By Way of Introduction

The thing you should know about me is that I have a problem. It's been a life-long problem, but one that has only truly manifested itself now that I have a regular paycheck. The problem is thus: I simply cannot (and I mean really cannot, even when I put my sternest stuff to the task) stop buying books. To give you an idea of the magnitude of my problem (and the detriment to my bank account), I give you the following list of books that I have purchased merely in the last week:

The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading by Francis Spufford
Once Voice Please by Sam McBratney and Russel Ayto
Washington Square by Henry James
The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo edited by Deborah Seigel and Daphne Uviller
Orientalism by Edward Said
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
Footnote: A Short History by (someone whose name I can't remember but who rather wonderfully wrote an entire book about footnotes with numerous and lengthy footnotes)
Amor Est Sensus Quidam Peculiaris by Joan Walsh Anglund

Yes, indeed, the last is entirely in Latin, a language that, at my best, I am only passingly fluent in. I doubt I could ever read an entire book in Latin even after studying it for semesters on end. That alone should be indicative of my problem.

I tell you this by way of introducing you to my reading habits, clearly rather varied and often entirely unexpected even to myself, and to give you a teaser for what's coming up. Having purchased these books, I should now rightfully be compelled to read them. So here's hoping that during my tenure at this lovely blog, I'll get to write about all these books in some way or another. (And we'll just count the above comments as the extent of my writings on Amor Est Sensus Quidam Pecularis since I think we all know I shall probably never muscle my way through that one.)