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May
14
BTT: Book Gluttony!
2009 at 8am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Mariel suggested this week’s question: Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?
Hah! I feel like the first three sentences of this question should be from one of those “if you answer ‘yes’ to two or more of these questions, you may have a problem” surveys.
Are my eyes bigger than my book belly? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! One look at the piles of unread books all over my house are more than enough evidence of that. And don’t even get me started on the TBR file I now keep on my desktop. There are books on there that I’d really like to read sooner rather than later, but I feel guilty buying them with all those other unread (already paid for) books at home. That doesn’t always stop me, but still. And yes, I know the library is a good alternative, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I like to write in books and make them my own. Thank goodness for ARCs, or I’d be completely broke.
Do I have a habit of buying up books far quicker than I could possibly read them? Well, I think that’s obvious. My goal for the year is to read and review 100 books, and I could probably complete that goal without buying a single volume more. For a while there, I had the habit of requesting ARCs and accepting review copies faster than I could read, but I’ve worked to curb that so I’m only requesting and accepting books I am genuinely interested in. The rush of free books can be very heady, but when you end up with a pile of free books you don’t really want to read, well, that’s no good for anyone.
Have I had to curb my book buying habits until I can catch up with myself? Yes and no. I’ve had to curb my book buying habits because I just can’t justify spending money immediately on something I won’t use for several months, especially when there are other things I could use that money for right now. Hubby is a financial advisor, after all, so I try to be mindful about my spending habits and not make purchases just because I can. At this point, though, I’ve accepted that I’ll probably never be caught up on my TBRs. Curbing the book buying helps toward that goal, but it’s one I’m never going to reach.
So I think it goes without saying that I’m definitely not a “controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read.” I actually find that just the thought of being down to my last book, or of looking at the TBR pile and only seeing a few there, makes me really nervous. This is a relatively new problem for me. In college and grad school, I read about a book a week, so once a month, I’d head to my local bookstore and buy four or five books. Lather, rinse, repeat, month after month. And I was totally fine with reading the last book then going to the store when I didn’t have any books left.
Now I feel like the rich lady who keeps a million dollars in cash stashed under her bed because she’s secretly terrified of becoming poor again someday. I have an embarrassment of riches where books are concerned, and I know I’m not going to run out or lose access to them, but I need the comfort of my stash. Am I crazy, or do some of you feel that way, too? Is that why so many of us have ridiculously large TBR piles?
Tell me the truth: are you a book glutton?
Related posts:
Well, let’s just say I’ll never run out of books to read!
Despite having piles and piles of un-read books, I am scared to run out of books. So I goo and buy like crazy! That’s my only excuse.
Book gluttons, are we?
I am a book glutton – and proud of it
I titled my post today: Is there a 12 step program for bibliophiles? I think it is a requirement that if you write a book blog – you are a book glutton.
I like that, the rich lady hoarding her money, that’s exactly right. Nothing else really explains my house.
I am choosy when it comes to buying books. I will only buy books that I know are going to be really good, or that I know I want to keep. Even with that mindset though I end up with far too many to read.
As far as review copies, I am now only requesting ones that I really want to read and better yet, I have been asking for ones that are on my TBR list.
My TBR pile is huge, and new ones arrive every week, adding to it. And then, I have this habit of reserving too many books at the library and not having enough time to read them all before they need to go back. Financially, I had to stop buying all the books I wanted, which actually has been good. Now I get them from the library and just purchase the really good ones that I know I will reread.
You can’t have too many books.
I’m not a controlled buyer either and the Kindle makes it worse. It’s far too easy to buy a book with it.
Proud to be a glutton, but I try not to buy. I grab the ones that I’m most desperate to read and leave the rest on a list.
“I actually find that just the thought of being down to my last book, or of looking at the TBR pile and only seeing a few there, makes me really nervous.” Same here. I’ve felt that way for yours, and still do – despite a current TBR count approaching 200 books!
I suspect book gluttony is a common condition – I won’t call it a problem – among book bloggers.
Do you find that you’re just not always in the mood for any of the books in the house? It’s like standing in front of a full closet and saying, “I haven’t a THING to wear!”
I go through phases where I check out 25+ books from the library, leave a comment on every giveaway I find, and…just go crazy. Other times I get so overwhelmed by all my piles of book, and I immediately swear off bookstores, giveaways, and the library.
Let’s just say, right now, I’m going through the first phase.
Isn’t it crazy how that can happen? About half of my reading is scheduled for reviews, and I’m usually looking forward to those books, when I have an open spot to choose any book I want off of the TBRs, I do find myself sometimes standing there, staring at them, wondering how on earth I can have all of these books and not feel particularly drawn to any of them at the moment. Luckily, it usually wears off pretty quickly.
Oh yes, I’m a total glutton. I have no will power in a bookstore. What’s really bad is that I have hardbacks I bought because I just couldn’t wait…but then I got sidetracked by something else, and now the book is available in paperback.
Glutton here, too! I also find it hard to justify spending money on a book I won’t read for months. I actually find that my new book purchases get read far faster than those I buy used or are lent or similar cheap methods of acquiring. I think it’s because when I buy, it’s generally a book I’m eager to read right this second, whereas other books may be randomly on my wishlist or in which I have only a passing interest.
[...] BTT: Book Gluttony! [...]
I tend to buy from charity shops and so feel the pressure to buy up books of interest whenever I see them. This has resulted in far too many books, and a convoluted system for reading them:
http://poursomegravyonme.co.uk/2009/08/26/reading-habits-an-introduction/