I'm the mouse & that's my cookie (strawberry?)

I’m dashing this post off in a few minutes because—as you’ll soon understand—I have THINGS TO DO.
 

Confession: I have a problem. I need a group like the AA where I can go, sit in a chair circle, and say, “I’m Tracy. I’m addicted to books.” I can picture everyone rolling their eyes, but that’s how I feel right now. Let me explain. I’d lean forward in my chair and say, “It all started back when….” I’d tell about this PB called The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. It’s about this mouse that would do anything for a strawberry but is terrified that this bear will get to it first. It’s the first book I ever loved and I’ve loved a great many since, I’d say.

Okay, okay, this AA thing may be a little over the top. Let’s go with something simpler, like the PB If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Are you familiar with this book? If not, go read it now. It’ll take you, like, ten minutes. I haven’t read it in years, but I remember the gist. You give a mouse a cookie and that mouse is going to want ALL THE THINGS. This is me and books. I start and I don’t want to stop until I’ve finished.
 

It’s bad enough that I have this problem with published books. It took me only a couple of days to read Elizabeth LaBan’s THE TRAGEDY PAPER. I finished it two days ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. Yes, it’s that good. Read that one, too—though it’ll take you awhile longer than ten minutes.
 

I also have this problem with my CPs’ books. My first CP’s MS, I read it in one day, just twelve hours, a mini marathon over winter break. I liked it that much. I didn’t want to put it down, plus I was having a great time making comments to let her know what I was thinking, what I loved and what I thought she needed more of (like the MC’s hot crush). I’d read a few chapters before that day and she’d read a few of mine—we had to make sure we were right for each other—but when she sent me the full MS, I was in until I finished.
 

Know what? IT’S HAPPENED AGAIN. Yesterday I was reading a few chapters from another CP. I’d read a few before and had liked it, but what I read yesterday hooked me more. I was in and I wanted it all. I warned my CP that I had a habit of devouring books. I warned him what happened with my other CP. He didn’t mind, I guess, because within a few hours, his full MS was in my inbox. He gave me a cookie with those first few chapters and I wanted all the rest. My appetite for good books is insatiable.
 

The problem now? I have plans for today (part of why I’m dashing off this post as quickly as I can), but what I really want is to spend the day with my CP’s MS. I want to do what I did with that first MS and not stop until it’s over. But it’s not winter break. I don’t have a full day. I’m seeing my family today and then the next five days I have to make flavors. I feel like my CP has given me the cookie and offered me everything else, but all my other obligations are withholding that everything else, taunting me that I can’t go to the ball until I finish my chores. Too many analogies? How about one more? I feel like I’ve seen that red, ripe strawberry but the big hungry bear is about to get to it first. So I’m going to post this post, and then I’m going to do what I have to do so that later, if I’m lucky, I can read.