BiblioAddict

On pride, prejudice, Guitar Hero, a make-believe rock band, wearing “in the Library,” and how to properly butcher a book:

I know, I know. I ‘ve been pretty MIA of late, but if reading’s a good excuse then that’s exactly what I have – a good excuse.  I’ve been unable to pull my nose out of Pride and Prejudice long enough to sleep, much less post.

When I haven’t been devouring my very first Jane Austen book – and at this point it will not be the last – I’ve been, I’m almost sorry to say it, caught up with playing Guitar Hero: World Tour.  Our new favorite thing is to invite friends over for dinner on Friday nights and play Guitar Hero (for which we now have two guitars and mic) to the great annoyance of our neighbors, I’m sure.

Whoever invented that game is a genius.  If  you’ve ever rocked out to your favorite song with a broom for a guitar and a hairbrush for a mic, trust me, you’ll love this very addictive game.

But this is suppose to be about books!  I dug myself out of my little reader’s hidey-hole because I came across two bookish links which I wanted to share.  Perhaps one of these will make you smile on this very cloudy hump day here in D.C.

Via The Book Bench: Have you ever wandered between the aisles of your favorite used bookstore or library basking in the smell of leather binding, faded ink, and old yet dignified dust?  Have you ever wished you could carry that smell around with you wherever you went?

Well, wish no more, because CB I Hate Perfume has invented a perfume called “in the Library,” which purports to replicate the very smell of being in a library.  This sort of reminds me of that episode of “Seinfeld” in which Kramer comes up with the idea of replicating the smell of the beach: on the face of it, this seems like a pretty dumb idea.  After all, who wants to walk around smelling like old leather and dust?

As it turns out, maybe me.  And a whole lot of other people obsessed with that musty, dusty smell.  And if the perfume isn’t appealing enough, the home spray certainly is.  I may be ambivalent about putting that scent on my skin, but my home – my home is different beast altogether.

On another note, have you read George Orwell’s 1984?  I haven’t (it’s on The List), and according to a poll just held in the UK, a lot of other people haven’t either but like to pretend they have.

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four comes top in a poll of the UK’s guilty reading secrets. Asked if they had ever claimed to read a book when they had not, 65% of respondents said yes and 42% said they had falsely claimed to have read Orwell’s classic in order to impress. This is followed by Tolstoy’s War and Peace (31%), James Joyce’s Ulysses (25%) and the Bible (24%).

Now, while I can’t claim to have lied about reading any of the above books, I can claim to have done this:

For anyone who has received a book as a gift with an ever-so-slightly thumbed feel to it, your suspicions are probably correct. A total of 48% of people admit buying a book for someone else and reading it first…

Would I be wrong if I said I do this just about every time I buy a book as a gift for someone? (Confession: I read more than few stories in Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhouser before I gave it to BibloGuy for whom it was originally intended.)  If the gift is a book I haven’t read the temptation is just too great!  I am, in my defense, very delicate with them – no cracked spines or dogeared pages – no sticky notes, even!

And yes, I along with 62% of the people in the poll, admit to turning the corner of the page to keep my place.  Francesca Simon, creator of the Horrid Henry children’s books considers dog-earring a mutilation. “I would never do that, what’s wrong with using bookmarks – tickets, pieces of paper?”

Well, I use those too.  Mine is probably a greater crime: I don’t dog-ear to keep my page – I have bookmarks for that – I dog-ear to mark favorite passages and lines.  Thus, a book I’ve particularly enjoyed could be mutilated on every other page by a little folded corner.  What can I say?  I like to butcher my books with a good, unabashed interactive read.  Besides, you know, the are mine.  Now, library books are a different story.

Now, back to the hidey-hole I go.  Hopefully, the next time I pop up it’ll be with a book review.  I’m working on it.