Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion
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Is Owning Books as Good as Reading Them?
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I understand the impulse to buy books even though I know I have plenty of books already that I own but haven't read. Several years ago I purged my library and got rid of a lot in an effort to lower the number of books I owned but hadn't read. It felt sort of like giving away children. But really I feel much better now, knowing that the goal of reading every book I own is feasible, though I haven't reached it yet. I still buy too many books at sales and used book shops, but I really try to keep myself under control.So, all that to say, I understand the impulse to buy more books than I really need, though I've tried to counteract it in myself.
I have enough books to read without buying more for the rest of my life! Yet I get more
I have around 35 unread books, I know is not much by some standards but there was a time before internet when I was a 'buy one, read one' type of reader. I probably won't be that kind of reader anymore, nonetheless I try to restrain myself and don't indulge in impulsive shopping. I make lists and try to stick to them, I've bought some books in march but I'm putting myself in a buying ban until july (most likely june haha).That been said I don't think owning a certain amount of unread books is bad per se, is like browsing through a library, right? Just don't buy for the heck of it, buy with a genuine intention to read and if in time you don't feel like it anymore you can always donate them or make a yard sale (I unhauled a couple of unread books and some books that I didn't like that much, it felt good).
I have over 2000 unread books. How that happened I have no idea -_-. Think it's all the cheap bag sales at the library. Like you guys, I can't stop buying them, although I do restrain myself more the past two years, realizing I need to cut back. Now I'm a lot more picky.
Those of us who not only love to read but also love to collect books are a subspecies of those who love to read. I was out with two cousins who also love to read and to my shock I discovered they don't keep the books they buy. They either give them away or (HORRORS!!!) throw them out. They seemed to think I was the strange one because I actually have books on my book shelves and I admitted I hadn't read about 2/3 of them yet. They couldn't understand why anyone would keep a book they had read nor buy more books than they could read within the next few months. I sat there, holding my tongue, rather than explain why I love my books, they would never understand. Like I said, we are a subspecies of those who love to read.
How could anyone throw away books!?! I give mine to Goodwill or Salvation Army if no one else wants them. But honestly, that doesn't happen very often because I love having books.
I mostly just buy and sometimes don´t even read. I own lots of books I haven´t read yet. Owning is better than actually reading,You can stare at the books, if nothing else and that always makes me calm
throwing away books - disgusting! If they are hardbacks (non-bookclub) Better World Books has a program where they will pay for the shipping and donate the proceeds to Little Free Library. A much better use than landfill.
IS OWNING BOOKS AS GOOD AS READING THEM?
RACHEL MANWILL
03-24-14
Confession: I own over 850 books that I haven’t read.
That’s more than double the number of books I own that I HAVE read. I discovered this startling number as I was organizing and cataloguing the books in my apartment in preparation for The Book Jar project. No longer confined to a small jar, the slips of paper with titles and authors quickly spilled over into a small box.
The book JarI have more books than I could possibly read in several decades (considering my average pace of 50+ books/year) but I still continue to buy new titles, adding more and more to my never-ending TBR list. Even books that I was completely over the moon for that I picked up during the last three editions of Book Expo have gone unread. In fact, the percentage of books I got at BEA that have been read is…dismally low.
Shouldn’t I get rid of some of these books, these physical reminders that there will never be enough time to read all the things I want to read? I should, I know. But I, at some point, thought that I would like each book enough that I was willing to spend money (or in the case of BEA, physical labor) on it. So presumably I still will, whenever I get around to it.
There are many “big” books in my expanding, unread library – books that had an impact when they were released and continue to have an impact on literary culture and communities. Books like Freedom by Jonathan Frazen, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz languish. And often, so often that I’ve made a joke out of it, I will reply to a query about whether I’ve read this book or that that I “own but haven’t read it.”
But these books – especially those “big” books – I feel in some ways that just having them on my shelves means something, that it’s better than nothing. I feel like I’m doing something with those books, even if that “something” isn’t reading them. I don’t know if that feeling is about supporting the authors either through money or awareness or if its about intellectual acceptance – I know OF a book, I was current enough with the trends to buy it – or if its about none of those things and I truly believe that time will slow and someday, I will get around to reading each and every one of these unread volumes.
If there ever was a moment for me to adjust this mode of thinking, it would’ve been when I packed and unpacked so many unread books in my most recent move or when I spent hours and hours cataloguing books and then cutting strips of paper so I could fish a random slip out of a jar, one at a time. But this particular piece of baggage is not one I seem to be able to unpack (nor can I unhook myself from the compulsion to buy new books). Do I really want to?
Do you?