My Biggest Book Addiction

Wednesday is about books. And writing. Today it's both. Me writing about my biggest book addiction. And wondering if you'll fess up in the comments to your biggest book addiction?

Over on TradeMe right now, I’m bidding on three Stephen King books – in German. Ask me the number of German-language words I know, and the answer is Nein. I’m also the lead-bidder on a hardcover copy of Misery, it’ll be my second copy of that particular version of the book, and if I win it, it’ll be my fourth copy in total. Unless of course I also win the German translations…and then it’ll be my fifth copy of Misery (aka – Sie).

So, yeah, you could say I’m a little obsessed. Or silly. Or both – for what is obsession if not something that borders on the crazy, the silly, the mad (and maybe maddening)? Obsession perhaps even grows out of silly. It’s when silly morphs into serious without doing the actual work, without changing its clothes.

You lot probably know I’m a bit obsessed with Stephen King. And a big clue would be the fact that this is the second time I’ve written about him here this week. I wrote about him late last year, in honour of his 75^th birthday. More recently than that, I wrote about finally reading Christine. (Now I’m possibly going to buy it again, but in German). There are many Stephen King film adaptations that I’ve written about – or will go on to mention – and even the music to those films has had mention in these pages. The score for The Shawshank Redemption is one of my very favourite film soundtracks, for instance.

Way back in the very first or second week of writing this Substack newsletter, I was sharing my Top 10 King book titles, and later (but not that much later) Top 10 film adaptations.

So there’ll be more on this topic. There’ll always be more on this topic.

But today, it’s about book collecting, and book obsessions; author obsessions.

I wondered how nutty you’ve been when collecting books. Or in your reading. What’s the deepest you’ve gone? Do you buy different formats of the same book, or new editions of old favourites (but you’ve still got the old favourite, you’re never parting with the old favourite)?

My biggest book obsession is Stephen King. First of all, I got rid of my King collection the first time around. I didn’t have them all, I had maybe a dozen or two. I parted with them and kept only a small handful. But then, as documented above in various posts, I started buying them up again – new and second hand. It was my Lockdown treat. It was my outlet because I gave up drinking. (A new reward, and I could justify the spend). It was a flashback, it was nostalgia. And it was the start of a commitment to get back on track with King (sorry, more recent writing about the man and his work).

I’ve bought up all of the titles that are commonly available. I’ve hunted down a few of the harder to come by things (standalone stories, his picture book written in-character from The Dark Tower, a collection of writing about baseball, the photo book about gargoyles) and I’ve even doubled-up with the standalone novellas re-published in recent times (The Shawshank Redemption The Body – aka Stand By Me, The Mist, etc) even though I have them all already inside the story collections Different Seasons, Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, etc).

Then I found a copy of Thinner translated into Dutch. Why not I thought? A curio. Then I found bind-ups of the first three novels in one. And other omnibus’ that weren’t even chronological; were just three popular titles. I needed both versions of The Stand, naturally. They are essentially different books, over a decade in time separates their publication dates, and the more recent version is, to date, his biggest book. The original from 1978 is a mere 900 pages or so. Tiny! But now I want a few of the different covers that are available. And I’ve started buying some of the graphic novel adaptations. So that’s very dangerous indeed!

Misery’s first edition is just a gorgeous looking book, in hardcover, the typewriter on the front. I had to have it. It feels like a writer’s, erm, talisman. A totem.

Ephemera and affectation are at the core of a true collection. A less polite and more direct way to put it perhaps is: Mad whim. Bizarre indulgence. Buying with the heart, rather than the head. Collecting for the sake of it, some might say.

But is it hurting?

I have seen bigger King collections than mine. Far bigger. Far stranger. There are YouTubers out there specialising in this stuff – getting as many different versions of their favourite books, colour-coding the spines, arranging them in various ways as one might a record collection.

Is it hurting?

As long as someone’s collection is madder than yours, then you’re okay. That’s always been my view.

When I was between Stephen King collections, some 20 years ago or so, I remember watching a documentary called Cinemania. One of the five “cinemaniacs” that the documentary follows is a fellow called Harvey Schwartz. He might not wear a cape, but this hero has thousands of soundtrack LPs, yet doesn’t own a turntable.

When I saw this film, I thought Harvey Schwartz should have been called Harvey Putz. But I see him in a different way now. Not quite aspirationally. But I admire the absurdity of his focus. And he just isn’t hurting anyone.

So, whether I get the German versions of the King books, and whether I start buying more translations of other languages, or simply more copies of The Stand and Misery, or if I never buy anything King-related ever again (though he has a brand new book out in just a couple of months, so that seems unlikely) this is easily the biggest book fixation I have, and the most obsessed I’ve been about an author.

It's my biggest book collection too – the most books by a single author, and the most versions. I can’t think of any other book that I have kept more than one copy of – sure, I’ll buy replacement copies of classics and favourites, but I don’t double up. With King now, it’s a bit like I’ve clocked the video game and I’m going back around the earlier stages with a bigger hammer!

We collect for all sorts of reasons. Collecting might be a mental illness, or it might be the salve or solution, the healing, the treatment, the mental health component in a life – the equivalent of a hobby that takes you out of yourself in some way. Or, hey, maybe it’s bits of both. Problem and solution. There’s all sorts of writing about collecting, and even more reasons to collect than have ever been covered in the literature. Collecting is a thing I’ve arguably wrestled with, and this might sound like I’ve been beaten about the head by it. But this is me winning. This is me picking the things to enjoy and focus on, to build mini monuments of, and to.

So, I just wanted to confess – fully – to my King collection. My madness. Or my sanity-check and serenity. Before I now ask you the question again: What’s your biggest book obsession? If not a collection, then maybe it’s the number of re-reads, the amount of time invested in the book series, or a particular author,  or a single stand-alone novel. What is your big book addiction?