From Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction by Tom Raabe,
page 157:
Just think, for a
moment, what total abstinence from books would mean. Wrenched away
from your bookish milieu and placed in a hostile, sterile, nonbook,
nonreading environment. Walking into your home and finding
absolutely no books anywhere. Slipping between the sheets at night
and having no books by your bed. Reclining in your favorite reading
chair with nothing to lay in your lap, nothing to hold in your
hands, nothing to do with your eyes. Why, you'd have to watch
television!
Pages 162-163:
The question for us today is: If abstinence [from books] poses
more problems than it solves . . . what can be done now? Reason
doesn't work, nagging doesn't work, anger doesn't work -- we know
all too well what doesn't work. . . . Why do we do it? Are we
moved by some woo-woo force that controls our being? Is the devil
behind it all? Are we stupid? Or what? First, the facts. Fact
number one is, many of us don't want to be healed. We are in no way
ready to countenance even the thought of arresting our behavior. We
are adamant in our love for books and resolved to follow our
addiction to whatever dreadful end awaits us, be it penury,
obscurity, delusions of grandeur, or whatever. And fact number two
is, nothing works unless we want to be cured. . . .
What does it all mean? Only this: don't worry, be happy. Buy
books -- lots and lots of them. Until it hurts so bad you don't want
to buy again. |
