Welcome back to book addiction central, or as I lovingly refer to it, my life. I am hoping that if you are reading this current post that means you have found my blog in some miraculous way. I am also fully aware that it is most likely from my shameless self-plugging on Facebook and Twitter.

No matter what way you found yourself on this blog, here we are again to talk about books. Now before you go counting your chickens before they hatch, I thought I’d take one more blog post to immerse you within my self-proclaimed book addiction prior to starting a discussion about actual books. Don’t worry, they say good things come to those who wait. I’m not sure what exactly those good things are, but it might wine and a book, and those are always worth waiting for.

The sole purpose of this post, besides convincing more and more people of my craziness, is to explain the meaning behind the title of this blog. Now you may not think finding a title warrants an entire blog post by itself, but believe me when you are as OCD as me about things, nailing down a title for your blog is a milestone unto itself.

As I have previously explained, I love books and a buy them a lot. Here is some context on what “a lot” means: I rarely go into a book store without buying a new book or at least adding 2 books to my list of books to buy. Don’t even get me started on what happens when I walk past the Target book section. Bad things happen there.

Basically, it can be surmised that I buy an exorbitant amount of books, and that I buy them often enough that I have a pile if you will of books that need to be read. In an effort to be “organized” I have consolidated this pile of books into what I call my book basket. Now I know what you all must be thinking “Wow, she must have this very fantastic and special place to hold all of her books that need to be read, especially since she loves reading so much!” In actuality my book basket is a tote basket with flowers on it from the Target clearance section. Just what you were thinking I’m sure. Didn’t I ever mention to you that I could read minds? (That thought is probably best left to another kind of blog…)

As fate would have it though, that lovely little book basket was my inspiration for the title of this blog, The Never Ending Book Basket. You see I have had that book basket for about 4 years now, and I have yet to see the bottom of that sucker since the day I bought it. That poor little basket has moved with me in and out of my college dorm at least six times, and has even made the trek with me as I moved back home after graduation to live with my parents again. (eek!) My friends will be the first people to tell you that that basket is almost always filled to the brim, if not overflowing the top of the basket. That thing probably weighs a good 20 pounds. (If you don’t believe me, at the bottom of this post I have some pictures of the basket in its current state; be forewarned, it isn’t too pretty)

It’s easy for me to say that that book basket is one of my favorite possessions, and it holds many great books that I am dying to sink into. The only “problem” is that I have yet to find an end to the book basket. As I said earlier, I haven’t seen the bottom of that thing since I bought it, and there are some books in it that I have owned for years. For instance, some of the books in there may or may not have price tags on them from a major book store chain that is no longer even in business. The thing is that I buy books so often that the books on top get read first, thus the ones at the bottom don’t get much sunlight if you catch my drift. It isn’t as if I don’t want to read them, I just can’t stop buying books long enough to actually get to them.

Hence I refer to that basket as never ending. Even though there may never be an actual end to that book basket, and I may not ever see its bottom again, that basket is my pride and joy. It contains a plethora of different books, each with its own distinctive story to share. That is why I have to say I am quite happy that it will most likely never end, because that means I will never stop finding books to buy, read, enjoy, and discuss with others.

Now, don’t you see why The Never Ending Book Basket was the perfect title for this blog? That book basket represents at its core that there will always be another book out there that needs to be read. Clearly weren’t my hours of laboring and thought into the title well spent? I think they were, but this is my blog so I am probably a smidge biased. (If I’m being completely honest with you though, which I will always strive to be, coming up with the title for this blog took about 3 minutes while I was driving home from work)

As a personal challenge for this blog I am also going to attempt to not buy a crap ton of books in the near future, so that I can attempt to decrease the overflow of books over the top of that little never ending basket. I should probably let you know before you get your hopes up though, that I have tried to do that before, and have pretty much failed catastrophically every time. And I mean every time.

So as I begin this blog, and my reading challenge I proclaim that I will try valiantly as ever to find the end to the never ending book basket. It will be a tough battle that I will surely lose in the end, but the challenge itself is all the fun. I mean let’s face it, this challenge involves me not buying more books, which will never happen. But, it also involves a hell of a lot of good books, great discussion, and tons of good times. What’s not to like? (By the way, if you actually have an answer to that question, please feel free to keep that answer to yourself. Remember friends, kind words go a long way.)

Are you ready, because I think that chicken is about ready to hatch. Let The Never Ending Book Basket challenge begin, right after I get back from the book store. (Just kidding…. But not really)

p.s. At the bottom of this post are pictures of my book basket in its current state. I’m going to be honest and share that this is the probably the most books I have ever had in it, and just to remind you these are just the books I own that I haven’t read. I also have a five shelf bookcase from Target completely filled to the brim with books. (Told you I had a book addiction, but it’s not hoarding if they’re organized, right?)

Fun Fact: The Never Ending Book Basket currently contains 45 books that I have purchased but not read. (And my mother wonders why I have no money to speak of….) And in case you were wondering, my list of books to buy currently has 43 books on it. What can I say? At least I’m consistent with my addiction, and from what I’ve heard consistency is key.

 

The infamous Never Ending Book Basket