When it comes to my books and my DVDs, I’m a little bit obsessive, I think. I utterly refuse to have books in a series that don’t match unless I have absolutely no choice. If I own two books of a trilogy in paperback and the only copy of book three I have doesn’t match, I’ll happily go out and buy the first two again. I do the same thing with DVDs, and I flatly refuse to buy any “box set” if the DVD cases inside don’t match. (This is why I don’t currently own a copy of the Lethal Weapon movies — Lethal Weapon 4 never matches the other movies.)

When a new movie or book in a series is released, I have to re-read (or re-watch) the other parts of the series. That’s why I’ve stopped reading the Wheel of Time novels. With no end in sight, ten books out right now, and at least 800 pages in each, the preparation time for each new book is getting longer and longer. I have too many books that aren’t a part of this series left to read, so I’m simply buying them and leaving them to read later. Part of me doubts I’ll ever really get them all read. Last time I tried it, I got stuck around book 6. I’d already read more than 4000 pages about those characters, and my mind started rebelling, demanding that I let it read something else… preferably something with an ending.

Anyway, that’s why I found myself stopping at the mall yesterday evening to buy a hardcover copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Book six (Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince) comes out at the end of this week (in case you’ve been living under a rock), and our copy of book five is missing. “Paperback would be cheaper,” the voice of frugality in the back of my mind told me.

“That’s true,” said the voice of obsession, “but then you’ll have to buy the first four books, too. That won’t be cheaper.”

Obsession is just too danged expensive.