Books #26 Reading Chats

[twilightgarden]

Trying to think of ways I can cut back and books is definitely one of them! I have so many & i should make the effort to read them rather than constantly buying more and more.
@Caffeine Fiend I like your idea of adding books to my wish list rather than clicking buy on a whim, I’ll try that. I would love to get the mountains of books i own down in size a bit. I tend to only keep books I really loved and would read again which is surprisingly not that many.

 

[Tofino]

Trying to think of ways I can cut back and books is definitely one of them! I have so many & i should make the effort to read them rather than constantly buying more and more.
@Caffeine Fiend I like your idea of adding books to my wish list rather than clicking buy on a whim, I’ll try that. I would love to get the mountains of books i own down in size a bit. I tend to only keep books I really loved and would read again which is surprisingly not that many.

I rarely keep books after I’ve read them now. Only the really absolute favourites. Like my personally signed Gary Barlow book from when I met him at his book signing

There are many books I give away that I could easily read again but there are so many unread books in the world I’d rather read something new.

And I tell myself if I got the urge to reread something I could always buy/borrow it again.

So most of the books I actually own are unread

 

[LaBlonde]

Trying to think of ways I can cut back and books is definitely one of them! I have so many & i should make the effort to read them rather than constantly buying more and more.
@Caffeine Fiend I like your idea of adding books to my wish list rather than clicking buy on a whim, I’ll try that. I would love to get the mountains of books i own down in size a bit. I tend to only keep books I really loved and would read again which is surprisingly not that many.

this is so sensible! i keep probably 70% (maybe) of my books but i am blessed to have a lot of bookshelves and general space for them: even so, i definitely need to sort out ones that i’ve kept and know i will never reread. again, the donation bookcase in my local tesco needs to put a plaque up for me with the amount i’ve left there i am a big rereader of my favourites too!

this is honestly one of my greatest fears if i get a kindle though. right now, i love buying books but i actively have to take myself out to get them or wait for a parcel. if i was able to buy and have it downloaded in a few clicks then the list would be endless 🫣 (not that i’m intending to get one but still. those 99p deals would bankrupt me)

 

[OH.FFS]

I need to start cutting back on the spending so I’m going to try a book buying ban. The 99p deals are my downfall but a few books a day or every few days adds up. I have loads of books on my shelves, hundreds on my Kindle and a few on my audible shelf. I also use my library and Libby for ebooks and audiobooks. Send help.

You sound like me. 0.99p kindle books are my biggest downfall. I’ve set myself a few rules, 1. They have to have above 4* 2. I read the first few reviews and decide after that. But I still have a kindle so stuffed I could t read them in my lifetime.
I too use Libby and BorrowBox for audiobooks.

 

[Honeystar]

I have an Amazon list called “books”, every time I see one recommended/released/in a shop that I like the look of I add it to the list. I’ll then refer to the list when buying new books, obviously sometimes I buy on impulse etc but I find this is a good way to read the books I actually want to read, before I found that I had all these books that I wanted to read but always ended up buying and reading other ones and never getting round to them

 

[ordinaryjelly]

Same, I keep a wishlist called books and then if the children want to find a book for me for Mother's Day, birthdays, Christmas, raok the list is there. I just add any books that I would go ahead and buy to the list, it almost pleases me as much to do that as it does buying an actual book.

In the 15 months since I am on my book buying ban I have received

11 books from my birthday book club
9 books for my birthday from family/friends
7 at Christmas
8 raok.

So 35. But I am ploughing through my list. In those 15 months I have read 200 ish books (still in hospital so a book/2 days is easy) so I am still ahead.

Honestly, it is so rewarding to see the pile go down. I trimmed my Kindle down to about 130 books, got rid of any 99p books that I bought on a whim and all the old stuff that no longer appealed. I have a few 12 for 12 books on the Kindle which I will read, but once I get down to about 25 physical books left I will start adding the Kindle in to the mix.

And nobody asked me about my reading habits, but you have all the thoughts from my brain anyway.

 

[twilightgarden]

Love this thread and good to know I’m not alone with unread books everywhere
I pass my read books on to a relative or the charity shop. It has to be something special if I would read it again, it’s quite rare that I reread books. I’m limited for space where I am at the moment, you would think that would be good motivation to stop buying so many books, but no!

 

[Hannahebee]

As my mum also loves reading books especially war romance ones I got her the following 2 for Mother's Day. The other day she read the Allotment Girls which I mentioned on here as being the best book I read in February and just like me she absolutely loved it.

 

[SaintLeo]

Honestly, it is so rewarding to see the pile go down. I trimmed my Kindle down to about 130 books, got rid of any 99p books that I bought on a whim and all the old stuff that no longer appealed.

I’ve currently got about 100 unread books on my Kindle but definitely could reduce that if I got rid of the ones I bought on a whim and know I’m never going to read.

Prime example, I was browsing the list this morning as I finished Yellowface last night so looking for something new, and stumbled across a 900 page biography of Mary Queen of Scots. No idea why I bought it other than it was on a 99p deal and I maybe thought I might get round to reading it one day! I might have just finished some Tudor themed novel and was mildly intrigued. Whatever the reason the moment has definitely long gone!

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Happy Mother's Day to me. Was out for something to eat and popped into the Waterstones next door. Got the original cover. I hate the new one. So then obviously I connected to the wifi in the restaurant and ordered the original covers in the set. Oops.

 

[Gem_woody]

I've tried to start a book swap shelf in our tea room at work. There's a few books on there but not many people have contributed any so far , it makes me want to go to a charity shop and buy some cheap ones to fill it

 

[Tofino]

I sell our used stuff on vinted so will add any books I’ve read on there too. Any book sales go back into my pot for buying books

£1 for a used paperback = a 99p kindle deal

 

[Chocolategoggler]

I rarely keep books after I’ve read them now. Only the really absolute favourites. Like my personally signed Gary Barlow book from when I met him at his book signing

There are many books I give away that I could easily read again but there are so many unread books in the world I’d rather read something new.

And I tell myself if I got the urge to reread something I could always buy/borrow it again.

So most of the books I actually own are unread

My friend has only one bookcase and books have to fight to stay in it. I have downsized to 2 wide bookcases, now full.
So I will have to edit them, asking myself "do I want to read you again?" and would I crawl over hot coals to save you?!"
She's the one who also told me to fling open my wardrobe doors and the clothes should scream at me. I now have a slightly damaged wardrobe door and a whimpering noise coming from the clothes, so I've failed there too.
I'll just have to adopt "the witch from hell mantra" to rectify the problem.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Im still in the process of trying to get Mr Caffeine Fiend to build me a bookcase. I keep sending tik toks of DIY book cases. I want floor to ceiling, wall to wall. However we do plan on moving so Im not sure if I need to bide my time

 

[Chocolategoggler]

I have an Amazon list called “books”, every time I see one recommended/released/in a shop that I like the look of I add it to the list. I’ll then refer to the list when buying new books, obviously sometimes I buy on impulse etc but I find this is a good way to read the books I actually want to read, before I found that I had all these books that I wanted to read but always ended up buying and reading other ones and never getting round to them

I've noticed this where you can start reading a book. I think it's a good way to weed out books that aren't me... Click on view sample at the top in grey box....

Preloved

‘Lauren Bravo is one of my very favourite writers’ Dolly Alderton Gwen is coasting through life. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the countryside and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around the council’s wheelie-bin...

books.google.com

 

[Pinkii]

Guys.. been away from this thread for a while as I have been so busy with life and also couldnt get out of my smut phase had no interest in other books!

But back on it now and want something good to read again. Looking forward to going through the last few recommendations

 

[Chocolategoggler]

Love this thread and good to know I’m not alone with unread books everywhere
I pass my read books on to a relative or the charity shop. It has to be something special if I would read it again, it’s quite rare that I reread books. I’m limited for space where I am at the moment, you would think that would be good motivation to stop buying so many books, but no!

I donate mine to a "community hub" near my dad's house. They sell them for 30p each to go towards the Hub's costs rather than a CEO's wage.
ETA The minute I've donated I frogmarch myself away from the books so I don't buy any.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Guys.. been away from this thread for a while as I have been so busy with life and also couldnt get out of my smut phase had no interest in other books!

But back on it now and want something good to read again. Looking forward to going through the last few recommendations

Nothing wrong with that

 

[Pinkii]

Nothing wrong with that

Definitely not! Really got into the MM hockey romances

I just felt like i read all the good dark ones and MM ones and then everything else felt like a bad rehash of the ones I had read

 

[inksmear]

Tapping in to say hi, and I’m so pleased to have found this thread! Wasting time on tattle and reading books are my two favourite past times so hoping I’ve found my people here!

I was in a real reading slump and have been for a very long time, but I finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver on Friday and I absolutely loved it, even though it took me a while to get through it (life, right?). I started and finished Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman over the last two days - I didn’t leave the house, just sat under my electric throw blanket and read. I really enjoyed that too - it reminded me slightly of Lolita as well (that all consuming obsessive way Elio writes about Oliver). I wish I had read CMBYN in summer though to add to the ambience, rather than a grey rainy day in march in the UK!

Now I can’t decide whether to read The Salt Path by Raynor Winn or Poor Things by Alisdair Gray. I feel like as though Poor Things may be a bit more ‘on topic’ as the film may win an oscar tonight, so I will probably go with that.

Happy reading all!