Just curious
Are any of the rest of you having this problem? I have a HUGE To Be Read pile, stacked high with all the books I’ve meant to get to for the past two or three years, and yet this morning I just ordered seven new books.
Is this another case of the new shiny thing getting my attention and distracting me? It’s just that I really want to read all the books I just ordered. But then, I also really wanted to read all the books I already ordered at one time, and that are now sitting on my shelf.
Please tell me I’m not the only compulsive book-buyer in the group. What to do?
February 4th, 2008 at 9:03 am
OMG I have sooo many books to read! and I don’t only buy them I get them from the library! and the worst part is I don’t count the self helpish ons as books bc I think I would just skim them but I don’t even do that! I just counted and I have roughly 40 books I need to read or ones that I would like to read more then others. O_O I have a serious problem….
February 4th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Dylan, I love self-helpish books. So much fun to look inside the workings of our brains and see where we can tinker with them. I could read those all day long.
Thanks for your confession. If this is the worst problem we have, we’re in pretty good shape.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Umm…keep buying books until you’re broke and then read the old ones? That’s what I end up doing.
I tend to buy more books than I read, too, so I have a TBR stack of like fifty books. I just grab books as they look interesting. I just let the books sit on my shelf until one grabs my attention and I want to read it. Usually, I’ll reach for newer ones before older ones, but I know their turn will come and for now, they’re serving the wonderful purpose of adding to my library.
Another solution that kind of works for me is to read more, but what with school and the internet and writing, it becomes difficult to read as much as I’d like.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Oh, I SO do the same thing. I had to buy a whole new bookcase for my TBR pile and I’m STILL ordering new books from Amazon! But a part of it for me is that I love owning books and I also love supporting authors I know.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Yeah, Carrie, I’m the same way about supporting other authors–if someone I know (whether personally or via blog, or even from afar) has a new book out, I want to do my part to support their royalties. But I can’t claim all purchases are for such a good reason. Usually it’s just hearing someone mention something, and I decide I’d better buy it before I forget. Hmm, I wonder if just keeping a list would accomplish the same thing? Nah.
Anidori-Isilee, I love your attitude that “for now, they’re serving the wonderful purpose of adding to my library.” I’m totally stealing that reason! Having a huge library is one of the true luxuries of life. Why not embrace it? Thank you for supplying that justification.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Robin,
I bet I’m worse than you! I guess there are just too many good children’s and adult books that I want to read. I have a special bookshelf where I’ve kept my “to be read” children’s books–but now I need more than one shelf! Buying books has become an addiction. Maybe we should establish a group called BBA–Books Buyers Anonymous. Can you imagine what the meetings of a group that would be like? I can imagine–and think it would only foster the buying of more books.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Elaine, I think you’re right. One of us would confess which five books we just bought, and everyone else in the group would say, “Oh, I’ve been meaning to get those, too!” Maybe it’s better if we keep our purchases to ourselves.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I have this problem, too, Robin, and the library compounds it. Sometimes I buy books just so that I won’t have the pressure of a due date hanging over me.
Also, I like to have the right book for the right mood, and sometimes, the mood I’m in when I’m ordering isn’t the same as the mood I’m in when I sit down to read. So, you gotta have LOTS of choices!
February 4th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I’m even worse. I have a ‘being’ read pile which is getting to be way too large. I start lots of books before I finish the previous. It’s kind of an annoying habit.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I have the oppposite problem to everyone here, since I left my books behind in Australia I feel like I’m constantly on the verge of running out of good books to read, despite having already bought lots of (cheaper! yay!) books over here. Please feel free to send any excess books this way
February 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am
That is so my problem right now. There is so much new literature coming out and it is amazing! Plus someone says, “Oh, you have to read this book” and then you go and buy it. Problem is, you have to put in on the shelf with the other 10 books you just bought. What my friends and I have been starting to do is buy books on tape. I have never been one to do that, but I can read and listen to books at the same time! I am starting to really like it.
P.S. I do like the BBA–Books Buyers Anonymous. I would join!
February 4th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Shai, I have a library of audio tapes, too–so great for vacation driving. And that way, like you said, you’re listening to one at a time. Can’t get distracted by the other five audio books on your shelf because it’s too much trouble to load those until you finish the current one.
Emma, great idea! Should we all start shipping you our YA excess?
Patrick, that is pretty bad. I know, because I have a pile like that, too. The stack by my bed is pretty out of control. Short attention span theater.
Sara, you’re so right–sometimes the mood you’re in when you order the book isn’t the same mood you’re in when it’s time to read. (Which is why that stack by the bed is so tall.) And while I love libraries, I’m with you–I don’t want a deadline hanging over my head. Plus I like to give authors the sales, plus I just like having things of my own, you know?
February 4th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I didn’t have near as many “to-be-reads” as I do now that I peruse the “Tuesday Book Club” comments each week. My bedside table is like yours, Robin–weighted with books (some with bookmarks halfway through) that sometimes get knocked off in the middle of the night when I’m reaching for the baby monitor. Scares my husband to death. He just shakes his head at my reading habit. I have a rule that I will not go straight from computer screen to sleep. I must have real paper before my eyes before they close for the night. But there is little time. And my to-be-read pile grows taller and taller! So many books…
February 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I agree with Sara in that I will have moods where all I want to read is fantasy or mystery. Luckily I have a big basement and can hold all sorts of books there. Yesterday I was in the mood for Sci Fi so I dug a book out of that pile. It had been waiting to be read for 2 mos. The trouble comes when it gets to be a year & I still haven’t read them. Sometimes I will just donate them to the library or Goodwill.
I have new books coming from Amazon this week & a crazy schedule. More books for the pile.;) Spring Break is coming. Reading is kind of ideal for teachers-no one wants anything from you except your attention on the book-no multitasking.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Readerdiane, that’s one of the things that must be so great about teaching: you still get the same vacations you did as a kid, when all you wanted to do to fill your time was read and watch movies. How nice to still be able to do that as an adult!
Kelley, I’m the same way–I can’t sleep if I go straight from computer to bed. There needs to be that nice bridge in between, even if it’s reading only a few pages. But the brain does need that break.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
It is! ^_^ hehe your welcome and I think we probably are! lol
February 4th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I was just in a bookstore today(had some time to kill before seeing There Will Be Blood)and saw several things that I wanted but only got one,which was the latest Kim Harrison paperback,For A Few Demons More.
Meanwhile,I had a book in my purse(long bus ride to the only theater within my area that’s playing TWBB)and am currently reading a few others a bit at a time. Fortunately,I do have my Booksfree account,which loans me two titles at a time(in paperback),so after my book browsing today,I’ll have a few new titles to put on my waiting list.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Lady T, I’ve never heard of Booksfree–how cool that sounds! And yet it’s a curse, because you’ll always be able to get more and more and more.
A good curse.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Sara mentioned the library compounding her problem, but my job involves going to this place where they have all these books lying around that you can take away for free. People are always coming up to me and asking me to help them find books they’re all excited about, and I spend a calculable amount of work time every day reading about books. Then there are the book blogs in my free time and one of the perks of working at a library is that we can purchase books for ourselves at an extreme discount and I can’t possibly pass an independent bookstore without purchasing something lest they go out of business.
Seriously, it’s bad.
Sometimes people come into the library and can’t find anything they want to read, as in finding something they want to read is a problem for them. I feel sad for those people. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how many things I want to read, but I can’t imagine what I’d feel like without that comfortable cushion of interesting reading material handy. It’s like a security blanket.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I totally have that problem, Robin! It’s some sort of addiction, for sure.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:18 am
I have an enormous To Be Read pile! I started to books that I need to read on my beside table/bookshelf (it’s both) but now I have about forty books in it, and about twenty books piled around it. I really need to catch up. I actually like having too many to be read books, because I know that I’ll never run out.
February 5th, 2008 at 7:33 am
I think you’re a little confused, perhaps - or possibly just unaware of the medical research which shows that book-purchasing is the only addiction which isn’t a problem? Yeah, yeah, there’s a BIT of small print, like the conditions in which the bank account becomes empty or the house so full it’s impossible to open the door to get the parcels in, but aside from that, it’s all good!
You might enjoy the concept of SABLE, which comes from the knitting world, but obviously applies: Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Oh, I absolutely do this! And I start books, and somehow then start new ones, even when I like the ones I’ve already started. It’s getting really bad of late, but I keep on accumulating. Would love a week or two to just sit and read them all!
February 7th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Adrienne, you’re right–you definitely work in the equivalent of a chocolate factory. Be strong! And how can anyone walk in there and not find something they want to read? How can that be?
Jen, craving good books and good pizza–you with me on that?
Felicity, that’s quite a pile. But I like your attitude–there is some comfort in knowing you’ll always have something else to pick up and dive into.
Lady S, bless you, my friend. You know, over here in the states we don’t get to hear about all that cutting-edge medical research. And I love the idea of SABLE! Sweet!
Rachel, welcome to the blog! Yeah, a week or two to do nothing but make a dent in the pile–sounds lovely.