Books were my main form of therapy and escape growing up. In fact, my mom (who rarely placed any restrictions on us) GROUNDED me from reading, insisting I needed to "go outside and play". At the time I thought she was being unduly cruel.

I like a lot of books, including nonfiction, fantasy, sci-fi, erotica, and good old fashioned fiction. I often have to avoid reading nonfiction because I get so amped up and reflective that it's hard for me to relax and not want to work or write.

I'm not a book snob; I think Stephen King and Jackie Collins have written some fucking brilliant books (and also some complete SHIT).

I enjoy reading books on Oprah's book list and then ranting about how pornographic they are, railing against housewives and mothers who are anti-porn yet litter their living rooms with socially-acceptible tragedy-smut like Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. It's not the books I have a problem with, it's the bizarre double-standard women have regarding the pictureless porn of the books they enjoy and the image-heavy porn they oppose.

If I ever get rich I want to have a special room in my dream house: the BookWormHole. I envision it being a small, cozy, space-age cave-like room with rounded walls and a futuristic feeling that I can burrow into and be transported by while reading. It's a soundproof room, and there's a splendid little system to enjoy music, white noise or guided meditations. With a simple adjustment to the lighting scheme and various peripherals, the BookWormHole becomes the interior of a tiny spacecraft with programmable visuals simulating flights through different imaginary solar systems and, OF COURSE, wormholes (though I'm not sure travel through a wormhole is technically referred to as "flight", but I digress)! Maybe there's a vibrating captain's chair in there, too! And speaking of vibrating chairs . . .

I debated whether or not I should post this particular fantasy fearing that it's so nerdy it might turn off potential members, but then I decided that anyone who reads the last paragraph of the "favorite books" page on a porn site is probably someone who will think the idea of a BookWormhole is pretty fucking awesome!!!