I am a junkie

I creep into my study to be alone. And, I take a whiff. The pungent smell hits the right spot in my brain. The high! The smell of the glue, the leather, the paper, the ink ... the trip, the magical mystery tour, its Lucy in the sky with diamonds ...

I haven't even opened the book yet.

Henrietta Rose-Innes writes 'on the dark side of books' in The Sunday Times of South African: "Reading is, of course, a good and precious thing ... But literacy has a dark side too, doesn't it?"

"... what pleasure centres ignite when you part the pages of a new book and sniff the ink. It seems those neural pathways are laid down young: you're hooked early or not at all. And from that point on, you need to keep feeding the habit with progressively larger doses of word, no matter how cut and contaminated ... Highs and lows, altered states .... in my life, books have often played a pharmaceutical role, either sedative or stimulant ..."

And, I thought I was an addict. This lady is hardcore, man, but she is good.

"... hardcore, compulsive reading can sometimes feel like secret drinking or binge eating ... I can't say I've ever had a crack cocaine book experience ... but I've sure read Valium ... Fortunately, it's a benevolent dependency, most of the time. Expensive, though. (The library fines alone can drive a woman to crime.)"

Read the whole story on the website.

The Sunday Times