Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion
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I buy more than I read!
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I'm not that bad, I love to read, but I think I love to collect a smidge more. Out of my collection, one third is nonfiction/reference, one third is fiction I have read, and one third is fiction I have collected mainly because I like to have complete sets/series and/or just have certain books of certain themes/subjects. I tend to read on average 20 books a month, but the number I buy on average is probably just a little more, maybe around 25.
I've had to pull back recently because I stopped working to go to school. But my collection is at around 350 (not including reference) and I've read maybe 200 or so.
I definitely buy them faster than I can read them but I can't possibly pass up a good deal when I know it's a book I will want to read, eventually!:) I probably manage to get thru 6 books a month if I had to guess, but my collection is nowhere near that big!:)
Yes, I have the same problem. I keep buying and buying books, most of them from thrift stores, but I read a lot. My problem is reading the books I own though- I seem to be reading a library book more often than reading one that I have already bought and stored on my shelves. Oh well, same difference. Ha.
I do the same thing. I keep telling myself it's ok because I rarely pay full price.
I have the same problem. I am up to 74 books acquired this month, not counting ebooks, and I don't usually read more than 30 a month. (Usually a little less). I've been trying to cut back! But recently joined www.booksfreeswap.com and that hasn't helped! lol!
Anne wrote: "I have the same problem. I am up to 74 books acquired this month, not counting ebooks, and I don't usually read more than 30 a month. (Usually a little less). I've been trying to cut back! But rec..."I think reading 30 (give or take a few) books a month is awesome!
Having books on hand to look forward to is good thing. Sometimes I don't sleep very well, and there's nothing like finishing one book late at 3am, and moving right on to the next one.
I'm the same way. A new book is like a trophy to me. I can't possibly read all the books I have. I just don't have that amount of time. I read only about 2 a month. I want a Kindle to read all the ebooks I have, but I know it just won't be the same as a real book.
I buy more than I read. We travel a lot, so if we are around a used book store that I may not pass again for a while I have to stop. I try to stay on my monthly $100 book budget. The thing with used book stores is that they all have a different selection & what they have today they may not have tomorrow. I read ALOT though.
I can't help it... I try to sell them if it seems like I'm not going to read them but then I just end up reading like 4 books at once. I use the "I don't pay full price" excuse to buy them too. The kindle was a good idea for a few of the ones I knew I'd never want to sell, but one or two 7.99 buys of a so so book and you get kinda discouraged when you can't get anything back for an ebook.
For every book I read, I probably wind up buying at least 3 more than that in a given week - I can't help it that the used bookstores where I live are so good! It's so hard to say "no" when a book only costs $1-$2 dollars....
I am bad about buying all of the books I read. I used to use the library but I'm in West Virginia and the selection isn't very good. I buy between 10-15 books a month and my husband is the instigator lol! I try to read about 6 a month but now that summer is here I'm having more and more trouble getting them read lol! But hey, I used to have worse addictions, I'll trade my book addiction over those any day gladly!
BTW my home library is about 500 books in total and I've read all but maybe 85-90 of them!
I do like to read a lot, but nothing like 20-30 books/month! Wow! Between my husband and me, and including some kids' books, we have about 1070 books in our library, but I have no idea how many of those I've read, so I should try to figure that out.I buy books that I want to have on hand so that when I go to start a new book I have a variety to choose from and will never have to go to the library! My mother-in-law borrows books from me, and I get her to read those I haven't yet read and tell me if they're worth keeping.
Alexandra wrote: "And I always have.I swear they waft pheromones through the air-conditioning vents just to keep me there for hours, drooling over all the books I can't possibly buy. I'm a starving college stude..."
Yes! I agree!!!!!!!
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Even though I don't have much money, I always feel rich and happy when I have a selection of books I want to read but haven't read yet. But they have to be new books. I don't like used ones unless they are rare.
I like to think that if I lose my job, I'll have at least a year's back reading available.
Leanne wrote: "i havent been reading as much cos im so tired from work, but still buying a lot lol the result being i have a to-read pile next my bed a mile long (so to speak). Is it odd that i also find the atm..."Finding the bookshop atmosphere peaceful and calming isn't odd at all. When I'm stressed, I look forward to finding a corner in the bookstore to sit in and read. I always read the prologue of the book (s) I intend on buying, whether I'm going to read them soon, or sometime next year.
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Michelle wrote: "Finding the bookshop atmosphere peaceful and calming isn't odd at all. When I'm stressed, I look forward to finding a corner in the bookstore to sit in and read. I always read the prologue of the book (s) I intend on buying, whether I'm going to read them soon, or sometime next year..."
Ladies, you do know there is a book supplier that can be just as relaxing place and not cost you anything, right? It's called a public library. :-)
Joseph wrote: "Leanne wrote: "i havent been reading as much cos im so tired from work, but still buying a lot lol the result being i have a to-read pile next my bed a mile long (so to speak). Is it odd that i al..."LOL! You're right Joseph. I defnitely don't utilize the library as much as I used to. Since I've started getting those member benefit cards, I've become obsessed with not letting those bookstore coupons expire!
I don't think my bookshop (which is very tiny) is usually calm. There are always discussions going on between staff (who aren't at all objective) and customers. Just before lunch today there were two ladies and a little girl going on loudly about the best cake decorating books and what I should bring in. There was a guy who was expounding on the evils of the Freemasons and Iran and various conspiracy theories. And there was me discussing topiary with and English guy who was wondering if he could trim tropical bush into various topiary shapes.The outcome, believe it or not, was one of the cookbook ladies went home and came back at 4.30 with a heart-shaped chocolate cake covered in sticky icing and sprinkles. There were three lawyers around at that time looking at philosophy and travel books (and the Cannabis Grow Bible)and they all wanted a slice.
Not very calming really.
Susan (Suz) wrote: "I definitely buy them faster than I can read them but I can't possibly pass up a good deal when I know it's a book I will want to read, eventually!:) I probably manage to get thru 6 books a month ..."
It's pretty similar for me. I buy books mainly when I see a good deal on what I know I want to read eventually (or if I'm affraid that it will go out of prindt and be hard to find later on - yes this has happened to me before). But I don't always have all the time that I want to read. My worst example is The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood. I bought it back in December 1994 (the receipit was still inside it), but I only got around to read it this year...
Depending on my working schedule and life in general, I probably tend to read 1-2 books during any average month.
It's pretty similar for me. I buy books mainly when I see a good deal on what I know I want to read eventually (or if I'm affraid that it will go out of prindt and be hard to find later on - yes this has happened to me before). But I don't always have all the time that I want to read. My worst example is The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood. I bought it back in December 1994 (the receipit was still inside it), but I only got around to read it this year...
Depending on my working schedule and life in general, I probably tend to read 1-2 books during any average month.
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Petra, now there you've got a bookstore I would love to visit, one that can act as a sort of social hall for the neighborhood as well as a place of business. :-)
Thank you Joseph. Most of the time its empty though. I'm not even breaking even right now. But when there are locals in it, there is usually a discussion going on.
I haven't been reading nearly enough. I have been too busy with other hobbies. One of these days - my retirement plan - I will read all the books I own!!
Rita wrote: "Susan (Suz) wrote: "I definitely buy them faster than I can read them but I can't possibly pass up a good deal when I know it's a book I will want to read, eventually!:) I probably manage to get t..."And that's exactly like me. I have more books then i can count, all of them i want to read.....but with my busy work days, and hectic home days....its only a far fetched wish.
I will continue to stack books! haha. its a habit i refuse to break.
I swear they waft pheromones through the air-conditioning vents just to keep me there for hours, drooling over all the books I can't possibly buy. I'm a starving college student, what am I to do?
I love the smell of books, the feel of books. I have a favorite format (the large, kind of floppy feel) that I simply crave to hold in my hands. I do no discriminate in content.
I own children's books, romance novels, horror novels, American and British classics, epic fantasies, and comic books galore! I simply cannot help myself. I am blind to the numbers as my books tumble off my shelves in need on some elbow room.
I go to a used bookstore, sure. I'll walk out with twenty or thirty books at ten cents a piece; but its not the same! They smell like dust and mildew, not freshly printed paper.
But my biggest problem?
..I read less than a book a month.