Thom’s Comments (group member since Mar 28, 2011)

Thom’s comments from the Book Buying Addicts Anonymous group.

Being raised in the Lone Star State my favorite is America's Team; the Dallas Cowboys.

You know what they say about people that assume....... I mean American football. Soccer is played basically the entire year.

I am at 210 and my 2013 goal was 200, putting me 10 books ahead. I must admit that it does take some of the pressure to perform off of my shoulders. I have often written that autumn and early winter months is my least productive period as reading has to make way for football. This means that my reading schedule is set up to accommodate this anomaly. Generally I start out relatively low and increase my challenge as the year progressed; this year was no different but even with two months to go this year, I won’t increase it again. Now all of my reads are just icing on the cake and I like icing.

I went to an open air market and picked up a few bargains to fill up an empty spacew in my library.

Mary,
That is the beauty of a copious and bountiful library to choose from. I sometimes start a new book and struggle to get into it. If I put it down and choose another life is sweet and my reading untroubled. Generally, at some time in the future, I will pick up the book I was struggling with and all previous problems are forgotten.

I was allocated a bedroom by my partner when we moved into this house. I promptly filled all of the walls with floor to ceiling adjustable bookshelves and moved in my hoard. In those early years it seemed that space would never be a problem but this was a physical impossibility. My collection has grown and grown but the room size has stayed the same. Eventually the end will come and other alternatives will have to be discussed and considered. So far my partner has shown an extraordinary talent for creating space and every time I think the limit has been reached, she rearranges and manages to clear up some more space. She is also a reader (but not as fanatical as I seem to be) but she loves me and realizes this is just part of what makes me, me. God bless her and all the husbands, wives and partners that bare the bookaphilia burden of their chosen mate.

I am a collector. I collect practically anything and everything. Multiplicity is beauty to my eyes so the thought of reducing my stockpile of anything is painful. I must admit that occasionally I find that I have multiple copies of some particular book and after much guilt and soul-searching I may decide to give them away if I am assured that they will have a good home and will be loved. Many have suggested that my condition is bordering on mania but I insist that I am harmless. I’ve got the collecting bug bad and will be the first to admit it. I’m sure there are Book Buying Addicts of all kinds; I am just one,

Melissa wrote: "I headed out to the library book sale with the plan that I was only going to buy books if they were part of a series that I already had but then I saw the sign that said all the books you can fit i..."

Couldn't you use multiple bags? I would have probably cleaned them out!

October is almost over and these are my first new books of the month. Better late than never.....

World War II was the last of the great wars. This is a statement made because this particular war wasn’t only good for the world at the time but also in the future. This war was good for the victors as well as the vanquished. The allies were surprisingly magnanimous in their victory and instituted programs (like the Marshal Plan) to raise a defeated enemy out of the dust of war and on the path to economical superiority.
If one examines the war itself, they will find that it was the last truly conventional war (even with its atomic ending) in that lines of battle were clearly marked, for the most part, and the combatants knew exactly what they were fighting for. When the war was over, two superpowers emerged to take the world from the atomic into the nuclear age and the Cold War, where battlefields were smaller and spread worldwide; a war of threats, rhetoric, gorilla tactics, espionage and assignation. France and Germany advance from their war torn economies to become the dominant financial and productive force in Europe and Japan copies the feat in Asia; bringing the ex-enemy into the position they had tried and failed to attain through war.
To many (as seen in retrospect) World War II was the gift that keeps on giving. This particularly holds true for the writer. Whether writing about the war itself or the world that was created in consequent, the author was furnished with an endless supply of incidents, hypostases and possibilities, with the virtual guarantee of success. Supplied with a universal archenemy that everyone loves to hate, writers created works of timeless literature that is as interesting and exciting today as it was decades ago when it was first written. Even today in the Twenty-first Century a writer can make the Best Sellers list with a vintage story from the age when life was simple and clear.
What are your feelings on this subject? Do you think the gold mines of WWII are played out or still capable of producing a mother load?
(P.S. Don’t mistake this question as a belittling of the sacrifices of our forefathers or a trifling of the sufferings and horrors of war. I believe that all wars have horrors and this one more than many but the fact can’t be disputed that many very good books have been written since its conclusion and the war has served as a catalyst.)

No cell phone? I didn’t know that there were still people without them. Oh well, that makes you one of the few and certainly unique. If I might make a suggestion……use Goodreads to find those out of the way bookstores in the cities you are planning to visit. We have members literally everywhere so I am sure you can get some valuable information. In any case, good luck, good trip and good hunting!

When I enter a used book store I generally stop, take a deep breath and soak up the smells and ambiance. It takes a few minutes before my eyes are accustomed to the cavalcade of bindings that are lined so perfectly on the shelves. Eventually my eyes stop (generally by a large book) and I start noting titles. I don’t have a Goodreads app but my memory isn’t completely disabled and I can usually spot new titles. I can lose myself in a bookstore or library and time is no longer an issue. I have always said that my ideal vacation would be in a library and once (twenty years ago) I spent two weeks in a very large one. I must admit it wasn’t a very social vacation (and certainly not for everyone) but I enjoyed it. I think if you look through a bookstore and leave it saying “I have them all” I will say to you “You are very rich indeed!”

Good! Now you have no excuse not to read them.... enjoy!

I've reached my goal of 200.......

I'm glad that after more than fifty years I've successfully given it up.

This week the death of Tom Clancy was announced. I have all of his books and have read most of them. The loss of a great writer is always a blow to his (or her) fans. I will miss Tom as a friend for he has touched my life. What is your reaction or what are your comments on his death?

This makes 37 new books to my already massive library this month. Maybe I can break this record next month... The time I spend not looking I dedicate to reading (and football).

What better way to spend a fair weather autumn Sunday than visiting a flea market and looking for books and other little treasures?

I think I'll spend a couple of weekends at home with my nose in a book.

and The Farber Book of Love Poetry edited by Geoffrey Grigson.