Confessions of a Bookaholic - Susan Gable

All right everyone, step away from the refreshment table. It's time to get the meeting started, so find a seat.

I'll go first.

Hi, my name is Susan, and I'm a Bookaholic. It's been three days since my last read. If you were to search my house, you'd find books stashed everywhere. Not just on the bookshelves in the office, but also on my nighttable. And on the floor next to my bed. And under my bed. There's another whole shelf in the exercise room. Some are stashed in the bathroom, on the back of the toilet. On the vanity. In the kitchen on the table and the counters.

I even keep them stashed on my cell phone now so I'm never caught without a "fix."

I blame my parents. They were bookaholics, too. Still are. I grew up watching them guzzle one book after another. You could find books scattered all over the house I grew up in. My father actually read during dinner. Right out there in the open, at the table. Scandalous!

They haven't found the gene that causes bookaholism yet, but I think it's just a matter of time. Because if it was learned behavior, then my sister would be a bookaholic, too, but she's not. She just has one from time to time. I must have been the lucky one who inherited the book gene.

All kidding aside (well, mostly ) books truly are my vice. I'm thrilled that I inherited the "disease" from my parents. Hey, it doesn't cause cancer or kill your liver or lungs. It doesn't make you fat, and books are legal. As far as vices go, I think it's the best one to have. And given what a pack of cigarettes costs these days, it's not too bad as far as cost.

I love books. Love, love, love! I still have some the books I owned as a kid - and if I hadn't moved some many times, and faced critical space issues, I'd still have more of them. I have numerous copies of The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, and The Three Investigators. I've got a couple of the first Heinleins I ever read, and my Star Trek book collection is massive. Then there are the newer books – the Nora Roberts/JD Robbs, the Janet Evanovich, the Julia Quinns, Susan Wiggs, Susan Anderson, Susan Grant (notice how many Susans there are that write books? Hmmm...I wonder if there's some sort of genetic predisposition that goes with the name, too.) There are the numerous series romance novels, too. And mysteries.

There's just something special about a book. It can take you anywhere, from historical America to a far-off world called Pern, or a magical place called Xanth.

I don't think I'll ever recover from this addiction – nor do I want to.

So who's next? Are you a bookaholic, too? What's your "drug" of choice when it comes to books? How long have you had this addiction? Do you want to overcome it, or do you think it's okay to just live with it?

---------
Susan Gable has sold five books to Harlequin's Superromance line. Her books have been Rita and Golden Heart Finalists, she's been a Waldenbooks Bestseller, been twice nominated for Romantic Time's Best Superromance of the Year, and she's won numerous other awards, including the National Readers' Choice Award. Her next book, A Kid to the Rescue, got 4.5 Stars and a Top Pick from RT. It hit shelves on Feb. 10th, and is the story of a heroine who assumes custody of her nephew after the little boy witnesses his father murder his mother. The hero, a comic book artist who's also an art therapist, brings hope and laughter to their lives, along with love. And he teaches both aunt and child to fight for what they love. Visit Susan's website: www.SusanGable.com