Weekly Geeks this week is focusing on hoarding. Check out other responses.
So this week, I am curious about those gigantic TBR piles which readers tend to accumulate. Please share with us your habits, tendencies or obsessions when it comes to hoarding behavior.
Post a photo (or two or three) of your books to-be-read
Share your buying or book accumulating habits - how bad of a problem do YOU have?!?!?
Do you keep all the books you've read, or do you give them away or sell them?
Can you walk past a bookstore and not go in? If you go in, do you impulsively purchase?
I will admit, I am a hoarder. I have books stacked under my bed, on shelves, next to shelves, double stacked on shelves, in Rubbermaid tubs, and pretty much anywhere else I can find to put them. My excuse is always that I am worried that I will run out of something to read. However, a few years ago my sister put this in perspective for me. She estimated that in a very good year, I might read as many as 250 books. At that point, I had over 1,000 books in my TBR stack. So, without even checking anything out from the library, I would be able to read new books for at least four years. I am sure she did this to prove to me that I really am not going to run out of things to read, and perhaps discourage me from buying more books, but I can't really say her calculations have changed my behavior much.
I have tried to be a little more aware of how much money I am spending on books, and have also been trying to use the library instead of purchasing things to own. Yet, I do a good job of not purchasing for a while, and then fall back into the same behavior as before.
I love to have my own library, and giving away books is very hard for me. I am also trying to be realistic - I do not want my house to look cluttered at every turn. So, unless I really plan on re-reading something, I have started the process of giving some books away after I finish them. This is also making me think a bit more about purchasing books - do I really want to spend $16-$20 on a book, only to give it away? Right now I have three daughters who I hope will want to read a lot of the childrens and YA books I own, so those are definitely harder for me to get rid of because someone may actually want to read them again in a few years.
I don't have a lot of bookstores around me that I get to browse in all that often. My biggest temptation is Amazon. One click shopping is so easy and painless because I can't even see the money leave my hands.
Reading a few other posts about hoarding makes me at least not feel quite as alone in my book hoarding. And, this is not a problem only for book purchases, but is also a problem at the library since I want (and deserve!) each and every new book that is in. I have a very hard time leaving a library without checking something out.
4 comments:
I live in the very city centre of Dublin (ireland), everytime I go out It's a challenge not to buy a book...to justify my habit I make up all kind of excuses like "it's monday I deserve it" "I've been looking for this for ages", I share an apartment with other people so it's a bit of a nightmare really.
I got an e-reader but doesn't really help as I am quite old-fashioned.
What do I do with my books? Periodically I take them to my parents' place and they kindly grant me space for now :)
My apartment doesn't allow for too much hoarding or another bookshelf. I've gotten better about getting rid of books because my used bookstore provides incentive with their good credit system. I read books so quickly that I prefer buying used. With trying to read some of my TBR pile that I already own, I've been working on not buying more books. It's hard, but my recent prize was a friend giving me a stack before moving.
Welcome to Weekly Geeks.
I don't buy many books, but get huge stacks from the library every time I go there. I put them on my nightstand. I also have a large stack on my nightstand of books my mom gave me to read (she does buy books.) I still have most of my upper elementary and teen books on bookshelves (I used to buy books more back then and reread things over and over.) My daughter read them, now saving them for my granddaughters. I also have my now adult daughter's books,too. Plus my son's Matt Christopher collection, plus all his space flight and sports books he doesn't have room at college for. (I enjoy your blog.)
Oh how I love your post! This helps me so very much! I thought I was the only person in the world who hoarded books! And my excuse....I'm waiting to open my own bookstore - which I truly am - but oh my gosh I have to pay rent on a FOUR bedroom just so I can put all the boxes in the fourth bedroom so we have room to walk! How's that for hoarding! And I still accept all the ARCS and galleys offered...geez! and I too have trouble walking past a bookstore without going in...and if I do go in - I'm a goner!
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