This is the saga of my bookish adventures of late.

See, I’ve been really into books recently. As in way more than normal (which, if you know me, then I’m normally fairly into books). It sounds really strange, but I think not doing bookish videos on Youtube any more is making me go crazy over books and make me want to talk about them, buy them, and read the more than ever.

I think I’m going to start doing Booktube again.

But first, let’s talk about my books from this week so far. On Sunday I went to visit my cousin a couple hours away in Columbus and she took me to The Loft which is an exceedingly cool bookstore. She let me hang out there for a while and I was shocked when we got out to the car and I discovered I’d been wandering the shelves for an hour and a half. I bought eight books that day – three for me and five as gifts.

Monday I really wanted to go to the library after work, but then work went late and so the library was closed and I couldn’t. Instead, I logged on to NetGalley and went a little wild with requesting books for review. I think I requested five books before realizing I’d be a little inundated if they all came in. I also bought a book on Amazon recommended by a friend, as well as receiving two physical books in the mail for review from Bethany House Publishers.

Tuesday I finished the audiobook I was listening to while making the food for a luncheon at church. On my way home from serving the food at church I swung by the library where I quickly grabbed eight books from the shelves. (Haste was important since I had several passengers waiting for me.)

Wednesday I downloaded two new audiobooks from Overdrive and started listening to another mystery on my way to work.

Thursday one of our regulars at work introduced me to his daughter who happens to work at the library that’s literally right across from work but I’d never noticed. She informed me that even though I lived in another county I could still get a library card at the library for free since I live in Ohio. My co-worker joined a gleeful me after work and I excitedly got a new library card then wandered the aisles squealing happily to my co-worker and picked out four new books.

Friday – which is today – it occurred to me that since I had the day off work it would be the perfect time for me to full-fill a dream I’ve had for at least fifteen years – no exaggeration. I’ve always wanted to go to a huge bookstore with a coffee shop and just spend the day hanging out sipping coffee, browsing books, and possibly writing some.

So I looked up bookstores that sounded big to me and settled on a Barns and Nobels that was an hour and ten minutes away. I qued it into my GPS then set off. I thought I knew the proper direction to head in and so disregarded my GPS thinking it would catch the drift of my shortcut after a bit. Well, ten minutes down the road Siri was still freaking out in her British accent so I pulled over to figure out which one of us was wrong. Unsurprisingly (because I’m not good with directions), it was me. I turned around and we arrived at the proper destination after an hour and twenty minutes or so.

I’m a country girl through and through folks, but I parallel-parked (score one for me!), only to realize I’d literally parked on the curb – as in one tire was up on the sidewalk. I climbed back in the car and corrected my mistake, then dropped the quarter I had scrounged around for that I needed for the parking meter. I climbed in the backseat of the car and locked the doors as I laid on the floor with my flashlight looking for my quarter. I found it, put the change in the meter, and headed for the building. I circled it entirely while looking for the door. As I said, I’m a country girl. Plus, when I’m in the city I generally like to follow someone else’s lead.

Then I get in the building and I find one little room with a handful of half-empty books. No kidding folks. This was not the bookstore I was expecting. And I’d even called to make sure they had coffee at the place. Apparently, I should have asked about books instead. After questioning them and finding out that this really was all the books, I climbed back in the car, looked up bookstores near me and headed back the direction I came.

Fifteen minutes later I was circling a mall looking for a sign for Books A Million. That sign never showed so I parked, went in the mall, and began walking. At one point in time, I asked for directions because I’d begun to despair that there really was a bookstore after all. Thankfully I finally found it, but I’m fairly sure I had parked as far away from the bookstore as possible.

The bookstore wasn’t big, but at least it was a real live bookstore, so I settled in for the long haul and spent a couple of hours delighting the bookish parts of my heart by staring at books for as long as I so desired with no one waiting for me to finish.

Several hours and a bag of books later, I exited the mall and drove to Starbucks – something that this indi-coffee-shop-worker didn’t exactly want to do, but it was right there and I didn’t have any energy left to try and find an indi-coffee shop.

I drank my rapidly cooling white chocolate latte and munched on baby carrots in the corner of the coffee shop for the next two hours as I click-clacked away on my keyboard and wrote a fair amount on my current WIP.

And then I headed back home. Throughout the day I listened to nearly a full mystery on fast-speed, bought seven books (including two that are for gifts), and submerged myself with words. It was rather glorious. I also received two notifications that two more of the books I requested for review on NetGalley had been approved.

That means this week I’ve added about twenty-three new books to my shelves (including ebooks), borrowed twelve, and listened to two.

So yeah, I think it really is time to start making bookish videos again…