather engrossing and I don't want the stories to clash in my mind.

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I have a pretty impressive collection of books; I call it my library. Some I have read once and many twice. Some, like Lord of the Rings, just about everything Raymond E. Feist has written and many military books I've read multiple times. I also sell them sometimes, but I do that reluctantly and only with books I know I won't read again...However, I've had to repurchase some a second time over the years.

I'm not one to talk myself up, but one of my best traits, in my opinion, is that I'm widely read, meaning I have read so many books that I tend to have a pretty good grasp on many things which means I'm pretty good at conversing with many different types of people about virtually anything. It's not something I decided to do, it just sort of happened the more I read. I like it though, I think it makes me a little more interesting.

It's not hard keeping myself fed with books, I guess the hard part is finding somewhere to put them all at times, but I manage well enough and there's always room for one, or one hundred and one, more.

Do you have a reading fetish? Tell me about your books, what you like to read and your favourite one in the comments below if you'd like.