As an avid reader and bibliophile, I love little more than spending an afternoon curled up with a book or strolling through the stacks of a library or bookstore. Now that the weather is beginning to hint at fall, rather than pumpkin spice lattes, I want to talk about the perfect season for curling up with a favorite book. So what does the ultimate bibliophile need? Here are a few items.

1. 
   A 25th hour in a day. A book lover never has enough time to read all of the books tottering in their to-be read pile or languishing on the online wishlist. So if we’re going to do all the other activities demanded of us, we need another hour to allow us to enjoy a book uninterrupted. Otherwise, we are forced to read while brushing our teeth, blow-drying our hair, in five minute snippets while waiting for our kids, etc. You get the idea. When reading is like oxygen, we will do it. It just won’t be easy.
2. Bookshelves. Many, many more bookshelves. Remember the towering to-be-read pile? Those books must go somewhere. And somewhere they will go. Under the bed, beneath the car seat, on counters and surfaces all over the house. But this leads to a significant problem: where-on-earth-did-I-hide-that-book? This is disaster when the plot is getting good, and the tension is thick.
3. A nice fat savings account for frequent depletions at all manner of bookstores. While some people are addicted to vices, we are addicted to the written word. Many of us love the glow of our Kindle. Or we adore the feel of a paperback. We love the smell of the paper. We delight in the heft of a hardback. It’s a weight-lifting regimen, folks. Trust me, you are lifting weights and building muscle with every time you pick up a book and flip a page. Think of all the calories you are burning. Significant I assure you.
4. A ready supply of bookstores. This one can be a real challenge depending on where you live. Some people are known to journey for hours to reach the nearest book oasis. When it is reached, the bibliophile must be enticed from the nirvana state with lattes. Lots and lots of lattes.
5. 
   An extensive selection of bookmarks. All sizes, colors, shapes. Stashed in multiple locations. When those disappear, a ready supply of post-it notes will suffice because nothing is worse than losing one’s place or dog-earing a page. Books may be underlined, they be written in, they may be doodled in. However, they may not be dog-eared. It is not okay. Never. Ever. Just don’t do it.

What would you add to this must have list?