Here is this week’s topic!
Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?
Although I rarely buy books, my answer to this week’s question is a resounding YES with regard to accepting free review books. Just two days ago, Random House sent me FIVE new books — and I still have five previous review books to read first!
So, my gluttony for new books certainly outweighs my realistic time constraints right now. I have promised myself not to accept any more new books until I have read these ten. Oh, and two books just arrived at the library, too… Sigh! What a great problem to have…
However, regarding buying books I am very, very stingy. I try to only buy books that I think I will want to keep because they have affected my life in a fundamental manner or because I will want to read them again. The last purchase? Olive Kitteridge… (and it did affect my life fundamentally).
How about you? Are you a glutton for books? Is it time to stage an intervention? And what was the last book you bought — and what justified the expense?
I don’t buy very many books as I already have ton of them, but I do get quite a few from Paperback Swap and Bookmooch.
I don’t get that many free books. Only those I ask for. And I have curbed on that too!
Book gluttons, are we?
I am definitely a book glutton! I have a membership to Barnes & Noble, and they frequently send me coupons to use on top of my membership discount. I have no less than 45 books I’ve bought that I haven’t read yet! I’ve started using Paperback Swap, and that has helped a lot in curbing my buying, but I love books and the temptation is hard to resist!
I couldn’t resist responding. Yes, books and shoes are my downfall. Too often I buy books for book clubs because I don’t get on the library list soon enough. All of my book groups tend to read fairly current or popular titles that are in high demand and not always easily available. Most of them are worth a read, but are not necessarily good enough to win permanent shelf space. Maybe I should find a book group that reads obscure titles from unknown writers! Any suggestions?
Here’s another idea… Online book clubs, like Barnes and Noble, will send you the book for free!!
I enjoyed my experience last January with B&N and may try again soon… Once I’ve read my current mountain of free books!
Holy Cow! 45!! But what a great problem to have, eh?
I would love to hear what your experience with Paperback swap has been so far…
Paperback Swap has been wonderful! You post books you’re willing to part with. When another member requests one of your posted books, you pay postage to mail to that member. You get credit for each book you send, which you can use to request books from other members. The great thing is you get new books (well used, but new to you), and all it cost you was postage. I really like using it.
I’m curious about the free books from B&N. I didn’t know you could get free books for joining one of their book clubs. What was the process?
Thank you, Heather! I may have to give Paperback Swap a try!
I signed up for the Barnes and Noble “First Look” book club and then requested the title I thought sounded good. They sent it to me and then a month later I was expected to participate in the discussion forums. The author was a part of the discussion, too, so the experience was really cool. I didn’t really like the book (nor did most of the readers), but the actual discussion was fun!