The Passion

My passion for books began very young. I was four or so and I was yet to go to school; yet my older borther was there already and bringing home little red books that held the secrets of adventures and learning. He wasn't too keen on them and so I'd get my nose into them and learnt to read the way he was supposed to practice.
By the time I was in year one, I was two years ahead of the other kids in my grade. The teachers weren't happy about it, but I found the books they gave me boring; besides, I had read them already. But the greatest thing I found wasn't at school. It was on the weekends. We had a library that a five minute walk from our house (or a one minute wild run in the rain!). It was a wonderful place. I was the youngest in my family to get a library card and didn't look back. I used that library - and the State Library of Queenslanhd - to research things I wanted to know and for school.

It wasn't until I moved out on my own that I seriously took up collecting books. My passion for these items was something I knew I wasn't going to give away too easily. Anyway, I had found that I enjoyed writing about all kinds of things in high school too. So collecting books were one. It was also one way of educating myself of thing I wanted to know about without having to go to university or college. Over the years, I've become a self-taught person; which made some other people either uncomfortable or very interested in me. Either way, I've found that I never really fitted into my own age group. Well, yes, I'd have fun with people my age. But once it came to talking about things, my mind wasn't where they're was... I was different and it was obvious. So, I read more, wrote more and simply kept myself to myself.

My passion for books has turned me into a hermit of sorts... well not as bad as you may expect. I do get out and do my shopping via public transport and only shop online when it's absolutely necessary (and only on sites that take personal cheques too!) and I talk online with people on Bookcrossing.com about books and trade books with them and give books away I either don't read anymore or I've picked up at charity shops. Yeah, even my passion for books comes out through there.

Now, I have around 500 - 600 books or so, housed in four bookcases and the collection keeps growing. I'm still hunting for the impossible books, the unreachable books and out of print. It's not just what's between the pages the keeps me hunting for the books... it's the thrill of the hunt that I love.