Daily Obsessional

Digging this little excerpt from MY HOBBIES BY ELLIE KEMPER

Books (Looking At)

I am a voracious reader of titles that sound like something that would look completely cool on my bookshelf, or offhandedly tossed aside next to some funky jewelry or cute underwear that I own. I have been known to spend up to fifteen minutes in a used bookstore, looking through titles that are something that I think I've heard of, or something by someone that I think I have heard of. This gives me a pleasure that I don't get from punching in at 9:00 a.m. and out at 5:00 p.m., or a pleasure I would imagine I would not get if I worked from 9 to 5—or at all. There is nothing I enjoy more than curling up on a rainy Sunday afternoon, snuggling under my favorite jersey cotton sheet, and looking at all of the completely cool titles of books that I own. I like to imagine the woman who reads all of those books, who understands all of those books, who quotes from those books. Who are her friends? What are her bad habits? How many lovers does she take? Does she save her lunch leftovers for dinner? Then I like to imagine what I should wear the next morning, and if I will have enough energy to go to H&M after it stops raining.

See the rest of Ellies hobbies on mcsweeney's. While I generally tend to read all the books I buy, sometimes pretty graphics and impressive titles lead me astray. And these books, the outliers of them, lay unfinished by my night table appearing as if they are read often and enjoyed, while in reality they are never picked up again. I can somewhat relate to these musings. Though, I don't go shopping at H&M instead. As of late, I'm decidedly lacking in dress funds.