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Original poster

A year of no book buying. Anyone care to join me?

378 replies

Parisbanana · 18/12/2016 20:24

I've had a dummy run, starting at the beginning of the school year in September, just so it didn't seem too daunting! But so far I'm embracing it. I buy a lot of books generally and just thought we'd got so many in the house. I do read the vast majority of what I buy, but I do have books I haven't read, and my husband and teenage kids have some great books I would love to read.
So over the past 3 months I have definitely decreased my bedside pile. I am currently reading A Christmas Carol which dh reads every December but I never have. It's quite a joy to browse our book cases and spot things I haven't read and think this is the year I'll get round to it! Or to reread old favourites.
And I've just been made redundant so tightening the book buying belt is even more important.

Anyone fancy giving it a go?

OP posts:
Matilda2013 · 19/09/2017 07:06

I fell off the wagon a while ago. This year has been too stressful

ChessieFL · 19/09/2017 19:06

I have bought books, but far fewer than I would normally buy and I am making inroads into my enormous TBR pile!

Matilda2013 · 19/09/2017 20:30

To be fair my wishlist on Amazon has reduced massively by borrowing them from the library... so it's sort of an improvement!

ChessieFL · 20/09/2017 07:06

My wish list on Amazon has increased massively as I'm putting books on there instead of buying them! I get books on my wish list from the library if I see them, but it costs £1 to reserve a book so I only do that rarely - it's cheaper to wait for a 99p kindle deal!!

SeveredPixieBits · 21/09/2017 09:27

£1 here too Sad
I've put my head in the sand about new books that I want to read and I feel completely out of the loop now. Not sure that it's a positive feeling.

Matilda2013 · 21/09/2017 12:51

Seems I'm very lucky my library reservations are free! But does mean my TBR pile at home and on the kindle doesn't go down much!

Bekabeech · 21/09/2017 13:20

I'm so relieved this thread is so old - sorry but this is something I would never do!

SeveredPixieBits · 21/09/2017 18:12

It's not about not reading anything though Bekabeech - it's about getting around to reading all those poor forgotten books on the bookshelf that you never seem to get around to. Most of us on here have hundreds dozens.

Matilda2013 · 21/09/2017 18:34

Yes we're definitely still reading but I have so many books just sitting on my kindle!

Bekabeech · 21/09/2017 22:03

The only ones that are really lonely in my house are the ones bought for other people who haven't got around to reading them, and so I don't feel I can.

Matilda2013 · 26/09/2017 21:04

Bekabeech you clearly have a better buying to reading speed than I do Smile I buy much faster than I read

BarbaraofSevillle · 24/10/2017 22:25

Well I've failed miserably and probably bought about the same number of books as I've read (23 according to my Goodreads account, nearly all kindle 99p deals off my wishlist).

I'm currently reading The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking after seeing it in Tesco (that little browse added at least 4 books to my (mostly unbought) virtual TBR pile) and this book has taught me that the Japanese have a word for the act of buying books and not getting around to reading them, so I thought I'd share this with the thread, it's

Tsundoku

Matilda2013 · 25/10/2017 16:02

I’ve probably bought less books than normal but still have all the books I started with as I’ve been borrowing my wish list from the library Grin so I guess I’ll be starting again next year and not reserving books at the library to read the ones I’ve got

LaceandChintz · 26/10/2017 08:53

Thank you for resurrecting this thread (I’m the OP with a different name)

I’ve not been completely successful in no buying but I haven’t bought anything brand new. I’ve bought just one or 2 books in our local charity shop where the quality of books is great (clean and current) and sell for just 50p.
I have also recently started a new job and am completely worn out (plus marathon training) so haven’t had so much energy to read (ie I fall asleep within 30 seconds of opening a book!)

But it’s half term so I’m enjoying staying in bed later with a cuppa and a book. Am currently reading Number 11 by Jonathan Coe one of my favourite authors.

As someone said just upthread though, I feel very out of the new books loop. Normally I know who’s on the bestseller list, I read the reviews in the weekend papers etc but this year feeling decidedly uninformed.

Matilda2013 · 01/01/2018 20:03

Time to try this again. Clear out my library books and my kindle unlimited and then focus on clearing my to be read pile!

ChessieFL · 01/01/2018 20:47

Me too Matilda! I was good last year until about April then it all went wrong. I have a massive unread pile so really must try and get through it.

Matilda2013 · 01/01/2018 20:48

I think I managed to March then went off the rails Grin

LaceandChintz · 01/01/2018 22:42

I'm a bit mixed about this. Don't think I'll try a full ban again as it actually made me feel less of a reader and I lost one of my real treats/indulgences. However it has taught me to be a bit more thoughtful about what I buy. But now I'm working more hours and my walk home from work doesn't take me past the bookshop, it won't be so tempting! But an occasional treat is the sort of pick me up I find really helpful!

FiveShelties · 02/01/2018 07:23

I had forgotten about his thread - thank you for bringing it back.

I am absolutely delighted to say ---

I managed one whole year of no book buying. I have read lots fom my bookshelves, my Kindle and Overdrive. I have found Overdrive to be really good, much more choice now and I have read some from the shelves which have been there for years - and survived three international moves!

Now ---- if only my wine habit was as easy to solve. Grin Happy New Year evryone.

LaceandChintz · 02/01/2018 16:54

Well done FiveShelties that is really impressive!
I still have books to read, and some of dd's I fancy, and will make the effort to read them. But, won't ban myself completely from buying
Happy new year everyone Smile

mmack · 02/01/2018 20:30

I ended 2017 with only 4 unread book on my shelves. It was a good reading challenge. I did buy books during the year but only ones I really wanted-no piles of things I was half-interested in from the second-hand shop.

anonymice · 05/01/2018 11:17

I failed miserably. So I am trying again this year! Starting by reading La Belle Sauvage

babybythesea · 13/01/2018 11:41

I'm in.
I may also be here to make the rest of you feel better about your own pile of unread books.
198 unread non-fiction books. Not including my big hardback Natural History books (the ones that go with series like The Blue Planet. We have around 30 of those). And I found more on another bookshelf that I though had only fiction on it.
I stopped counting at 162 for fiction books. I haven't yet counted one entire bookshelf which has double rows on most shelves, so the total is likely to be near 300.
Kindle - I have 81 pages listed, according to the 'My Library' page. Seven tiles listed on each page. So that makes 567 books, of which I reckoned I've read about 20. And it doesn't include 'complete works of...'. I have a lot of those on there, where I might have read a couple of the nooks but not all of them.

Definitely need a year off book buying. I've failed already but it doesn't count if you didn't think of it until now, does it?
I did try it last year, after reading 'Howard's End is on the Landing' but round about July I just completely forgot.
Of at first you don't succeed, try again and again and again...

anonymice · 16/01/2018 09:30

well I have not cracked yet. Read my Christmas book which was Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer. Read my crime novel I bought from the charity shop just before Christmas. Now reading La Belle Sauvage by Phillip Pullman which was a Christmas present. Determined not to crack this year.

ChessieFL · 16/01/2018 11:34

Well I have failed already! However, two of the books were bought from a place I’m not likely to go back to and they’re books which aren’t generally available and are related to a specific interest I have, so I’m allowing myself those! Then I went to a local tourist attraction which had a big book sale on with books at 3 for £1, and I found two books I’ve never heard of before so bought those and another to make it up to 3. Normally at something like that I would have bought at least 4 times as many so I was very restrained!