bibliophiliac? Did I just make up a new word?

I don't often do posts about books ... actually I may never have done one.  This might make you think that I am not of the book-reading stripe, and understandably so, but you'd be wrong.  Way wrong.

See, books are so much a part of my life that I just don't think about them.  They're there like food and water, like my kids; an essential part of my life - one I couldn't imagine living without.

I read - usually - 2-3 books at a time. I can be reading up to 5-6, but never only one.  I might find one so fascinating that I read it exclusively for a couple of days, but I always have to cleanse my mental palate every now and then.  I can generally finish a novel in 48 hours, so when, for instance, I get a new Stephen King or Kathy Reich, I might read it right through, uninterrupted by another book, but that's rare.

So what prompted me to share all this literary lovey-ness with you all (most of whom, I'm quite sure are bibliophiles like me)? Well, I just realsied this morning that I'm currently reading 4 books and have 2 more on standby and still more on their sweet way from Amazon.  I'm in book heaven. And I love being here.  It makes me so happy to have a bunch of books to read!  Some people might feel overwhelmed at a stack of unread books but I look at them fondly.

So what am I reading?

Hmm ... I just finished The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith an astounding and fact-packed book that I recommend everyone read - especially those who believe that their vegetarian / grain based diet is actually better for the planet. That is a lie. You are eating an untruth and the real truth is really really scary, folks.

I also re-re-re-read Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne just for fun. I can finish the ones that I've read many times in 24 hours.

Currently I'm absorbed by a book called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  What I thought would be a trivial young adult novel is a gripping adventure that I've had trouble putting down. I plan to purchase the next two in the trilogy once I get some money.

I just started Alas, Babylon , a post-apocolyptic oldie by Pat Frank.  Not far enough along to judge yet.

Those are all physical books. I am also embroiled in two on the kindle which are about to get the best of me: A Son of the Circus by John Irving, a normally fave author of mine. This one, though, is dragging and has been since the get-go.  I'm still working on it though.  The other is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson which it seems everyone raves about. Well, I find it dense, wandering, and hard to get through.  I've been avoiding going back to it since it's like chewing a huge wad of hard, tasteless gum.

The two I have on deck are two novels that are faves of my dad's.  He claims that there are only three novels that he has read more than once: Catch-22, Fate Is the Hunter (Ernest K. Gann) and Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson).  As a matter of fact I have started Snow Crash twice (at his urging) and have failed to finish it each time.  I have never read Fate is the Hunter (I've read Catch-22 many many times).  He (my dad) pretty much threw down the gauntlet on Facebook about Snow Crash the other day so I , unable to resist a challenge, stomped into my library this morning (yes, we have a library in our home) and find Snow Crash and Fate is the Hunter.

Even with books that I'm having trouble getting through I still am delighted to have a stack of books waiting to be read!

What about you? What are you reading now?  Do you have a book or books that you thought you would like but just can't seem to wade through?  have you read any of the ones I mentioned/ What did you think?