Going back to the "How Do You Pronounce....?" conversation:

100 most mispronounced words/phrases. There were a few I use that I hadn't known were wrong, most notably "spitting image."

I finished my Laura Lippman book last night. I read her Tess mysteries out of order so I am pretty confused about where things were left. I need to go look at publishing dates and get a timeline in my head of where the characters are.

Heretically for a buffista, I almost never buy books I haven't read already. I don't need to own books unless I plan to reread them.

Yet again, flea is me. It's very rarely that I buy a book I haven't read already, and it's usually when I know it's a one I'll read more than once.

Books I do know I want to re-read, however, I need to be available to me in case I want to hug them on 2am and find out how-this-sentence-was-written-exactly.

I don't know what I'd do without the library. There was a small one just across the street from the building we used to live in when I was a child, and as soon as my parents let me cross the road on my own, I was there every day. We were allowed to take only one book at a time, and it was closed on Wednesdays (and those were really long afternoons on those Wednesdays!). We didn't have many books at home, because Hebrew isn't the mother-tongue of both my parents, and they both immigrated to Israel as grown-ups, so my only source for books was the library.

I do, however, get attached to the original copy of a book I read and love and want to buy in order to re-read. As much as I try to keep the books as unharmed as possible, some marks (like - how do you call it? - a sign of the book being-open on its back cover), I do like to have books that look as though they're being read, not just standing on shelves. My youngest brother once had an accident involving a bottle of shampoo and one of my books (in a backpack, in the army), and he was so sorry and embarrassed, but the book wasn't damaged, it only looked more read-in, if that makes any sense.

Also, books here are quite expensive. I can't even dream to afford to buy everything I want to read.

There were a few I use that I hadn't known were wrong, most notably "spitting image."

"Pernickety" surprised me. No idea that extra "s" (as in persnickety) was not supposed to be there.

The thing about the library is, you have to give them back. :-) I love to buy something knowing I can read it whenever I want to, instead of feeling like I'm on a deadline. But libraries are great for trying out new authors, and for something you can't wait to read, like a hardcover original that won't see paperback for another year.

"Pernickety" surprised me. No idea that extra "s" (as in persnickety) was not supposed to be there.

That one, too. I had no idea.

a hardcover original that won't see paperback

We don't have that separation in Israel - a book has just the one way to be published, just the one price.

I love my local library -- since I was a child I've always had a library card and used it extensively.

Now, I also use the University library.

And yet I still own TOO MANY BOOKS.

How is it possible?

Kathy, I was somewhat disappointed by Everything is Illuminated, though I'm fascinated by the idea of a movie. I thought the book was a brilliant idea, and the use of language is fantastic, but it's just difficult to read (which makes me sound like a lazy reader, I'm not).

And yet I still own TOO MANY BOOKS.

How is it possible?

It's not. There is no such thing. Unless you can't get out of your house for the books.

It's not. There is no such thing. Unless you can't get out of your house for the books.

Sounds like my first boyfriend, the only person I've ever met who could outlast me at a used bookstore.