The Next Best Book Club discussion
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The "I-Must-Not-Buy-Any-More-Books" Thread
Fiona, I am with you. I have 3 bookcases in my room, all of them overflowing! My plight isn't so bad as yours, I have only 107 unread owned books (I recently found more!), but if I'm not careful, I'll be close to 300 as well. It's terrible though, I have a B&N gift card burning holes through every pocket I put it in (where did I put my asbestos pants??) and 2 bookswap accounts and 3 thrift stores within 3 miles of me. It's book heaven-- if you're allowing yourself to buy books. Which I'm not!
So...
"I promise to abstain from purchasing new books until my Owned-To-Read pile is looking more respectable and I must read the books I already own!"
Becky, I actually have 6 bookcases in my bedroom which consits of over 600 books lol.
Fiona wrote: "Becky, I actually have 6 bookcases in my bedroom which consits of over 600 books lol."Wow... You win! (I hope you've read some of those!)
Nope lol. Those are what I have to read as and when I can lol.
LMAO...this sounds like a rehab meeting. However, I can't make fun because I was thinking the same thing today- that I can't walk into the bookstore to buy another book. I simply don't have the space! So here's my pledge:"I promise to abstain from purchasing new books until my to-be-read pile is looking more respectable and I must read the books I already own!"
No. More. Buying.Except for Need, but otherwise I AM NOT BUYING ANYMORE BOOKS.
I hope.
I am not repeating but I promised something to myself due to being in Dublin, sharing a place and still ahve to see how long we stay here....I promised myself I buy only a book when one is finsihed and when I turned in my library books. When I do buy a book, I can't borrow any from the library till I finsihed it and whenever I go to Italy, i have to bring my read books with me to my boyfriend's place. So in short i can't have many books around here.
Mod
I wish I could join in on the promise, but frankly, my dears, I am addicted to library book sales and will NOT stop going. Its like crack. I have to go. I WILL go!! There is no help for me!
Besides, this kinda goes against this groups mantra.... I wanna root for the addict who walks into the bookstore and drops their entire paycheck in one fell swoop on books books BOOKS!!!!
Tho I have to admit, your abstaining is to be admired!
600 books is a lot... Would you like me to take some of those off your hands? - No! No! Sorry. No more books. We just need to be strong! We can do it! Think of all the money that we'll save!
Hahaha. :D I'm going to not buy books! I have not bought books for TWO MONTHS.
I will buy Need though, because I have to for my book club. But otherwise, NO BOOKS.
Despite getting $80 in Chapters money...
I WILL NOT. I have more then 42 books waiting for me to read them. Like P & P, which I will be starting this afternoon.
Lori, its not stopping me from gettin more books in. I just will swap what I have on my TBR or borrow from library more lol.
Haha Lori, I admire them too...but.....well welcome back soon all of you:-))))
Fiona, it's four words:National. Novel. Writing. Month.
I had no time to go to the bookstore!! Or read, for that matter.
My last book to come will be Neverwhere: A Novel, which I've already requested from PBS. I hope... Since I'm officially starting on Jan 1 I still have 3 more days to splurge. 
Wow.. I am impressed about the discipline here. I have three overflowing bookshelves too. However, I have no discipline. I'd often say I have to read one before I can by one, but I come here and then sign on to amazon or PBS and then its all over :(
I'll start abstaining right after I finish spending all these gift cards...I hope...
I'm laughing so hard right now because I just got back from the used bookstore with seven new books. To add to the four I received for Christmas, the 8 I bought at B&N the day after Christmas with my giftcards, and the three I scored for next to nothing at the Borders sale yesterday. That's 22 new books just this weekend...yikes, I have no discipline! So, no more book-buying in 2009 for me. Instead of buying more books with the rest of my Christmas money, I'm going to have to invest the money in a new bookshelf!"I promise to abstain from purchasing new books until my to-be-read pile is looking more respectable and I must read the books I already own!"
Vicky, discipline???? Okay, I really hope you all manage but I think we are just too obsessed with books....:-)))) but go go go....I will cheer for you all!
The wagon hasn't stopped to let you on yet Fiona... That's cool... I'm thinking the same things: How much can I buy before the new year? Gah! I'm terrible!
I am going out 2morrow to hand in the books to the library, but I might have a wander down to the charity shops and see what I fancy lol.
But, that would also mean that you're burning calories, so its a twofer. Go for the used bookshop. You'll get more for your money and feel more satisfied know that you got a bunch more books before your self-imposed book-buying abstinence. ;)
Fiona, where do you think you will find books that you are really looking forward to buy? Go to the place where you think you will find most of them. Maybe first go to the second hand shop and if you see many you are interested in for a good price, you might get them there. In case you don't find books interesting enough, go to waterstones.Or if you normally go to second hand shops for books, you can spoil yourself with new books that you don't ahve to pay for yourself.
Did it become easier or I just make it worse?
Fiona, there's also the library. Also, it helps me to take a minute or two and see the books that I already own, it helps to know what you've got before you go out searching for more.
Just remember, we're here cheering you on.Imagine your satisfaction when you've finished all the books you own and go on a big splurge for new ones!
True! I just focus on the books on my bookshelf, and then it's almost effortless. Seriously.
Yeah, but if you see all the pretty covers you have on your bookshelves, and look and the descriptions again and see why you wanted them in the first place, it's like falling for the same person again.*sighs happily*
So is the idea to buy as many books as you can now, before the new year? However, I am not going to pretend.. I know I can't do it, instead I put my energy into the cheapest ways to get the books I want.
That's not a bad thing either. What I love about this group is that we pride ourselves on how cheap we can get books, which I think is positive and healthy. Also, it's nice to see you are not insane, like many people around me who aren't as keen on deals around me think.
I am in the same boat. But I have this 25% coupon for Borders plus they have this after Christmas sale. Oh I so need to stay in my Pj's all day for the next 4 days so I'm not tempted. I should just read!
BUY A NEW HANDBAG & NEW SHOES Fi
"I promise to abstain from purchasing new books until my to-be-read pile is looking more respectable and I must read the books I already own!" Oh wait, sure, I'll go to the library with you! Oh, I'd like to read this book, and this one, too! Ah heck, it was just a fleeting pledge and I have already broken it. I hang my head in sorrow but NOT SHAME1 Yeeeeehaaa!p.s. I bought new cushions for my dining room chairs yet I still had to check out books from the library...
A few months ago I decided one of my 2009 personal challenges would be to NOT purchase any more books. One of my big book addictions is the used bookstore-I splurged yesterday for the last time and bought 8 books ~ they've doubled their prices, too-grrr.If I don't have the book I want (need) to read on Mt TBR, I'll get it from the library.
"I promise to abstain from purchasing new books until my to-be-read pile is looking more respectable and I must read the books I already own!"
I commend you all on your vow to quit buying books! I typically am more of a library person, but recently I have found myself picking up a book or two at Target or going on Amazon and ordering a few that I really want. I am actually going to really, really try to quit smoking as a resolution. I went to a website called mytimetoquit.com, which has a calculator to show how much money I would save each year: $730!!
So I am going to reward myself with books (since I will have the extra cash and all!!) I still have not figured out how though :)
Good luck Angela! Quitting smoking is so difficult. I tried and tried and then when I was finally successful, I had a comparatively easier time of it than most, at least as far as cravings went: I just got tonsillitis back to back 5 times in a row and HAD to quit because my throat closed up. I was too busy craving food and drink to be concerned with nicotine! Good weight loss plan though, if you can stand it... ;)
But still, smoking is one of the hardest habits to quit, so I wish you luck! :)
Angela, good luck on quitting! You definitely deserve a bunch of new books for managing to quit smoking. :)
Thanks!! I did quit back in 2000 for about a year and a half and I am so mad that I picked it back up again, especially since I know what hell it is to quit :)
Haha, good luck all of you.....Fiona, I was going to say go to Southampton but then you decided not to go.....if you prefer new books, go to Waterstones. It is the perfect moment. As they are more expensive it is better to buy the expensive ones when you use not your own money.
OK. I'm in. I cant buy books... but first I'll problably buy gurnesey
No, I can't do a book-atorium, I haven't got enough raw material at home.
BUT I have set myself a new year's resolution:
I have to bookcross out more books than come into the house. So if I buy (or pick up thru bookcross) 2 books, 3 other books have to go out. Hopefully my bookshelves will be more manageable by the end of 2009.
BUT I have set myself a new year's resolution:
I have to bookcross out more books than come into the house. So if I buy (or pick up thru bookcross) 2 books, 3 other books have to go out. Hopefully my bookshelves will be more manageable by the end of 2009.
Hayes, not that I will ever do it, but any tips for yourself to decide which books go out and manage to actually find enough that have to leave? It would be heartbreaking for me!
The first to go are the books I didn't really like. Makes me feel better about having spent money on a book if I think that someone who wants to read it will pick it up.
After that, books I know I will never read again, even if I did love them. Obviously the books I love dearly will never go.
After that, books I know I will never read again, even if I did love them. Obviously the books I love dearly will never go.
I'd like to recommend "Book Crossing", url = http://www.bookcrossing.com/ where you agree to leave books on park benches or bus seats etc. One way to cut down the clutter and feel good about it. There is a system for tracking what happens to your books, too. Lots of fun.
all of this I won't buy anymore books talk is making me WANT to go buy a book. Is this some kind of reverse psychology thing?
Ed wrote: "I'd like to recommend "Book Crossing", url = http://www.bookcrossing.com/ where you agree to leave books on park benches or bus seats etc. One way to cut down the clutter and feel good about it. ..."bookcrossing actually made me buy more books. I attack the book sales whit the thougth "oh what a good book to share, and cheap, let me just read it before I relese it"
actually I've made a lot of books move out via bookcrossing, releases, rabcks, trades, rings and rays, but that doesnt make the mountain shrink.
I do need stop buying books. this year I've bougth quite a lot, but tehn I've read more than ever (91 books).
I think I will make a compromissed and alow myself to buy one book a month. butreally only one
you win some, you lose some... I took a book to the "Crossing Zone" near my house, and another one leapt into my hands... one out/one in, anyway. At least I didn't pay for it, and it is a worthwhile book, really ...(aren't they all?)
If I do not read them now, then I will read them when I retire...far, far in the future! Sorry, can't join you in your book ban...would take too much fun out of my year (half the fun is finding the books and deal, you know!).
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"I promise to abstain from purchasing new books until my to-be-read pile is looking more respectable and I must read the books I already own!"