Is anyone else addicted to buying books?

[BabyJellyShark]

It's a bad habit that I really need to stop, especially as I'm not reading all that much at the moment but book hunting is just so satisfying.

I've bought 45 books in the past month. They didn't cost me much as I got them from a charity shop that's currently selling books 5 for a pound and from a library sale, 50p a book but I really need to cut down. In my defence though I did get rid of dozens of books last month.

Does anyone else enjoy book hunting as much as they enjoy reading(Possibly even more)

Me!! Im addicted too!

I buy books in charity shops and if there's something I particularly want, look for it secondhand on ebay. I have hundreds of books and am getting a bit cluttered at home but can't resist another interesting book. They might get read eventually!

My OH is obsessed with buying books. Every time we're in Tesco or an airport, some more books have to be purchased. We have big book shelves in the dining room that are full with his books (I use a Kindle due to poor eyesight) and there's a big pile waiting to be accommodated.
I've suggested he goes to the library but it falls on deaf ears. We'll be snowed under by a book avalanche soon!

Yes, I can't resist a book. I rarely buy new, except as a special treat - usually it's from a charity shop or our local book exchange or similar. I was unreasonably excited to find that Vinted do books recently!

Well after saying that I'm not reading much at the moment, I've got through 4 books in 3 days and I'm about to start another so I don't feel quite so bad about my purchases now. I can feel my attention span starting to waver again so I'm not sure if it'll last but I'm happy that I've got through a few of my ever expanding collection.

Yes, but mine are mostly 99 p Kindle bargains. I have hundreds that will probably mostly remain unread, although I do want to read them all. I now won't allow myself to buy any unless it's something I really want to read, but still probably buy 2-3 a month.

But OP, if it makes you feel better, the Japanese have a word for this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-44981013

Me! When I'm done reading a non-fiction book I pass it to a relative who reads it and passes it to friends. If it's fiction, I wait until I have a dozen or so and then put them on FreeCycle as a bundle.

I still have lots of books, though, as there are some I can't bear to part with.

Oh yes I do this. I can't walk past a charity shop or The Works without looking for books, although I have curbed the Amazon habit I developed during lockdown. I also borrow from the library but as soon as I get the books home they become less appealing somehow and then it takes me ages to read them and get them returned. My mumsnet addiction really eats into my reading time

Most of my books are from the library, which not only saves me a fortune, but also forces decisiveness upon me - a library book can't sit on my shelf half-read for years. It goes back sooner or later, read or unread. I have 18 out at the moment and will have to charge through determinedly as I have more on hold and can't exceed 20 out at a time.

Library sales, yes, I tend to go a bit wild. I especially like obsolete travel guides, which adds an interesting level of peril to trips. If you want to know what this hotel cost in francs in the distant past, I'm your woman.

Otherwise I'm relatively restrained, although books still somehow trickle in just a bit faster than I can keep up with, forever tantalizing me with their untasted delights.

Oh god yes. I have stacks of unread books.

Mind you, I’m stocking up for a reason. The woke mob have finally got round to actually re-writing books. I knew they would. First it was Roald Dahl, then Agatha Christie and P. G. Wodehouse. And they’re not going to stop there. Their ultimate goal, of course, is to re-write, and then destroy the literary canon itself. Harold Bloom was warning about this 40 years ago. Eventually, it will be illegal to own, or sell, anything the woke fascists dislike. I have started buying up the classics while I can. I’m stockpiling Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh, etc, and I’d advise all book lovers to do the same. When you can actually re-write an author’s words, and get away with it, that’s the beginning of the end. Sooner or later they’ll start destroying books. Literally buying up old/‘uncorrected’ copies and burning them. Mark my words. They’re already ‘de-colonising’ the university libraries. If you think I’m exaggerating, wait and see.

Nobody can just rewrite books. The owner of the literary estate of Roald Dahl chose to have them rewritten to increase their sales. The heirs of Roald Dahl previously chose to sell off their rights to the highest bidder. It’s capitalism. If other literary estates are owned by people less greedy, the books won’t be rewritten.

Most definitely me! I have to smuggle books into the house because my teenager says I have issues.

Not anymore, I just can't afford to buy books unless I see something appealing in a supermarket or in a charity shop. I prefer reading non-fiction to fiction and the prices of non-fiction paperbacks have shot up hugely over the last 12 months so all in all I'm happy to support my local library and get books from there. I used to waste so much money buying books which mostly sat on my shelf for months while I lost interest in them as I wasn't reading quickly enough to get to them. Like a PP says, a library browse can be just as nice as browsing in a shop.