How much do you spend on books?

[Dipanjan]

Ok, I know I am going to kind of freak out everyone here. But my spend on books range on an average of 12,000 - 15,000 per month. I only buy new books though. And I buy mainly from flipkart, amazon and airport bookstores if I have run out of a book during travel.

I rarely lend books to anyone because I have seen that they almost never come back.

And NOW - you guys can kill me.

[Ahtims]

if envy could kill, you would be dead.

[Anbu]

Smitha wrote: "if envy could kill, you would be dead."

LOL.. btw Dipanjan.. 15k a month!!!! Would love to visit ur house with a sack.. :P

[Nivas]

Dipanjan wrote: "Ok, I know I am going to kind of freak out everyone here. But my spend on books range on an average of 12,000 - 15,000 per month. I only buy new books though. And I buy mainly from flipkart, amazon..."

about 5000 RS per year

[Nivas]

Dipanjan wrote: "Ok, I know I am going to kind of freak out everyone here. But my spend on books range on an average of 12,000 - 15,000 per month. I only buy new books though. And I buy mainly from flipkart, amazon..."

@Dipanjan

where do u live in kolkata?

i love to visit ur library??

[Rushika]

Am a staunch believer in either second-hand or thrifted books, so that helps brings down the expense

[Ahtims]

never make the mistake of lending books to me. I would be sorely tempted not to return those. I love hoarding books.

[Nivas]

Dipanjan wrote: "@ Srinivas - Now, people would pay millions for that information. The wherabouts of the Batcave is absolutely classified information. Maybe a book club meeting needs to be organized in Kolkata and ..."

than let organize a book-club meeting in kolkata,

what do u say "Batman"? "Beast Boy" is ready

[Shardulvyas]

i tend to spend in sprints. 2-3 sprints a year, 2000 to 3000 per sprint..
Most of the books have been Marathi literature so far, but the % of English content is increasing now a days.

[Ahtims]

what is a sprint?
after reading all about you guys, I have become a spendthrift - more than 5000 this month, but mostly for children's books. Have to curb my tendencies.

[[deleted user]]

Smitha wrote: "what is a sprint?
after reading all about you guys, I have become a spendthrift - more than 5000 this month, but mostly for children's books. Have to curb my tendencies."

But the main problem is, with all the MAD spendings, the books get HORDED. I have so many books lined up to be read, if I go by statistics, I already have more than half the no. of books I would read next year.
Every time I buy a book, I promise to myself, no more books. Then I stumble upon a good discount, a rare second hand, and I promptly get into the GHAJINI mode and forget all about my promise!!!

[Shardulvyas]

Smitha wrote: "what is a sprint?
after reading all about you guys, I have become a spendthrift - more than 5000 this month, but mostly for children's books. Have to curb my tendencies."

I mean to say, I happen to purchase a bunch in one go. And then avoid even casual stroll through bookshops until I finish it.

[Ahtims]

good idea, but then I wont be able to stroll through for another 2-3 years

[Navjeetsingh]

Rs 500 every month in my budget are kept exclusively for books. I end up buying 2 books each month so that saves me some bucks out of the monthly budget.

Hence, at the end of the year I've enough to come out fully loaded from a book fair :) . Keep Reading

P.S : I don't keep books as unread. Have read all books in my library except the one I'm reading and the next in turn.

[Versha]

I spend around 500 rs (approx) per month but the thing is i buy books which i have already read once and want to keep it with me for ever(except for some books which are not available in my library)as i have library membership and also read online most of the time.

[Ahtims]

it makes sense, making a library of favorite books only. I have too many books in my library, which I maynot read again. I am waiting for my son to grow up. If he likes, he can keep those, otherwise I'd dispose them off.

[Jyotish]

Smitha wrote: "it makes sense, making a library of favorite books only. I have too many books in my library, which I maynot read again. I am waiting for my son to grow up. If he likes, he can keep those, otherwis..."

Won't keeping a copy of ebooks be a better option? I keep only a very few books with me which I feel really good to be read again at some point of time. the rest are disposed.
However after starting with e books I am a great fan of that. ease of carrying n number of books where ever you want with out over burdening is the best feature with this.

[Tarun]

Does anyone else also feel wrong for buying pirated versions of books.. as opposed to buying pirated movies or games etc

[Vipin]

I read a lot nowadays and was seriously struggling to put a full stop because my shelves here in ma flats are full!!!

As a person lives away from home I never wanted to buy print books. So I opt for Kindle EReader. One more advantage of e-books- they are very cheap compared to prints.

[Navjeetsingh]

Srishti wrote: "5-6 books a month?! this place is making me feel more and more bad about my reading abilities!"

you don't need to envy....
It depends on the kind of books you go for. If you pick Chetan Bhagat you can finish his all books within two weeks. But you can't read same number of books from Fyodor Dostyovsky or Leo Tolstoy or Amitav Ghosh .
it will take you a month to read W&P and another month for Brothers Karamazov.

[Zana!!! Wings of Pages♥]

I spend a minimum of 100 bucks a month ♥

[Sudhamay]

Well when i was a student in a year may be 4K to 5K.

Now, Almost every month around 1.5K to 2K

[Sheetal]

I mostly wait for book fairs when I go crazy n buy like 10 -12 books altogether. But whenever I m at railway station I end up buying one or two ... I like to stash books and then reading them one by one.

[[deleted user]]

I don't get to spend much! :(
I save whatever I can from my pocket-money and buy books. Also, save money from what I get in my birthdays or in festivals. And at times, I just ask my father to bring the book for me if I'm out of bucks.

[Pallavi]

If i had all the money of my mom in my hand i would probably be having two three shelf for my books but as my mom doesn't give me pocket money, i don't spend much on books as i have to ask her permission first and mostly her answer is "no" but i still ask one on my b'day so books come along my B'days

[Raj]

this month reaching the maximum limits of my spends ever ... about 2000

[Arpit]

Smitha wrote: "yes, Anbu, even my amount comes close - around 500 per month, sometimes even upto 2000 at a go (especially when I cant resist those costly picture encyclopedias for gautham)"

Vinoth wrote: "Money has always been a constraint for me.i would think twice before buying anything.but when it comes to books i will just think if i have the money with me and go ahead and buy it.I had shifted t..."
I

I go to daryaganj book market and buy at least 10 books . It costs me around 600 for these books. So my monthly expenditure on books has went up recently as now I have got a lil mre time.

[Lit Bug (Foram)]

I look at how many books I have yet unread in my closet, and then see if I really, really need to buy the book I'm yearning to possess, then I decide whether to buy. If most of my closet is already devoured, I gladly buy whatever catches my fancy... and if I happen to spend too much, I compensate by cutting on clothes or food... :P

[Lit Bug (Foram)]

I try hinting to my friends I want books for my birthday but they don't get it. Then I tell them bluntly that I want books, and they end up buying a cake and a card for me... Bah...

[[deleted user]]

I usually rent books. In a month, I spend about 100 -120 rupees on 5-6 books.

[Abhilash]

400-600 :)

[Sandeep]

hey friends...how many books do u able to buy in one month and do u prefer paperbacks or hardbound??
im just curious to know :)

[Ahtims]

it varies, depends on mine and my son's need for books - varies from 0 to 20. I prefer paperbacks as these are cheaper and easier to handle.

[Achuthan]

Well I buy between 5-10 books a month. Prefer hardbound if I have the money to spare :)

[Sandeep]

thanks guys, I too manages to buy 4-5 books per month and i prefer paperbacks as they are flexible and gives a good feeling when u hold it..I usually buy online as there are no such good book shops here in my city except crossword..

[Neena]

I usually buy used or damaged books..just so i could stretch my limits to the maximum..except on my favorites

[Ananya]

reading all of your comments makes me feel much better... I think I spend way too much on books than on anything else...guess I'm not the only one :P

[Ritika]

I usually rent from a library since my shelf is already full and now keeping books in the closet. But even after that I end up buying a minimum of 3-4 books in a month.

[Misha]

close 2 400-700 per month... I prefer paperbacks too...

[Vasavi]

Close to 400 a month.. I get a book for 70 80 or 100.. I manage to read max a 4 month.. and the next month I return the prev month's books which the shop keeper takes them at half the cost of what he gives me it for. I dont like reading used books so I select new ones even though they are pirated :P I dont like to read a book more than once except one or 2 books and I dont like to keep the book in shelf after reading it. I either want to sell it off or circulate it to someone so that any one can make use of it. I did not read books in my college when my friends used to circulate books.. now none of my friends read books so i dont have any one to circulate books now..

[Ahtims]

this month I splurged about 3000 or more for books, hope I am more cautious in future

[Em*Greedy* (Iniya)]

500 per month.. sometimes out of temptation exceed by a short margin though.. :P last month I got 5 books.. :)

[Rumm]

As a household, many thousands a year, I suspect.

Gave away about 300 books last year. Had given away a similar number a few years back. And books do vanish from our house :-). That helps create space too. We don't mind, as a majority can't be read multiple times. We'd rather that someone else reads them.

We keep the ones we don't want vanishing under lock and key, behind wooden doors rather than glass doors. Authors like Wodehouse & Christie hide behind opaqueness. Others like Cussler, Amish, Ashwin Shanghi are out in the open.

[VaidReads]

i never think about money when i buy books! its my passion to collect and read! i love the smell of the old classic yellowish page! it smells like autumn! so yes, i am planning to earn a lot, alot.. only soo tht i can buy book aftr a book! :)

[Rumm]

Vaidehi wrote: "i never think about money when i buy books! its my passion to collect and read! i love the smell of the old classic yellowish page! it smells like autumn! so yes, i am planning to earn a lot, alot...."

... and you'll have to earn a lot to have a house large enough to store them :-)). Keep buying, Vaidehi. It's so sad seeing books shops shrink!

[[deleted user]]

I cant resist myself when it comes to books. So, its quite a lot :P

[Divya]

After reading all your comments, I feel I am not the exception who buys 10K or more worth books a year. :)

During childhood days, I inherited books from my elder sister, my aunt and other sources, when counted it was 366 books .
This consisted of collection of Fiction, Non-fiction , children books,comics ,Twinkle digest,Reader's digest,encyclopaedias and lots more..

When I started earning I continued the same tradition of buying,reading books and storing them.
Now I am having so much trouble in stacking them...

From last couple of months, I am reading books on my Kindle , nearly stopped buying the hard-covers , not because I don't like them but to reduce the count of physical copies.

I will like to know ,How you all store your books
(common way is to put them in shelves, any other way?)

[Sumit]

10K a year? :O

I wish I could do that too. Based on my current estimate, I spend about 50-60K on books each year for myself and another 15-20K on books as gifts. :O

[Ahtims]

Sumit, I am so envious of you. :/

[Srividya]

@Sumit - I agree with you. Even my annual spending on books goes up to nearly 50K for personal and another 10K for gifts! And it is worse with the Kindle now in my possession for the past two years!