There is an institution for people like me--the library. I am certain that you were going to recommend another facility with pajama uniforms and no sharp objects. But based on my contribution to our community by library late fees, my days are better served there.

I am the definition of a book worm--gobbling up text faster than I can speak it. There are usually two or three books strategically placed in my home that I am reading simultaneously. Two books are better than one...or maybe that was heads.

It is much by the libraries help of unlimited books that I now can read English without training wheels. As a bilingual reader there were years spent with my trusty side-kick-the English/Swedish Dictionary--alongside the literature of choice.
I have an incurable appetite for both fact and fiction. There is a curiosity within me that cannot be labeled with genres--instead I must read it all. For those of you who know me well, you know I don't frequent nail salons and don't drop significant investment on footwear. But let me loose in a bookstore and you wonder "What's in your wallet?"

My poor husband-acutely aware of the irresistible magnetism of the reader/bookseller relationship--crinches every time I am within radius of such a place. I'm pretty sure he has GPS'd my phone so he can freeze my debit card when I cross Border's. What's even more serious is that our children have caught onto my weakness for glossy hardbacks. If they ask me for stuff at any other store they get met with two questions of mine, "Is it Christmas?" and "Is it your birthday?" If the answer is no, they may also fill this word in as the reply to the question initially posed. When it comes to books though--I am a complete push-over. I justify these purchases as an investment into their brains, increasing the odds of college scholarships (I hear they give these to the literate) and that knowledge is power. It is the ladder that has backfired and my knowledgeable children can work me with such finesse we could possibly be the sole reason for Scholastic Book Fairs at school.

Our saving's grace-- the Douglas County Libraries.

A public library to me (a book addict) is what clean needles are to druggies. It promotes responsible usage. I can still come home with every bestseller on Oprah's List, plus a stack of DVD's--but they are FREE and get returned after usage. My annual l late-fees still don't add up to one of my insane runs to Barnes and Noble. Am I the only woman who during pregnancy craved trashy fiction? I blame it all on hormones. Back to my salvation--the library.Our children love it just as much. They stack loads of books into their baskets, then bring home. My husband always stops them in the door to ask them where the books came from. The color returns to his cheeks after they answer--the library. He magically thinks that we have not been to a bookshop for a little over a year. Those of you familiar to us addicts know better--we have a smuggling system of getting purchased books under the radar. Crafty.

No surprise that I am such a supporter of that new library mil that's on the ballot. I did the math and our property taxes would increase with the cost of a nice hard cover book per year, but in return our Parker library would grow with the expansive population. It's a BOGFO- Buy One Get FOur-hundred-thousand FREE! To you--blue-light-special-shoppers--this is a great deal!

Until the new Parker Library is voter supported, built and filled--and you cannot find a parking spot outside the current facility--just come to my house. I am likely to have checked out the book you are looking for anyway.

My name is Karin. I am a book addict. Admission is the first step to recovery (or so I read).