'No More Buying Books Until I've Read the Ones I've Already Bought' Thread

niccatw

mineallmine wrote: »

I have found that using my local library more has saved me loads of money. I take a look at a site like Amazon, see what is highly rated or in their Top Ten then order it from the library. Sometimes I have to wait quite a bit, but that makes it more exciting. A couple of books recently were disappointing - and ironically the covers looked really good. So one never can judge a book by its cover...:rotfl:

Does any-one else have a "way" of choosing books to read? I tend to flick it open in the middle a couple of times and see if a couple of random paragraphs hold my attention, then I see if the first paragraph holds my attention... if I'm still interested then it's the blurb and finally the cover

Ames - I love the idea of leaving books for people to come across. Has every-one seen this site http://www.bookcrossing.com/ For those days you want to give books away

Inapickle - I did notice you tried to down play how many books were in the box by making it very small. But we're all bookworms here, used to sneakily reading in a dim lighted nooks and crannies here and there, we all noticed

Evidently though you are not the only one and this was a much needed thread! Well done for starting it up for us!

solventsoon

InaPickle wrote: »

I've counted the number of books in the box....

...there are eighty three!

Pickle, if it makes you feel any better, I have a similar number of books waiting to be read.

PLEASE can I join in..... I love books, bookshops, second-hand bookshops, car boots, anywhere I can find a book and please try to keep me out of that book shop beginning with W. I've even resorted to buyings books from Mr Ts recently to feed my addiction as I'm trying to keep away from Mr Ws...

Great tips on here, thanks everyone. Going to try to get organised over the weekend and get some of my collection out to put on Green Metropolis...

Currently reading P D James' The Private Patient and enjoying it very much (it was a Christmas present along with another 6 books , but I didn't buy them so don't feel guilty ..)

ss

PS: I have upstairs and downstairs books as well, the downstairs ones are the more "serious" ones, I read all the chick-lit and thrillers upstairs - why??

PPS: Great thread, Pickle and well-needed by the looks of it!

InaPickle

niccatw wrote: »

Inapickle - I did notice you tried to down play how many books were in the box by making it very small. But we're all bookworms here, used to sneakily reading in a dim lighted nooks and crannies here and there, we all noticed

What's worse is that I've been thinking about that box, and there are a considerable number of books which I know I own which are not in it. I can only assume must be in another box in the loft. Now, knowing about how many boxes of read (never mind unread) books are up there, I had better not venture up there for a while! :eek:

I'll just have to get on with the ones down here, although I've realised that one is a recipie book (I never read them the whole way through like normal books), and one is the Hachette Wine Guide which will take aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages as well, and really needs treating like a recipie book as well: it's more a reference book, and while I can read the advice about wines and the regions, I'm not trecking through 1000 pages of 'Champagne de Petites-Terres' or whatever the hell is in there.

Having said that, though. I have a shelf for recipie books and I seem to have developed a serious number of those. What is more, I don't think that I've made that many recipies out of any of them. I'm going to make a point of trying to make at least 10 recipies out of any recipe book I own, therefore making the investment worthwhile.

Ames

I wouldn't count recipe books either.

To choose what book to read... Well, I always recite the books I haven't read as part of my deep breathing exercises (some people count sheep, I count books...) and as I'm coming to the end of a book I see which one I fancy out of the list, there's usually a short list of 4 or 5, then it's just whichever I find first.

velocity.girl_2

i am awaiting the delivery of 3 books i caved in...i find it ironic that the are all books about decluttering, being thrifty and how to be an EX shopaholic

i think i may have a problem there lol

velocity.girl_2

tho i did only pay £2 for a new book on Priceminister due to having the £5 kelkoo code thing!!!

bex37_2

I've finished the book that I was reading (which incidentally I got through www.readitswapit.co.uk - and I agree it's a great site for getting new books for old but postage can be costly depending on the size of the book) and will be passing it on to a friend to read.

Pickle - If it makes you feel better I've got lots more than that to read, well into three figures I think. In fact I think I've got enough books to keep me going for several years .

I'm in the mood for a light read now so I eventually decided on Practically Perfect by Katie Fforde.

Aspiring_Writer

Inapickle, many congratulations! A book thread! and a damn good one at that!

Interesting to read about what people read and their reading and book buying habits. I am shortly off to the MIND charity shop to give them about 50 or so books. I have to be honest I did try selling them but to no avail, bootfair rates seem to be about 50p or so for a paperback, I'd rather give them to MIND and let them make some money out of them.

However, that means I will then feel like I'm allowed to go and treat myself or two new ones. Naughty I know but hey, we all have our guilty pleasures, and books are one of mine.

Incidentally, the read it swap it website is good, though I don't see why we couldn't do a simlilar thing on MSE? Maybe informally on an ad hoc basis rather than working out how to store or view a library, just a thought. It is quite obviously a trust thing but if anyone 'let themselves down' shall I say, well, they wouldn't feel too comfortable posting anything on this forum after that surely?

Anyway, a brilliant thread, lets hope it gets a lot longer....

mavvysmum

Yeah count me in! I've got loads of books, most of them unread and some I've kept cos I love them so much - like any by Phillippa Gregory and Jodi Picoult...I'll have to count them tonight. The thing is I love reading but dont get much time to read, and keep adding to my collection whenever I go to a charity shop....must stop! Currently reading the Kite Runner, have recently watched the film of it, its really good.

CompletelyLost

I wish there was a thread like this for dvds... I have hundreds, and a lot of them haven't been watched :S

I do have some books too, but not many. I bought Frankie Boyle's book about a month ago and still haven't got round to reading it. I'm lazy when it comes to books...