Fantasy Book Club discussion
General Chit-Chat
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Too much to read and too little time ?
If I just read everything I already own, I probably could get through the entire rest of my life without buying another book.Could.
But won't.
(I just have to make peace with the fact that I'll never read all of the books I want to. Nor will I listen to all of the music I want to, play all of the games I want to, nor see all of the movies I want to.)
Joseph, well said!!!
*cries at the thought*
It's such a problem I keep buying books and then Ill get bored one day go to the shops...buy some books and then end up at the library and start borrowing books! Cause in my mind apparently the some 100 or more books I own that I have to read (not including my fathers books I want to get through) are just not enough!
its good to see other people have similar problems I dont feel so alone! haha
It's such a problem I keep buying books and then Ill get bored one day go to the shops...buy some books and then end up at the library and start borrowing books! Cause in my mind apparently the some 100 or more books I own that I have to read (not including my fathers books I want to get through) are just not enough!
its good to see other people have similar problems I dont feel so alone! haha
Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "Money spent on books doesn't count!"Well said, Sandra! :)
My bookstore has an invisible magnet or grappling hook that reaches out to me nearly every time I walk by it. And, of course, Goodreads is definitely feeding my addiction! I keep adding books to my wish-list at an astonishing rate.
I know...I own north of a thousand books. I just try not to think about how many books and how little time I (may) have.But hey...they keep publishing them! And new books in series just keep coming out. I mean I'm waiting on (proverbial) tender hooks for the coming Dresden book in August...and there's already a title for THE NEXT ONE TO BE RELEASED!
I got my book buying under control, I fell off the wagon a bit since joining here, but I think for me I enjoyed having a choice on what to read next. It wasn't that I expected to read all of my books in one lifetime but that I could read any of them at any time. Now that I have an ereader I just keep adding books to my wishlist, same principle and saves me money.
Traci wrote: "Now that I have an ereader I just keep adding books to my wishlist, same principle and saves me money..."Yes, I'm hoping now that I have an ereader I won't stockpile -- I'll just get things as I need them. Well, mostly, anyway.
I've got a stack of books that's threatening to consume at least one room of my house. I'll never catch up unless I quit my job.
I can't catch up unless I figure out how to stop time.
Let me know if you figure that one out Traci...
Me too! I always say to my friends that I wish they'd stop publishing books for a couple years just to give me a chance to catch up...
Once I tried to look up how many books were published in a year. Kind of tough to get hard numbers, but 2005 had 1/2 million published in the US & Britain. With self publishing & ebooks on the rise, I'm sure that number is rising quickly, but there were a lot less books published in previous years, still it's probably not a bad middling number for my lifetime.I read about 150 books per year & have for 40 years. I have maybe 30 more years of reading left, 70 years times 150 books per year is 10,500 books.
10,500 divided by 500,000 times 100 = 2.1%. Ugh. A life time of reading is just over 2 percent of the books published in one year.
Way too many books, way too little time. Honestly, I wish all my problems were this tough, though.
;-)
You know the Twilight Zone with the man at the end of the world, he's in a bomb shelter, has tons of books, and he's excited he'll finally have time to read. And then he breaks his glasses...that was my grandfather's favorite episode. Really freaked me out.
Traci wrote: "You know the Twilight Zone with the man at the end of the world, he's in a bomb shelter, has tons of books, and he's excited he'll finally have time to read. And then he breaks his glasses...that w..."That episode horrifies me.
I love the Twilight Zone. That episode is "Time Enough at Last" & really was horrifying.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Eno...
Pretty sure it's responsible for my utter terror I will go blind.
Oh that was truly awful, Jim.!
If it's any comfort, just tell yourself that 95%+ of the published books belong to [insert genre you don't like here].
My biggest problem isn't newly published books, well that too, but books I missed. I'm so bad in a used bookstore. I haven't added those books to my to-read list yet and I have tons. I have a weakness for slim books from the 60s and before. Anderson, Farmer, Brackett, Kuttner, Moore, just a few names I can't leave behind.
To drop back a couple of posts, that episode of the Twilight Zone tells you if the person is a reader/bibliophile or not. We all find that probably the most horrifying episode of the series run (that or Billy Mumy as the omnipotent horror child staring at that TV screen). Burgess Meredith dropping his glasses...still gives me nightmares. I always wondered why he didn't try to find a place with some surviving reading glasses before he blew his brains out.
What's awful, Lady D? My math? Sorry, I just report the news.;-)
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Traci, just to add to your problem, think about all the stories that were published in old pulps, short lived magazines & such, but have now been forgotten. OK, a lot of them weren't really worthy, but there are some gems that get lost with the dross.
I'm a fan of Robert E. Howard, who shot himself at 30, so he had a very short career. According to HowardWorks.com, he had over 600 pieces of writing, though. That doesn't include his poetry, but is just short stories, novels, essays, plays & such. His work is out of copyright, so a lot is freely available on the web. I have been reading & collecting his stuff most of my life, but I only have 244 of those pieces. (Yes, I know exactly, I spent hours making a spreadsheet.)
I recently found a piece of his online that I've never seen published in a book & it was a true gem, an essay on cats, "The Beast From the Abyss". It was horrible, true-to-life, & very well done. Several other obscure pieces that I found at the same time would be absolutely no loss if they remained so, though. Still, it's oddities like that which give collectors nightmares.
Jim wrote: "I'm a fan of Robert E. Howard, who shot himself at 30, so he had a very short career. According to HowardWorks.com, he had over 600 pieces of writing, though. That doesn't include his poetry, but is just short stories, novels, essays, plays & such. His work is out of copyright, so a lot is freely available on the web. I have been reading & collecting his stuff most of my life, but I only have 244 of those pieces. (Yes, I know exactly, I spent hours making a spreadsheet.)..."Yes, Howard is a nightmare, bibliographically speaking. But you may want to check out The Neverending Hunt: A Bibliography Of Robert E. Howard -- I was able to confirm that I do have a copy of "Beast From the Abyss" in one of my old Ace paperbacks (The Howard Collector, which Goodreads doesn't seem to recognize, to be precise.)
The online era makes things both better and worse for the inveterate completionist -- in many cases it gives us more access to what's out there, but it also makes us even more aware of what we're missing . . .
Jim, I was referring to what happens in the Twilight Zone episode. As a reader, I can't even fathom being surrounded by so many books and unable to read them.
Noooo!!! Lol. I feel the same way about lost movies too.I really like Robert E Howard and it makes me so mad he killed himself. He had already written so much, how much more could he have written?
It's really not that difficult -- I want access to every book, magazine, movie, TV show, piece of recorded music, videogame, etc., ever created. And in exchange I'll be happy to pay a small monthly fee.
I agree, there is simply to many fantasy books to read. Good thing I am still young(19) and hopefully have many years to read some more :).
Yes, that Twilight Zone episode is a vision of Hell-on-Earth! "It's a Good Life" was also chilling. Rod Serling was a master, no doubt about it. I've never cared for the new TZ's.Joseph, you're right. I do have the "Howard Collector", although I read 'The Beast' in a PDF I have, I think. Sorry, senior moment. (I seem to be having a lot of those lately. )
Here is the link to my review, so you can find the book.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I agree about wanting access to it all. Luckily, there are a lot of great sites to find a bunch of it. Have you ever tried The Internet Archive?
http://archive.org
They have texts, movies, audio books & more. I got "Attack of the Killer Leeches" there.
;-)
I don't believe I've seen that Twilight Zone episode, but that does sound terrifying :O
Among my most horrifying events in books I have read list is this The Name of the Rose spoiler: (view spoiler)I suppose it says something that the destruction of the human race is *not* what makes that horrifying to us...
Unfortunately, books ARE constantly being banned for political correctness & religious reasons. Luckily, it's usually only done in small areas, such as specific library systems, usually schools. The American Libraries Association has a pretty good run down on it here:http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy...
I need to build some sort of time stopping device so I can squeeze in all the books I want to read.
I will buy one from you when you perfect it
Denae wrote: "I will buy one from you when you perfect it"noted.
Doc wrote: "I need to build some sort of time stopping device so I can squeeze in all the books I want to read."
Me too.. Totally need one!
Me too.. Totally need one!
Count me in, as I am in dire need of one!
Yeah, could I get one of those as well?
I'm going to be rich! Mwahahahaha...*sips tea from massive mug*
I've got a big stack of books waiting to be read, and some of them have been on my shelf for far too long. I noticed they really started to pile up while I was working my way through the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, which if anyone has read it will know is a huge time commitment!
Shannon wrote: "I've got a big stack of books waiting to be read, and some of them have been on my shelf for far too long. I noticed they really started to pile up while I was working my way through the Malazan Bo..."What are the Malazan books like? I have them on the 'to read' mountain I'm accumulating daily.
Doc wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've got a big stack of books waiting to be read, and some of them have been on my shelf for far too long. I noticed they really started to pile up while I was working my way throug..."In my opinion, it's a really cool, unique series. The scope is huge and the world building is unbelievable. There's lots of great characters and really interesting plots. I've heard a lot of people tend to have trouble getting through the first book, but I hate to hear anyone being put off by that because the series is so worth it and you'll likely never read anything like it. My advice for book 1 is to make sure that you set aside some time to read a good chunk all in one go so you can really get into it and get an understanding of the characters and what's going on. Hope you enjoy it once you get started.
Cheers for the info, I'll keep that in mind when I get round to reading them. I like big sprawling epics, I'll shift this series then closer to the top of the pile.
Shannon wrote: "Doc wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I've got a big stack of books waiting to be read, and some of them have been on my shelf for far too long. I noticed they really started to pile up while I was working m..."The entire Malazan series has been on my tbr list for so long. I finally picked up a copy of the first book the other day and will definitely take your advice to heart.
I have almost hundred books I bought and still haven't read- mostly classics that were cheap and I wanted to have them so I can read "later", and my to-read list on goodreads is also huge. Too many good books and not enough time (I even made a 50-books list to read over summer break to catch up, and so far I read only 5... I'm so slow)
I've done the exact same thing with classics! I've got like 40 sitting on shelves and I've only read like 5. Hoping to get to them by late this year/early next year.
My TBR pile breaks down like this:To-Read (and own) -> 35
Currently-Reading -> 2
Wish-List for my reading challenge -> 59
Wish-List not for my reading challenge -> 231
I don't know if I'll ever get to everything on my wish-list, but at least I hope to read the books I already own.
Ive only began reading every day since last year, so im having a thing for always buying new books. At first I was always reading sci-fi and ploughing through novel each month which began to cost.Ive now started to read fantasy, which take a little longer to get through, and started using second books websites which does save a few pennies.
I have 18 books on my shelf to read and i could buy loads more, if i could. :)
Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Fahrenheit 451 (other topics)The Name of the Rose (other topics)
The Neverending Hunt: A Bibliography Of Robert E. Howard (other topics)
Heroes Die (other topics)
Shotgun Opera: A Novel (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert E. Howard (other topics)Matthew Woodring Stover (other topics)
Brandon Sanderson (other topics)
George R.R. Martin (other topics)
Michael J. Sullivan (other topics)
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I have gotten a little more picky about books since I want to focus on the ones I really want to read.