People make slightly gender-discriminatory remarks about girls and their ginormous amount of shopping. Not that I resent them; they're all in good fun. They are also mostly true.

Take my sister. She has talked about buying a pair of shoes for weeks. "Just one pair to match everything I own" is how she describes this elusive search.

And she found them after three hours at the mall yesterday.


Rather, she found three pairs of shoes, and couldn't part with a single one. My Mom, the very female associate on said excursion, bought four.

I'm not complaining though since they rarely go to the mall anyway. I also seem to make up for it with my indifference regarding shoes.

Or maybe not; everyone has a weakness after all. Mine just happens to be books.

I can't remember a time when I didn't love books. I remember drawing pictures in worn children's books before I learned to read. I used to finger pages, and marvel over the different textures. I would sniff the pages until my Mom --- worried about having a daughter high on varnish, I'm sure --- would make me stop.

My first words were cab and cat. My first novel was a Nancy Drew book I finished at the age of 5. Unsurprisingly, my second home was the school library where I'd pore over books for hours. I'd borrow books and sit in the school playground reading. My teacher had to show me how to use the slide before I'd put my book down.

My choice of reading material has obviously widened since then. I've gone on numerous adventures, and made friends with all kinds of characters. I've taken in life lessons of historical figures, and cried over silly sad endings. I even learned how to knit and design graphics through instructional books.

All that reading burns a hole through my wallet though. There are no public libraries in my area, so I end up buying or borrowing friends' books before I can get the ones I want. I've taken to saving a fund for books, and that helps.

It's a small price to pay for the enjoyment I get. I guess my books are like old friends; they made my world so much bigger and more colorful.

People make slightly gender-discriminatory remarks about girls and their ginormous amount of shopping. Not that I resent them; they're all in good fun. They are also mostly true.

Take my sister. She has talked about buying a pair of shoes for weeks. "Just one pair to match everything I own" is how she describes this elusive search.

And she found them after three hours at the mall yesterday.


Rather, she found three pairs of shoes, and couldn't part with a single one. My Mom, the very female associate on said excursion, bought four.

I'm not complaining though since they rarely go to the mall anyway. I also seem to make up for it with my indifference regarding shoes.

Or maybe not; everyone has a weakness after all. Mine just happens to be books.

I can't remember a time when I didn't love books. I remember drawing pictures in worn children's books before I learned to read. I used to finger pages, and marvel over the different textures. I would sniff the pages until my Mom --- worried about having a daughter high on varnish, I'm sure --- would make me stop.

My first words were cab and cat. My first novel was a Nancy Drew book I finished at the age of 5. Unsurprisingly, my second home was the school library where I'd pore over books for hours. I'd borrow books and sit in the school playground reading. My teacher had to show me how to use the slide before I'd put my book down.

My choice of reading material has obviously widened since then. I've gone on numerous adventures, and made friends with all kinds of characters. I've taken in life lessons of historical figures, and cried over silly sad endings. I even learned how to knit and design graphics through instructional books.

All that reading burns a hole through my wallet though. There are no public libraries in my area, so I end up buying or borrowing friends' books before I can get the ones I want. I've taken to saving a fund for books, and that helps.

It's a small price to pay for the enjoyment I get. I guess my books are like old friends; they made my world so much bigger and more colorful.