'No More Buying Books Until I've Read the Ones I've Already Bought' Thread 9 February 2010 at 10:52AM edited 21 June 2016 at 3:30PM in Debt-free Wannabe Challenges 4.2K replies 334.5K views

InaPickle

I read Bridget Hones' Baby over Christmas. It was fun, but I'm unlikely to read it again so I gave it to a charity shop.

[Deleted User]

New to MSE Forum and on my wanderings trying to familiarise myself with it I came across this thread.  Heaven sent for someone like me, a book magpie .

Have tried to cut down my book buying and have pretty much succeeded except for charity shops.  Whenever I take a donation of books in I always seem to come out with more to take their place.  I tend to excuse this by telling myself they were only 50p/£1 each and it was for charity anyway.  Defeats the object though of reading the mountain I already have and then donating or selling on.

I've been having eye trouble for the past few months involving frequent eye drops each day which blur my vision so I've been trying to find any books with larger print among my stash.  The cheaper paperbacks have such small and faint printing on greyish paper.  Nightmare!  Currently plodding my way through Volume 2 of the authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher by Charles Moore.  A bargain charity shop buy!  Nice hardback, very thick though. Reasonably clear black print but there's so many words per page and the footnotes are so hard to read.  I'll persist though as I read Vol 1  before my eyes started playing up and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  There's also a newly published Vol 3 but I'll try to get that from the library someday. Whatever people thought of Mrs T and her politics she certainly lived through and helped shape some interesting times!

Fidelia

I'm not sure if this challenge is still 'live' but it's certainly exactly what I'm looking for.  When I think of the vast amount of money I must have spent on books over the years I almost feel sick!  Not that I ever begrudge the cost of a good read but many were bought on 3-for-2 and were definitely not a bargain when I didn't even need one, never mind the two to get the freebie and probably none of them  were 'must reads'.  How many times did I fall for the hype?  The very words 'Sunday Times' or  'New York Times'  Bestseller have been my downfall.  I was also a sucker for bundles of books from car boot sales and charity stalls.

With charity shops closed for the duration I've been selling books in volume to such as We Buy Books but the return is laughably small.  eBay is slightly better but I hate selling on there nowadays mainly because of stroppy buyers.  After a massive declutter over lockdown, and lots much more to do, I still have piles and boxes of books to dispose of.  I know many of these won't be read again, by me anyway, as I never  read a book twice unless it is extra special and none of these are.

I was surprised to unearth so many books that I never got round to reading in the first place, probably parts of the said 3-for-2 offers.  With our mobile library now not visiting our remote village even on its previous monthly appearance I've given up borrowing books from the library.  There's nothing for it but to read what I already have especially as I'm on a saving mission for the rest of the year.  If the challenge is still active I's love to join please and look forward to the company along the way.
 
I'm just about to start on either The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris or Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty.  I'm not the sort of reader who can have 2 different books 'on the go' at the same time.