Tom Raabe

A thoroughly enjoyable book that I would wholeheartedly recommend to a large swathe of my fellow book lovers, be they LibraryThingers, GoodReaders, bloggers, BookTubers or just die-hard lifelong readers. It could have been written for us - or by us, for that matter! In short, this is a comprehensive guide to biblioholism and all the various quirky traits and habits that go along with it. It is evident that Raabe is 'one of us' and he drives right to the heart of our affliction with humour show more and insight. Alongside chapters on book buying, reading, collecting and storage, he also includes a hilarious alternative history of the book and a section on the extremes of bookish behaviour - eating books, stealing them, burying them and even destroying them. With a wealth of interesting and amusing examples of biblioholic behaviour drawn from literature and history, this is still a definite keeper for me (this was my second time reading it) - and I was delighted to find that when it came to the self-help-esque quiz (just how bad DO you have it?) I had actually increased my score a few points since my last reading; I can now rest assured that I'm still on my chosen path to eventually dying happily under a collapsed bookcase. Good to know. :) show less

PLOT OR PREMISE:
A mixed-tone argument that you can be "addicted" to reading and owning books, with some examples of book hoarders from years-gone-by.
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WHAT I LIKED:
There are some really good ""humour"" lists, kind of like a Letterman top ten list for:
- Moving when you have a lot of books;
- A Biblioholic's test (how big is your problem);
- The snobbish Discovery Index (I knew the author when..);
- Reading in restaurants;
- Latin explanations of literary taste: ""De gustibus non est disputandum"" show more -- Everyone to their own non-disputable tastes; and,
- Ten Commandments for the Book Handler.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The author can't seem to decide what the book is -- a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek ode to book hoarders everywhere or a serious tome about an actual mental illness. The book starts out with a light-hearted look at those who feel an overwhelming urge to buy books i.e. "biblioholics". By the end, however, he treats it like a real mental illness that requires awareness and treatment. Either approach could work, but bouncing between one and the other wears out really fast. Perhaps this would have been better as a collection of small articles for a small newspaper, and even then, in dire need of an editor to give it better focus and less repetition. But even in a series of newspaper articles, I suspect the reader would tire of the subject matter very quickly -- the metaphor is dragged out far past its prime.
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BOTTOM-LINE:
Well-researched, but yawn…
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media. show less

A very cheeky and fun read. I am an admitted bookaholic with no intentions of recovering from my addiction. I don't hurt anyone, and I have an entire family of enablers who support my habit with the off chance that maybe, just maybe, I'll share my bounty. It doesn't happen very often, but the jackals remain at the door, panting over my bounty of booky goodness.

I buy books at a rapid pace, though I try to curb my overall enthusiasm. A day without a book is a bleak day indeed.

There are worse show more things to be addicted to. Heroin. Crack. Crystal Meth. However, bookish people all know that books are just as potent an addiction. show less

And I thought I was the only one! I could relate so much to what he says about book addiction. I laughed from beginning to end because it reads like an AA pep talk. Thank God that although "biblioholism" is another facet of obsessive-compulsive behavior, at least it is harmless. Hey, whoever is completely sane out there, let him throw the first stone!