Binge Reading: An addiction

I have a theory. Books are like candy. Or drugs. Or drugs that look like candy. Think of the similarities.

1. You begin to neglect your responsibilities. How many times have you skipped out on cleaning the litter box (you know cats are evil, right?), taking out the garbage, or doing equally repulsive things you’re supposed to do in order to sink into the delightful nirvana of a book? Are your dishes piling up? This may be a sign.
2. You use books under dangerous conditions. Are you one of those people who listens to books while on a treadmill? Or in a car? Or *gasp* reads at stoplights? You could be a danger to yourself or those around you.
3. Your book use is causing problems in your relationships. Do you disappear on your lunch break to sneak in a chapter, leaving your office in disarray? Is your significant other feeling neglected by your reading habit, or your Team Sam/Team Edward/Team Gale obsession? Those bitter fights you are having can be traced to a single source – book nirvana.
4. You’ve built up a book tolerance. Does it take more than one book to feed your addiction? Are you needing to read more and more in order to get that plot high? Those black ink marks on your fingers could be an indicator of a real problem.
5. You read books to avoid or relieve withdrawal symptoms. When you go too long without reading, do you struggle with character withdrawal? Do you fantasize about novels even when you don’t have access to a book? Dear friend, wake up and see the signs.
6. You’ve lost control over your book use. Do you find yourself staying up all night to finish a book, and paying for it with bags under your eyes and a grouchy disposition? Is your first thought on payday, “now I can buy more books.” Do your guests have to put their martini glass on the floor because the books have taken over every surface in your home? If you can’t walk out of a bookstore without a book in your bag, you may have a problem.
7. Your life revolves around book use. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about books, figuring out how to get them, and then recovering from an all-night binge? Have you calculated the distance to every library and bookstore in a ten-block radius? There is a life outside fiction.
8. You’ve abandoned activities you used to enjoy. Like sunlight. And friends who aren’t on the web. If you look around, and all your friends are book pushers, you may have fallen into the wrong crowd.

Beware! A book addiction can easily lead to a writing addiction. Seek help now!

Hi, my name is Cory, and I’m a book addict….