A friend of mine says bibliophiles are a breed apart, and I certainly agree. The tribe of book lovers has some quirky characteristics. So here (with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy) is a brief list of a few things I’ve noticed that distinguish us from the herd.
You might be a bibliophile if….
you either laughed or cried the first time you heard the words, “Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.”
while browsing a used book store, you purchased a copy of a book you already own because the copy for sale had more charm.
during a tearful conversation in which your best friend tells you what a jerk his/her partner is, you emphatically compared said partner to any unsympathetic character from a 19th-century novel.
even once you have planned a stay-cation around a library sale or book conference.
you ever considered learning another language just so you could read something in its original form.
at any point in your life you uttered the words, “It’s like Noam Chomsky/William Shakespeare/Jhumpa Lahiri said…”
while visiting a chain bookstore, you placed a classic literature text on top of a copy of 50 Shades of Gray (double points if it was Fahrenheit 451).
you skipped a good meal at a sit-down restaurant in any given foreign city, because you spent the afternoon and your disposable income in a bookshop.
in the middle of a film you leaped to your feet shouting, “That’s not the way it happened!”
you have a friend you’ll send this list to, because you know s/he will snicker, too.
Yes, you might be a bibliophile…
Bibliophiles of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but …. well, we have nothing to lose.
Wendy Welch: Books, Yarn, Cats, Opioids 