Read What You Own Challenge

[ÚlldemoShúl]

I’m going to start a Read What You Own Challenge on the 1st of July to try and reduce down my ridiculously huge TBR both physical and kindle.
My rules for me are-

• No buying any new books after midday on July 1st
• Unsubscribe from the kindle daily deals email
• I am allowed to break it for the Booker Prize longlist when it’s announced, but must check my library for the books first.
• Keep going until August 21st as my first goal. (Maybe until 2026 in total)

These rules are specific to me and anyone who wants to join me is free to make their own set of rules for their challenge. I’m going to log each book I read here to keep me accountable. Anyone else up for it? I know some 50 Bookers are considering it…

@FiveGoMadInDorset
LOVE your nn! 💙😃

I reread a book called Discovery Of Witches last year and was gutted that I really did NOT love it second time around

@OurMavis
Completely understand this.
I was hanging on to so many books I dnf.
Older dd is onto non fiction historical and dd is into what I believe us called chick lit (?)
So I had a call.
I sense another on the horizon...

Good grief.
I forgot my kindle tbr list..
😬

Finished “Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady” by Florence King (library). It was amusing, but not “laugh-out-loud” Sandi Toksvig!

also finished “Apprentice to the Villan” Hannah Nicole Maehrer (kindle) which was not one of the books on my original tbr list (and I’ve also since bought book 3, and discovered I had missed a book in the Hannah Swensen series by Joanna Fluke & bought that too)

I caved last night. In my defence it was 99p and the sequel to something I have already read so I don’t think it counts

I have totally bought Kindle deals since starting on this thread :>

I have bought daily deals too but only of books that were on my (very very very long) wishlist

Waterstones usually have a double points event on the August bank holiday weekend. I reckon that will be my stopping point- need to build my points back up for next years Women’s Prize and Booker lists!

cant remember if I said I had finished another- A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor. Also started and DNFed Martyr by Rory Clements which also allows me to write off another 4 Rory Clements books. Win!

I have a confession to make in that I, erm, fell off the wagon (and rolled down the hill) and bought some new books... not many, you understand, just three... and I did have to wait a long time for two to arrive, because they are coming to the UK from America.

My neighbours have also kindly clubbed together and lent me some children's picture books to help me to learn to read in Welsh. Admittedly, Sinderella and Sali Mali aren't my usual literary pursuits, but I am persevering with Welsh, and we've all got to start somewhere!

Also, I highly recommend Ken Smith's "The Way of the Hermit" for anyone else who is wobbling on the edge of the wagon...

If you have a BorrowBox account with your local library sometimes the library has access to Lingo Newydd magazine even outside Wales. I know this because it is the reason I cannot buy myself any more Welsh books to help me learn and I have to stay on the wagon

Oh, diolch, @owenjonescleanerreturns ! I will ask about it at the library next time I venture into town. Can you recommend any Welsh books that have been useful in helping you to learn? (I will, obviously, either ask my neighbours if they have them, or hunt through the Welsh books in the library and the second-hand tables in the supermarkets. I might have to make an exception in that I can only buy books if they are either bilingual or entirely in Welsh!).

@TheeNotoriousPIGit depends on the level you are at but Cyfres Amdani is a graded series for adult learners and are proper little novels. I have liked the ones I have tried and they start pretty much at beginners level.

Thank you for the recommendation, @owenjonescleanerreturns ! I will save it to my favourites bar so that I can work my way through the series as my Welsh reading skills improve!

Ooo thanks for the reminder, I have birthday gift vouchers for Waterstones so I might get some books lined up ready!

I have read two more from the pile, added another to the 'nor sure if this is a dnf or just not for now pile' and started The Wolf Den today. So I am doing quite well. I did add 5 books from my hay on Wye trip, but I think that was actually quite restrained! Could have got lots more but I actually felt like I had made so much progress with my backlog that I didn't want to undo it all so maybe I'm growing up 😆

Finished another one: Glorious Exploits. Admittedly, I only bought it very shortly before joining the thread but did own it when the thread started!

I’ve finished The Eights by Joanna Miller. About some of the first female students at Oxford. I enjoyed it.

I really need to finish my current book today as I've got 4 more arriving later 😬

I finished one from my Kindle pile.
Elizabeth Bowen's 'The House in Paris'.
It was atmospheric. I liked it.

Just discovered this thread!

I decided at the beginning of this year that to save money I would only get books from the library or ones that were 99p on Kindle but that doesn't really help get through the TBR!

I'm not even sure what counts as my TBR now as I have:
Books on my shelves I haven't read.
Books on my Kindle I haven't read.
My Goodreads TBR which includes books not published yet!
A list on my notes app

Think I need to cull some and come up with a definitive list.

Does anyone else find permanently deleting ebooks harder than taking physical books to a charity shop?

Anyway the oldest book on my Kindle is one I'm still interested in reading - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See so I'll start with that... after I've read the 3 library books I'm currently borrowing! (Which were actually on my Goodreads TBR!)

I also enjoyed this!

Hi @RunSlowTalkFast. I have the same feeling with deleting e-books. It is why my RWYO pile is so long! I have managed to delete a few (especially where I have found duplicates) and definitely allowing myself to delete DNFs. Or series if I didn't like the first one.

@RunSlowTalkFastI have exactly the same problem with deleting ebooks. I have an archive folder at the moment that I stick them in, but I really need to cull that too.

Why would you permanently delete ebooks that you've bought, other than if you actually try them during the initial return for refund period? Unlike paper books you can't give them away to someone else. I have acquired far more ebooks than can fit on one of my Kindles (probably than both), but I use manage your devices etc on Amazon to remove but not permanently delete books.