Tina, you've got to read that one and Memoirs of Cleopatra first. They're both fabulous!

I just got in a huge box of books that I can't get on kindle. I'm so excited--The Children of Henry VIII by Weir is in it! Yay! :-)

Ah Tina, we are all too familliar; you have been bitten with the Tudor bug. There seems to be no cure because no one is looking for one ;)

Aly, I hate that! Seeing incredible history in person and not being able to take pics is even worse when they don't provide pics for purchase. Thank God for that book!

Welcome to the club Tina, you are among fellow addicts. Sorry to say there does not seem to be a cure :).

Hi, Tina! I know exactly what you are talking about!!!!

Colleen, its incredible. It's so much like the exhibits that I saw, its amazing!! (Its a good thing too, because in a lot of the exhibits photography isn't allowed, so this helps me to have a record of it!)

I joined this group as an Tudor newbie in October. Little did I know that reading The Innocent Traitor would start an addiction. In a little over one month, I've joined several more history groups, have added countless books on my amazon wishlist, and have purchased even more--I just can't get enough! I want to read about everyone at once! I read about one person/time period, get excited about exploring more about someone mentioned, then when I'm reading about them, I find someone else I'm interested. It's like a never ending rabbit trail :-) And then, these groups are like a double edged sword--I love them (this one, european royalty, a history of royals, and historical fictionistas), but being part of them has done serious harm to my wallet. I keep meaning to not buy books to save up to replace my ipod that broke, but I can't stop myself from hitting the purchase button on amazon!

My name is Tina and I have OCD for books.

That sounds like the next best thing to having the luxery of living in London and being able to go see everything IRL.

O yes!! The entire thing is pictures (which I LOVE!). They even enlarge some of Henry's letters so you can attempt to read them!!! He had HORRIBLE handwriting!! and of course, the spelling is completely different. David Starkey has a commentary throughout the whole thing citing mostly his books, but he throws in a cite or two from some other authors. There are sketches and engravings that i have never seen before. Amazing!!!

With pictures Aly?

I'm envious. I've heard quite a lot about the book and it seems like a treasure.

It was Man and Monarchy by David Starkey. I saw it when we were in London, and for some reason didn't buy it. Its even more beautiful than I remember!! It's the catalogue of the exhibits that happened at the British Library as well as pieces of some others (like portraits and stuff). Its so cool, because there are letters from Henry to Anne, Henry's birth certificate, and a bunch of other documents. I couldn't put it down last night!

Aly wrote: "Hurray for amazing partners!!! I got a package today from Amazon and I hadn't ordered anything from there in awhile. Turns out, my boyfriend bought me a book that I have been wanting for six mont..."

Now that it wonderful! I'm not sure I've just received a book a wanted out of the blue. You lucky dog, you!!!!

Paula wrote: "Awww - what good partners you guys all have!! Yay for the supportive boys! I think mine is coming around; my latest box of books arrived last night and my boyfriend was actually (and genuinely) hap..."

Congrats Paula!

Yay for our partners! :)

I go home all smiles when I've found new treasures and thinks it's so cute how happy I am.

Aw, Aly; nothing better than surprise books! What did he get you?

OO!! Thats such a great book, Paula!!! And that's awesome that he got the box for you!

Awww - what good partners you guys all have!! Yay for the supportive boys! I think mine is coming around; my latest box of books arrived last night and my boyfriend was actually (and genuinely) happy to go and get the box for me, and to see me happy with my new treasures... which, by the way, includes Weir's Children of Henry VIII recommended by this wonderful group!

Hurray for amazing partners!!! I got a package today from Amazon and I hadn't ordered anything from there in awhile. Turns out, my boyfriend bought me a book that I have been wanting for six months!!! Hurray!!!!

Sounds like mine. Never reads himself. He says I'm obsessed with buying books but that it's a good obsession that he supports.

High five for Jennifer's loving husband!

Yay Hubby :)
He's a keeper for sure... one that never reads a book but lets me read as many as I want without ever complaining about it ;)

Awww, it's good to have a husband that may not understand but sympathizes with you being upset. Kudos for Jennifer's husband!

Yes they are!!!! Good Hubby!!!!

No actually hubby knows to sympathize. He said 'oh, you poor thing, you must have had a terrible night!' and actually said it seriously. He was in bed already. Lucky him! lol

Ugh... bug guts on books are terrible!

The horror, Jennifer we feel your pain! Did hubby have any sympathy or did he laugh at the incedent?

Suasn, funny you should mention bugs. I love nothing more than to sit outside with a book and I have noticed lately thee tiny little ants on the pages of my copy of wives. It's hard to just brush them off instead of smooshing them then mourning the ant guts on my precious book.

Yup... 4 and they're all good so I just don't know what else to do

I know Susan! Me too. So unlike me normally....

LOL..That is sooo funny Jennifer. Poor book though...LOL
Are you reading too many books at once ?

Jennifer wrote: "Um... I have a confession.
I've 'hurt' one of my books. LOL

I was reading The Wives of Henry VIII the other night (Fraser's) and as reading has been taking over my life I decided to try to mul..."

AHHHH! sorry Jennifer, that stinks. I get upset if my edges get a little worn or a bug lands in my book needing to be killed. A have major OCD about howmy books look, I always use a cover so as to not damage the cover.

Um... I have a confession.
I've 'hurt' one of my books. LOL

I was reading The Wives of Henry VIII the other night (Fraser's) and as reading has been taking over my life I decided to try to multitask but still keep reading. So what did I decide to do? Paint my stupid nails. Of course you can see where this is going... deep purple *%&!?$# nailpolish all over my book. So what was the next step? How do I fix it? Yup, nail polish remover. That takes nail polish off right? lol yeah a little but then of course it ran through the pages which wouldn't have been so bad had there not been picture pages a few pages after that. The ink ran through and stained more pages. Sigh. Believe it or not... it gets better. I was trying to get the stain off and then ended up smudging my wet nails on the pages AGAIN.

After all this I thought... well, at least that's the worst that can happen, right?

Nope...

I checked the inside cover.

It was a First Edition...

Oh boy...

Oo that's awesome that you sketch and like designing! I'm miserable with a pencil, but I'm a photographer, so my camera comes with me everywhere! I didn't make it to Hever when I was England. i really wanted to go, but ran out of time. I didn't think that the Westminster Abbey was going to take as long as it did. Hampton Court is incredibly huge. i was disappointed that more of the original palace wasn't around. *sigh* But I took an entire day to go to the Tower. I know that most people could probably go around it in a little over two hours, but we even ate lunch there because I didn't want to leave!
Colleen, that's how I am too! I have to have something playing otherwise I can't sleep, so audiobooks are perfect. Last night I listened to Innocent Traitor! Or part of it anyway. My ipod was the best thing I have ever bought! I have an account with Audible, they have everything! I bought The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George about six months ago.
I have to get onto swaptree!

I tend to see historic buildings from the outside, and I don't do the touristy things in London.
When I first came here, I was so much more interested in subcultures and art and fashion of the underground variety that I didn't get into historical stuff. Now I have been here 20 yrs, we rarely do touristy type things.

First on my list is Hatfield House.
Then Hever Castle.
We did have a date to do Hever Castle on my birthday (I went there before on my 18th birthday...ahem....a good few years ago now). The recent trip was cancelled. Sadly my partner has a dodgy leg. I might go alone, and then just sketch stuff as I like designing textiles and love historical influences to things.

Erssie

I just use my ipod and itunes, though you have to search for them, has plenty of podcasts and audiobooks for free. The library always has books on tape, not always the most up to date selection I have found. Some sites to try:

www.AudiobookStand.com

www.TheAudioBookStore.com

www.Audible.com

Aly, I can only get to sleep by watching TV or a movie but it bugs my husband so I have taken to listening to books on my ipod, I love it.

Erssie, i've been looking at ereaders too, because of the easiness to get books. So far, the kindle has the most titles that I'm looking for, but the Sony one is cheaper. *Sigh* I love audiobooks! I always fall asleep to them. Unfortunately, i'm such a visual learner that I can't listen to a book without reading it first. For some reason, it just doesn't get into my brain if I haven't seen the actual text. And you have to go to the Tower!! It's incredible!! I love London, I have to say I'm jealous that you live there! :)

Audiobooks are good for me, as I knit and need something to listen to but I do find my attention wandering a bit and keep rewinding.

I will eventually get a sony e-book reader or something like that, as I am trying to ban paper from my home.
However there are not enough titles available at the moment for good prices via ebooks, so paperbacks it is. I will try out a swap group. But am not always able to get to post office in time for requests as I don't live near one, that can be a problem for promising to post within 24 hours or so.

I was interested to see the excitement about tudor London, and people wanting to visit. I live in London, and am ashamed to say have never been inside the Tower or been to Hatfield house yet!
I have dogs, and visiting stately homes means gardens have to accept the pooches but some homes won't have them.

I was interested to read though, that Henry VIII had a special baker just to make the greyhounds loaves of bread, he made about 80 or so a day apparently! Sorry, am going a bit OT now.

Erssie

Erssie

Erssie

Erssie, welcome to the group and no cheek intended, that was a heartwarming story. Give us you ebay handle and you may find buyers in the group, a lot of us are obsessed with collecting any coveted book we can get out hands on!

I am sorry to hear about your eyes, it's not the same but at least you can perhaps take small comfort in audiobooks :)

I don't like paperback swap personally but that's just me. I love www.swaptree.com and I have always had great luck selling my unwanted books on amazon.com

Well, my latest obsession is buying Plaidy's books that have been reprinted by Arrow pub.

The covers are awesome but they are only available from the UK. Abe books has the best prices. It's terrible but I'm all about covers! I've replaced books I already own, just to have the nicer cover.

Rationally it's stupid but nothing is rational when it comes to books!!!!

You need to join www.paperbackswap.com/. You put up what books you have to trade and get a credit, for a book of your choice, everytime someone asks for one of yours. You now shop for someething you want to read.

You do have to pay shipping for books you're sending but you can mail from home. You print the postage off the site. Several people on Goodreads also belong to paperbackswap. Great way to get rid of books you've read but don't want to keep.

I used to have my books on display, for me, to remind me what I had read and I never used to throw them away.

It started with my parents, too mean to buy me books in the 1970's their shelves were bare. I had to read any old rubbish from the library or from school. I tried to get good books, but sometimes read things just cos they were free.

I decided when I turned 18 that I was going to read like mad, and keep all my books...I did until I was 30 but sadly I got an eye disorder and part of it was an allergy to house dust mites but also, book mites. My paperbacks were yellow and eaten and creating book mite excrement to appear....so I had to throw the lot away.

Well, I donated to charity, probably near a thousand books. They came and collected them in boxes with a van for Oxfam. This was for my local shop. Then I proudly took a friend to oxfam, to show him where my old books had gone (in case he wanted to buy one for a few pence) and there were NONE of my old books in sight. I asked them where they were and did not get a satisfactory answer!

Where do charity books go? And when I have read a book....it has to go somewhere....but who will adopt them? I can't afford to post them, I put them on sale on ebay for a low price...but no-one buys them?

So although I have OCD on wanting everything I have read on my real shelves, I am now obssessed with adding books to Goodreads shelf and have reached about 550 so far....but there are hundreds if not thousands more....does anyone else feel wierd about their collection of books on here not reflecting ALL that they have read? I am obssessed about looking for titles, and remembering missed ones now

Erssie

Thank you thank you ladies, I feel so loved!

Oh, while I was away I made my usual mandatory trip to the used book store with my friend I was staying with. As we drove away she acutally asked me if I was planning on *actually* reading all those books I just bought. I had to laugh, I immediately thought of our discussion earlier on this thread!

Colleen wrote: "I just thought I would share with my fellow OCD people that I finally got my books back after waiting for five months (I moved) and spent a few hours unpacking them and telling them I missed them w..."

I'm so glad your books are out in the fresh air, waiting to be read, and admired on their shelves.

Enjoy

Lyn wrote: "I have sure missed you Colleen. You are my idol. "

Me too!

I have sure missed you Colleen. You are my idol.

I just thought I would share with my fellow OCD people that I finally got my books back after waiting for five months (I moved) and spent a few hours unpacking them and telling them I missed them while I reorganized them into new catagories.

I labeled the shelves after I discovered my labeler. *sigh* stickey white labes will just have to do until I have to money to get brass plaques made ;p

See - now I would probably get Echo in Hardback to have signed, but not read it, and then buy Echo again in trade to read. (Who says I don't have a problem, LOL) I like Jennifer's answer, too, though.

Jennifer wrote: "Question for my fanatical friends :D (I posted this on the Outlander site but know you'll all be answering with the same OCD compulsions that I have)

I'm so excited because I found out that Dian..."

Oh, no! That is a challenge, but great that you'll meet her! Personally, I would have her sign the OC hardcover book. That way, the one book that isn't an actual text of the series can stand out appropriately. Just my opinion : )

Question for my fanatical friends :D (I posted this on the Outlander site but know you'll all be answering with the same OCD compulsions that I have)

I'm so excited because I found out that Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series) is coming to a book store in my town next month. I want to go and try to get one of my books signed but here's my problem.

I have all of the books in mass market paperback but don't want to get her to sign one of those. The only book I have right now in hardcover is the Outlandish Companion. Should I get her to sign that and wait for Echo to be published in pb or should I just buy the hc copy of Echo and have it completely not match my set but be signed?

Absolutely Correct!!

I love our book addictions. Yes, impossible to quit but the high is fabulous and much less harmful to our health than other addictions we could pick up :D

I was just on vacation and mind you I do not buy books at full price. I go to a bookstore and make a list of what I want, come home and go to either alibris or amazon.

Well on vacation, I bought 5 full priced books UGH! I am now thinking that book addiction (if you're a passionate reader)is impossible to quit/break. I just need to set aside an amount of $ each month for books and stop worrying!

Paula wrote: "Oh my goodness. I have just skimmed through all of these postings, but I suddenly feel so much better. Since I have read your confessions, here are mine:

I think I identify most with Kate - with..."

You organize like I do, I worked in a library though.