So I’ve been thinking this week about the very serious subject of want vs need when it comes to books. After some serious thought and trips to the bookshop to prove my own point (all in the name of research, you understand) I have come to the conclusion that I was right in the first place.
There is NO difference between want and need when it comes to books!
Allow me to elaborate: My husband (who’s birthday it is today, by the way – Happy Birthday Mr Whisperer!) has suffered many years of hanging around bookshops with me while I lovingly browse amongst the shelves, touching, sniffing, cooing etc (NB I say “suffering” as that is the word he uses, I prefer to think of it as a little slice of heaven). If he’s had enough of wherever we are (or I have already looked in at least two other bookshops – which is entirely possible – only another bookaholic will understand that if you don’t go in that final one it can ruin the rest of your day wondering what you could have found in there) then I occasionally get timed. Yes, that’s right, I am allowed 5 miuntes from start to finish while he stares alternately at his watch and me which really puts me off and makes me very anxious because I can see down the other end of the shop that there are so many gems just awaiting discovery and I know I will never have time to get to them all. To be fair, he only does this when I have already spent about two hours in the previous bookshops, but still.
So, again, the want vs the need. Mr Whisperer (between sitting playing games on his iPhone on the first available chair he can find in the shop) will spot me, arms laden with books, wander past and say the now famous line “Do you really need all those?” to which I (naturally) reply “Yes”. This is then followed with “No, you WANT them all but you don’t NEED them all!”. Now, let me explain why this comment (after much consideration and research) is untrue:
Imagine, if you will, a heroine addict. Now, I have never taken drugs (probably too busy reading books at the time) so you may think it would be hard for me to imagine, but NO! You see, if a heroine addict was to walk down the street and there was a shops with beautifully arranged packets of white powder in the window with enticing offers like “3 for 2″ and a “Heroine’s Inc. Recommends” shelf, do you think they would be able to walk past and say “Oh, don’t worry I’ve already had my fix for the day. Let’s move on.”? Doubtful. My point exactly.
Let’s have another example of, say, a stressful day at work or a long drive home from a meeting or even just feeling the joys of spring and needing to celebrate (insert own reasons here). You see the bookshop, like a glowing beacon to a sailor in the fog, it’s beckoning you, you’re starting to foam at the mouth in anticipation and finally you’re there. You let out a sigh of satisfaction while you feast your eyes on all the beauties infront of you. Where do you want to be transpored to today? Africa? A post-apocolyptic wasteland? A shopping trip with a handsome beau? A castle dungeon in 1596? The world is your oyestrer, you can go anywhere, be anyone, do anything!!!
So, to conclude: There is no such thing as want for a bookaholic. I have an aholism and I need my fixes.
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