I’m currently about halfway through the third book of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I started the first book in the series exactly a month ago. I loved it. Cried my eyes out. The day before I sent my oldest off to kindergarten, I bought the movie on iTunes and loved it too. I finished the second book over the weekend and immediately started the third. I should be working today (I actually have books of my own to write) and all I want to do is plow ahead with the third book and maybe even the fourth.

At some point this morning, I realized maybe my Kindle is not emotionally healthy for me. Maybe it’s not a good thing that I read all the books in a series without ever leaving my sofa. With actual books, I would have had to go to a bookstore. Or at least answer the door when the UPS guy dropped off the box from Amazon. Plus, the Geek would have seen me holding the different books, arched an eyebrow and asked, “How many books are in that series?” while sniffing indigently at the mystry leftovers from the freezer.

But as it is, with the Kindle, I can finish The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, and order the next book at three in the morning and he’ll never know. It’s like living next door to your crack dealer. Or like having half a cheesecake in your fridge and knowing no one else will notice if a slice goes missing. Or two slices.

I know there are people who are disciplined enough that they never give the cheesecake a thought. These are probably the same people who enter marathons for fun.

I am not such a person. I need accountability. When things are really bad, I’ve been known to leave books in the mailbox for the day. (My mailbox is at least a three minute walk from the front door. If I can find the willpower to walk the book out there, I can usually get work done for the day. But today it’s raining and I don’t trust my mailbox not to leak. Sometimes I put books in the freezer (a la Joey and Little Women). But I don’t trust the freezer not to kill my Kindle.  So I had to rely on short battery life of my aging Kindle. Thank goodness someone moved the plug while vacuuming. I should be good through the rest of the afternoon.

What about you? Do you ever have to hide your books from yourself?

Tell me where you hide your books and I’ll pick one person to win a copy of Winning it All, my August book.