I'm thankful for the books, but would be even more thankful for time to read them in!

Happy thanksgiving, all those celebrating.  Of course I'm thankful for the standard things of thank-filling-ness, but what's really on my mind is books.  Because today I had to move a tbr pile that was on the card-table in the still unfinished dining room, so that we could do more wall-papering, and this particular tbr pile (a mere baby of a pile, with only 26 books) is now under an end table in the living room. 

I have too many tbr books.  I thought about counting them today, but couldn't, because the wood rack that normally goes in the hall is in the downstairs bathroom, because the piano, that normally goes in the dining room, is in the hall, and the wood rack is blocking access to the bookshelves (that hold the bulk of my tbr pile) that have taken the place of the bathtub, that had to be taken out before we could renovate the dining room, since the people that had installed it had knocked one of the dining room walls out in order to fit it in (there was a bathtub holding box cupboard sticking into the dining room).

To make a long story short, I couldn't count my tbr books.

Which is probably a good think, because the overwhelming-ness of their quantity might have made me less thankful that I have so many books to read.

16 years ago, I had nothing to read.  It was a desert of re-reading, an anxiousness of not having another book on hand when I finished what I was reading.  Then I joined an online discussion group of fans of UK girls school stories, and that was good.  My sister is also on that list, and she would bring me piles of the books she'd heard about there, and it was very exciting to have new authors to collect and enjoy, and when we went to England to see my husband's family, I'd come home with lots of books.

However, the problem with vintage authors is that they are mostly dead, and so are not writing more books.  My sister had fewer books to bring me.  We stopped going to England as much.   I was worried.

But then came blogging, with all the books that came my way not just from publishers, but from the recommendations of all the like minded readers!   And then came the joys of Interlibrary loans, and Used Book Sale Finder.  Then came one particular library book sale of tbr doom--a nearby library was moving, and was selling off all their older children's and YA books for ten cents each.  I only spent about fifteen dollars....And on top of that, I run my own library's booksale, so I'm the first one to see all the donated books...and like cute little kittens, some of them just have to come home with me.

So yes, I am thankful that I will never go book hungry again.  But I'd be really thankful if the dining room was finished, so that I'd actually have more time to read....