Why can't I let go...

[SerenaJoy]

...of my book token?

I got given it for Christmas about 2 years ago. I forgot about it for a while, and discovered it in a drawer about six months ago. For some reason though, I can't bring myself to spend it! I keep going into the bookshop near my work, and looking for something to buy with it, and although I always see loads some books I'd like, I keep saying to myself 'nope, I've had the book token all this time, I can't just spend it on this - what if it's a pile of tat?'. Then I put the book down, and walk out of the shop empty-handed.

The closest I came was with The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula Le Guin - I actually went to the till with that one. But while I was in the queue I read that the price was £12.99, and I replaced Ursula on the shelf and left.

So, what should I buy with my token? Any suggestions for really good worthwhile reads? I like decent quality fiction - think Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro. I also like a bit of escapism occasionally - Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Terry Pratchett at a push.

I seem to have become so attached to it, should I stop attempting to spend it and just have it framed?

We always have this problem in our house...for some reason it always feels as if you should spend a token on something special and somehow nothing ever quite seems special enough so you don't spend it.....

Have you read The Hunger Games Trilogy..... :-)

How much is your book token? How often do you buy books? If not very often then I can see why it might paralyse you.

Why not just use it to buy some childrens books as DC-going-to-birthday-party presents? Takes the pressure off you trying to spend it on a Special Book.

Whoever gave you the book token thought you might like to swan into a bookshop and walk out with a free book. Don't overthink it.

Or sell it to one of us at a bargain price!

Overthinking it - this is my problem. I'm glad it's not just me gazzalw. It's only for £10!

I don't buy many new books any more (not since I discovered AbeBooks) but in the past I have singlehandedly kept my local bookshops in business.

Not read The Hunger Games but keep hearing about them - based on the amount of hype I had sort of ignorantly decided they were on a par with 50 Shades of Shite. Happy to be corrected though - are they any good?

That's a good idea re buying children's books, I might do that. DS is only 1 though, so not much into reading - yet.

Oh buy a couple of lovely picture books for your DS!!
At 1 he is completely ready!

(says the woman who bought a lot of children's books before any baby equipment when realising she was pregnant with DC1)

Don't watse your book token on The Hunger Games. The first is okay but the other two are ridiculous. And the works have them for el cheapo now anyway, f you must buy them.

Tbh I wouldn't buy fiction at all because so much of it is so crap and to buy it from a bookshop when it's probably half the price on Amazon makes it even more disappointing if it's rubbish.

How about a cookery book? Or a lovely copy of a classic or rther book you've read ebfore and would like to re-read? They do some gorgeous editions of Jane Austen nowadays for example, or The Handmaid's Tale etc.

Scuse mistakes - got too cross re crap fiction and also keyboard is dying!

Oh DS has lots of books already - he has many of my old books, some of his own, plus some that he's inherited from friends' children. (At the moment he seems more interested in ripping pages out of mine - my poor Tom Sawyer will never be the same).

But you may be onto something there.

I already have The Handmaid's Tale (something of a Margaret Atwood groupie, hence the name!), but a nice edition of a classic might feel special enough. I will investigate this section on my next reconnaissance.

Thanks all, by the way

Warning! If it's one of the new plastic ones they have an expiry date so don't hold on to it for ever or you will find it's dead and buried and gone to waste.

If it's a Waterstones plastic one, you can get round that by using it to buy another token! :o

I've had the same dilemma with the tokens - it seems a waste to spend them on fiction, because I either get books from the library or from charity shops, where the latest best sellers always turn up before very long. I've usually ended up getting a reference book of some kind, or something else useful like maps. Shamefully I once used a token to buy a birthday present for someone else .

I've had this problem before with tokens, magnified by the fact I work in a library, it makes buying books seem so wasteful.

I have resorted to road atlases, but I think cookery books or a really good dictionary are other good options.

I've still not spent it A new dictionary or thesaurus might be a good use of the money though - not something I would have thought of! Thanks.

It's a paper one, so it doesn't have an expiry date on it, but it is a bit dog-eared. If I do ever spend it I'll be a bit embarrassed handing it over.

What is this about new-fangled plastic book tokens anyway? Is it just me or does that not seem a bit wrong?

I told you SerenaJoy - you won't be able to spend it because it's so special you are looking for the definitive item (and nothing will come close).

this might startle you into action though - DW often does this and then ends up spending them on pressies for other people (and then regrets it). She is currently sitting on £100 worth of Boden vouchers which she is supposed to be spending on herself but is often to be found cruising the MiniBoden part of the website....

Just bite the bullet - what about an atlas? There's nothing wrong with a dictionary either! Or a good cookery book?

OP, it's a nice problem to have. If you like Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, then you probably have similar tastes to me. Have you read the latest Julian Barnes? Or what about Patrick Gale? Another writer I really like but isn't that well known is Geraldine Brooks - both Year of Wonders and Caleb's Crossing are very good reads.

I do know what you mean. I tend to spend mine on guidebooks - they don't have to be for anywhere exotic, just for the UK. I know I'll end up making more daytrips as a result, so it's the gift that keeps on giving, kind of...

I spent it! I bought a book of essays about books and reading.

I'd decided beforehand that I wanted a collection of essays, as I'd quite like to try my hand at writing some (I can dream!). There was only one copy of this one left so I took it as a sign, marched up to the till, and handed over my dog-eared book token which was older than my child.

I felt quite giddy walking out of the shop

Oh, and thanks all for your suggestions.

Lots of new things have mysteriously appeared on my Amazon wishlist

Well done :)