I can’t stop buying books!

[cantstopbuyingbooks]

Help!

I picked up a huge stack in Asda for my holiday, which I then started to read.

Then I got some more on Amazon, which I’ve broken into.

Then I got even more in Asda today! I just can’t help myself! I’ve read five in five days!

i hope the English lit graduate will approve of my current choice, the game changes series - gay hockey romance 🤣

I'm the same, love physical books, i have so many. My boyfriend thinks I have too many but then he's not a reader

I think it is the joy of discovering new stories and new settings too that can come from buying new books. I sometimes find that they use a word I had never heard/read before so I learn something new 😆

While I agree there are habits and hobbies far more damaging than buying books, I think what the previous poster meant by overconsumption is 'using a lot of natural resources'. Some of us try to be as green as possible in our habits and reading in the UK is such an easy one to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In OPs case, she clearly can't (and shouldn't have to) reduce. And she already recycles by donating to charity shops. If she wanted to reduce her impact on the environment, she could reuse more by buying secondhand (since libraries, physical and digital, don't work for her).

It’s not like I bin them after. I think overconsumption is when you don’t consume what you buy

Well that would not be overconsumption would it? If you aren't consuming anything.

Being truly unable to stop buying anything is actually not the cutesy character quirk social media tells us it is. Being unable to stop buying means you have a shopping addiction. It being to books doesn't make it healthy.

As pp pointed out, books are especially easy to avoid buying first hand and you would still get to read them. Secondhand book shops if you don't have a library or even Amazon secondhand or World Of Books or wherever. Also, if you rattle through a lot of Asda paperbacks, maybe read something a bit harder going and you might find you don't rattle through them at breakneck speed.

Anyway, I'm not sure what this thread is for unless it is a tiktok style teehee I'm just a girl who luuuurves books shtick.

BUT WHY AREN'T YOU READING FLAUBERT THOUGH? Then you too could make a hobby out of pissing on other people's chips.

This Eng Lit graduate right here is currently counting the days until the next ACOTAR release 😁

I expect some of the people on this thread will insist I then read the complete works of Emile Zola as penance (but only if I borrow it from the library or buy it in a charity shop, because apparently that's the only acceptable way to 'consume' books on Mumsnet).

Good grief, just let the woman enjoy her bloody book.

I swear to god that only on fucking Mumsnet would people get annoyed about someone reading and offer unsolicited advice on how to read less. Christ.

If she wanted to reduce her impact on the environment, she could reuse more by buying secondhand

Worth noting that buying secondhand doesn't support authors or the publishing industry, though. I do buy a few books secondhand but I buy most of my books new because I think authors ought to be paid for what they write and the publishing industry needs to stay afloat. And yes, obviously there are a small number of bestselling authors who make huge sums of money, and Lee Child really won't notice if someone buys the latest Reacher from Oxfam, but the money that publishers make from authors like him means they can continue to publish the authors who make them a lot less.

So, there are pros and cons to all approaches, and for that reason it's probably best to let people read however, and whatever, they choose instead of picking holes in their choices.

I knew we (DH and I) had a book problem... but a friend's daughter said to me yesterday "oh I love your house, it's a library". That stood out for me 😅

I've tried a kindle wish list instead of just buying every book that sounds good. And I'm slowly clearing the mounds of bookcases in the house (difficult as DH loves books too and wont dream of rehoming his Terry Pratchett collection!)

If you find a cure, let me know!

Well, tbh, this isn't a case of wanting to be left alone to enjoy her book is it? It isn't as if i have walked up to her on the street or in Asda and said "HEY, READ FLAUBERT!!",, (although being a French grad myself I would love people to do that. Since we are broadcasting our degrees on here apparently...).

She posted a thread on a public forum saying she "cannot stop buying books". For what? For comment or was it just so people could all say "me too omg babes, cheap paperbacks all the way!!"?

Since I did joint honours with political science being the other half of my degree (since we are using our credentials on here you understand being an english lit grad), it has not escaped my notice that there is a cost of living crisis along with the climate crisis. Sticking a post on here gleefully advertising how you cannot stop buying anything, but not actually wishing to change that, is...to use modern parlance...a choice.

So yeah, good grief to you too

I only mentioned I was an English lit graduate because another poster, one apparently also very keen to gatekeep reading and shit on other people's reading choices, was implying that I 'would benefit' from reading books that were more highbrow. I think some (most?) of her posts have been deleted though.

You seem to be taking a lighthearted, cheerful thread with an astonishing degree of seriousness.

The fact that there is a cost of living crisis doesn't mean that nobody is allowed to talk about things they spend money on. Moreover, the cost of living crisis isn't going to be solved by people not spending money they can easily afford to spend.

Do you pop up on all the threads about holidays to tell people they're tone-deaf for going on holiday because holidays aren't necessary and some people can't afford them so they shouldn't mention them?

Let's face it: the only reason people are being chippy with the OP here is because she's buying easy, popular fiction for fun. If she'd posted to say she'd just bought the Booker longlist, nobody would be sneering and replying with sanctimonious snark about over-consumption or bringing up the cost of living crisis.

No, I responded at the beginning of the thread to say I also read a lot but try to use libraries or buy secondhand.

The reason I "popped up" again on here was because op made a comment that it would only be overconsumption if she didn't read the books, which I think is a questionable statement.

I am not taking it overly seriously - I think it is perfectly reasonable to take issue with this thread. You disagree and that's ok with me. You on the other hand seem to be dabbling in a little thread policing, which you seem to have been doing for a few posts, including plenty of CAPS and emojis 😉 😀 😄 😊. So if any of the two of us is taking the thread "too seriously", (which btw, I always think is a cheap way of trying to dismiss a perfectly reasonable counter argument btw, instead of actually considering the other person's point), it is possibly you.

I read your point. I disagree with it, but I didn't leap to swearing (let the woman enjoy her fucking book) or using caps (except to quote you) as you have.

If you can afford them and you manage to read them all it's not really a problem. My local library doesn't have a great range of books but I've ordered some newer books from them and they eventually get them for me.

Christ, you seem lovely.

Yes, I have singlehandedly caused both the climate and cost of living crises by buying checks notes gay hockey smut stories

Actually the Booker shortlist this year isn't particularly heavy duty, at least not the ones I've read -- there's a sci-fi novel about the earth having been invalded by aliens called the iGhetti, a plotty, violent gangland debut, a slim, black-comic novel about two friends in London, another undemanding Elizabeth Strout instalment.

I mean...I hope I am not especially unlovely, I just think the whole premise of this thread is a bit...off. I haven't made any comments about you as a person, and I never would, as I am sure you really are a decent person. Or if you were not, I certainly wouldn't expect to know that based off your posts on Mumsnet 🤷‍♀️

I think you are willfully missing the nuance here. You did the same thing earlier. I am sure that with your education, you are more than capable of understanding the difference between disliking a thread which celebrates overconsumption and accusing someone of single handedly causing climate change. Just as I am sure you can appreciate the difference between not liking a thread which appears to be celebrating overconsumption and someone bullying someone for their choice of reading materials.

If you do not wish to have a reasonable conversation about it, that's fine with me.

Overconsumption is buying more than you can consume. I’m not doing that.

This is a good point and the reason I always prefer libraries to secondhand because authors receive a payment each time their books are borrowed. But the OP doesn't have a good local library and prefers to browse, which is tricky with a digital library.

For me, my impact on the environment is more important than my impact on the publishing industry. So I prefer secondhand to new when I buy. And when I buy new, I try to buy from independent bookshops as keeping them going is more important to me than adding to the coffers of giant conglomerates.

Others may have different priorities as is absolutely their right. I wish the OP joy with whatever she chooses to read, however and wherever she chooses to get it from.

Like a PP, I thought this thread was about discussing book buying and different approaches to it. It seems I was wrong so I will go back to reading my book!

Overconsumption is just consuming something excessively. It has nothing to do with whether or not you read the books, although it is certainly better that you do.

If you are an overconsumer of alcohol for example, the issue is not that you forget to drink the alcohol.

I have always loved reading too!
It is such wonderful escapism, transporting you to another world.
Many was the time I would read all night as a teenager as I coudn't put the book down!
I love reading on the bus too.

I had to get a Kindle as I have no more space, I must have at least 200 on my bookcase and another 50 on my kindle.
I keep an eye out for any authors I like having books go to 99p.
I also like the kindle as my eye sight is poor and I can make the print big.
I find it very difficult to get rid of books I have read as I get attached to them, I have recently though managed to put some on the donation shelf at tescos.

How can you consume books excessively?