I have a confession to make.

I'll admit, it's a little embarrassing and I'm not sure how common it is, but they always say that the first step to solving your problem is to admit that you have a problem in the first place.

The fact of the matter is: I'm addicted to books.

I'm addicted to reading, to turning pages, and absorbing new information. There's a sort of express feeling of satisfaction that comes to settling in and opening the newest installment of a series or feeling the weight of a hardcover copy from one of my favorite authors.

It's no secret that I have an intense love for reading, though there have been many school nights when I complain that I hate reading and never want to look at another page of text after a particularly grueling assignment for class. Yet, true to form, by the next morning it would be a miracle if I'm not pouring over the next assignment or a novel from my personal collection.

As much as I adore the very act of reading, however, I have concluded that I am addicted to books. In order to properly sink into a story and feel immersed, I need to physically turn pages and hold the printed copy.

Digital copies only satisfy one half of the equation and I dream of a library with books lining every wall and flat surface. A space where I can lose myself in the minds of people who are only works of fiction and the imagination of someone I will never meet.

Many people are able to fill voids by purchasing clothes. Shoes and designer fashion fill closets when some people feel upset, and the impulse to purchase a high-end sports car is synonymous with a mid-life crisis. As for myself, I reward myself after a long semester by pooling money and gift cards from Christmas and buying as many books as I think I can feasibly read before the next term starts.

Despite all of this, however, I must say that I am not a fan of the term "bibliophile." As someone who does love books and has more than enough to qualify as a "collector," the very term comes off as pretentious and incites eye rolls from those who know that the user of the label is attempting a facade, as if to claim "I am smarter than you and we all need to know it."

No, I just genuinely love books. Not for the sake of proving my intelligence - in fact, I sometimes question if several of the cheap books purchased from Target on a whim based on the short summery on the back cover with a cliche and mediocre title boost my brain activity or not - but for the sake of myself. Reading is an activity I enjoy, and I simply cannot find the ability to be immersed in a tablet or recording of a story in comparison to a hardcover copy.

So, yes, I'm addicted to books. Believe me, there's nothing worse than pondering which book to reread when I have a withdrawal from new reads.