Your shelves are bursting with hardcovers and paperbacks. You have a stack of them on your bedside table. You can't pick just one favorite because that would be like picking a favorite child. You promise to obey your buying ban and never do. You promise just x-number more pages then you'll sleep then suddenly the sun is rising and you've just reached the back cover. If any of these sound familiar you, my friend, might be a book addict. But fear not, for you are nowhere near alone, for this obsession with words and they're infinite combinations engulfs the lives and imaginations of countless bibliophiles everywhere.

So, for your amusement, here are some anonymous bookish confessions from a dedicated community of book addicts.

1. My level of excitement when I received and assembled my new bookshelf was definitely not socially acceptable.

2. I once couldn't afford the second book to my favorite series so I ran downstairs and cried to some guy in the common room until he bought it for me.

3. When I was in middle school I would make my brother sit on the ground in the bathroom and read to me while I was in the shower.

4.I work at a bookstore. My addiction tops all.

5. I put on audiobooks in the bathtub.

6. I was into having kids read a lot because of how much it changed my life, so I dressed up lke Lyle the Crocodile for the York, PA Literacy Council.

7. I'm not really sure how to explain my addiction to books, just that I own a lot of them and read constantly. Most nights I'd rather stay in and read a book than go out to a loud place with friends, I also never get rid of books, so I have about 200 of them in my room right now and another hundred in boxes in my basement. I just love them.

8. When I was a kid, every week my mom took me to the library. I would check out about ten books at a time and my mom knew I'd read them all in time for the next trip. It got to a point where as I got older I'd be looking for new books and come across books I'd already read because I went through them so quickly.

9. Sophomore year of high school I was so addicted to the "Twilight" series that I literally could not put the books down. I'd read in all of my classes. That was probably my worst semester grade wise of high school. My geometry teacher had to call my dad and tell him I needed to put the book away or I wasn't going to do well. Oops.

10. I read the entire "Series of Unfortunate Events" series in a week because I was addicted. Also "Frog and Toad" was my life and I read them every night.

11. So when I was a junior in high school the "50 Shades of Grey" books came out. Even though they are so not tasteful and I was forced to read such a terribly written book I read all three of them in a matter of a week. However I would only read them in one class--my morality class. I went to an all girls school so trust me they were a HUGE hit.

12. The biggest lie a book addict will ever say: "I'll only read one more chapter..." Many sleepless nights were spent trying to convince myself to just read one more chapter, clearly not to much success.

13. I used to skip sleep every other night so I could read. Eventually my mom took my nook away, but she didn't know I had an app on my phone.

14. When I was obsessed with the "Clique: books I was in love with Cam so I made a life with him on Sims...It was a phase. I also read those in half a day, it was like crack.

15. When my family and I stayed in hotels when traveling, they would all go to bed but I would want to stay up reading. So because I couldn't turn the light on and didn't want to go down to the lobby, I would prop a pillow up against the bathroom wall and read there for hours.

16. Sometimes, when I get really into a book, I like to imagine a character for myself in that world who can go on adventures with the characters or have superpowers or whatever aligns with the rules of the novel.

17. My favorite type of cleaning is reorganizing my bookshelf.

18. Everywhere I go, I keep a book in my bag. Just in case.

19. I always feel exuberantly proud when I can finish a book in a day.

20. One of my favorite things to do is theorize, discuss, fangirl, and bond with fellow book addicts.

21. I've been on a book buying ban forever and I have never once followed it.

22. When I get a book, one of the first things I'll do is flip it open and bury my nose in it, because that new book smell though.

23. There's been more than one occasion when something emotional happened in a book and I've found myself yelling at it for hurting my feelings. In front of other people.

24. My family and friends don't even ask what I want for my birthday anymore, they just give me giftcards to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

25. Sometimes when I finish a book I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself.

And finally, a non-anonymous confession from me, that's not so much a confession as it is a simple truth. My books, their characters, their worlds, their stories, are my friends. They have given my strength and solace, taught me invaluable lessons, empowered me to be a better writer and person, and so so much more. So read on, my fellow book lovers. And so please allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Gretchen and I am a book addict.