28 March 2009

Books, Books everywhere

Or why I shouldn't acquire anymore!

If you click on the image above, you'll get taken to the bigger photo and you'll get some idea of the size of my problem.

After acquiring the 3 books down in the bottom right corner today because
  • I had some book vouchers to spend and needed to buy THE WRITING CLASS for our face to face group,
  • CHILD44 was on special at $14,
  • and well... the other just leapt into my arms,
I took a serious look at my current book repositories. (Other people would call them hiding places.)

You'll see there are 7 separate photos, showing approximately 180 books waiting for me to read!
How on earth did I get myself into this situation!
I should take the following steps I think:
  • stop work and devote my time to reading
  • divorce myself from the library where I have another 30 books requested and 90 books on my wishlist
  • zip up my purse and NEVER buy any more books
  • stop belonging to reading groups which suggest new books (and discuss them)
Now, we all know none of that is going to happen, so I guess what I need to do is
  • read faster
  • read even faster
  • read very fast

9 comments:

Bernadette said...

The vaguely good news Kerrie is that someone is bound to stop by who has a bigger "problem" than you. It won't be me - I've only got a respectable 160 or so in my TBR pile :) Perhaps there's a 12-step program for us all. My name is Bernadette and I'm a book addict.

I have imposed a 3-month book buying ban on myself though due to my uneasiness about my own TBR pile. So far I haven't bought a single book during March but I have still managed to acquire 18 books (mostly mooched and a couple of review books). Plus I joined another library so that I could get THE WRITING CLASS for book club and then found that library to be far superior to my own local one and started putting my name down for all sorts of new releases they had available. I have a swag of long service leave up my sleeve and I keep fantasizing about taking a month of it during winter when there'll be nothing worth doing but sitting in my reading nook with a blanket and my TBR pile.

Kerrie said...

I like the idea of a 12 step programme Bernadette. "How to deal with Book addiction!"

Uriah Robinson said...

My name is Norman and I am a bookaddict. My blogging pseudonym is Uriah and I am a total book aholic.
This is getting to be a serious problem as I was halfway through The Redeemer when we went away for a few days. I decided to take a smaller book [The Man who liked Slow tomatoes by KC Constantine] read that and actually bought The Polish Officer Alan Furst to start on the last day of our break.
I returned home to find Karen at Eurocrime had sent me two books and Harper Collins had sent The Ignorance of Blood by Robert Wilson. I don't need a twelve step program I need emergency treatment.

Dorte H said...

"stop work and devote my time to reading" - Oh, I think that sounds like a really good solution! After one week with a flu I can see that makes quite a difference. I have read three times as many books as in an ordinary week. And if I was well and didn´t have to cough all the time ...

Actually, I feel very good compared to you two ;) I only own c 15 books I haven´t read. That is probably because my husband and I agree every month that we shouldn´t buy books. So he only buys one, and I limit myself to 100 kroner per month (£ 12.50). That sounds like quite a lot if you buy used books via Amazon & Abebooks, but with the shipping to Denmark it is 2-3 books per month. Therefore I sometimes wait two months, buy more books and save on the shipping, thus I can get 7-8 books. (As you can see, for someone who is not addicted, I spend quite a lot of time on getting the next fix) :D

Unknown said...

This I can identify with! Back in my old apartment I had a one-in one-out policy simply for reasons of space and worries about overloading floorboards! When I moved to a bigger house I thought all that was behind be, especially once I found the good local library.

Now I find myself looking around the study, seeing piles of books on the floor, and knowing all the bookshelves are approaching being properly full - time for a loft conversion?

Kerrie said...

I hate the possibility of being without a book. Norman you were very restrained in taking only one book, but you don't get many brownie points for buying another. And when you have friends who send, lend, or give you books... how can you refuse to give them a nice home?

Dorte you are doing wonderfully well, but if you'd like me to send you a box of pre-loved books, just say so.

Semi-Dweller. I like the idea of a loft conversion but we don't do that so much here in Australia. I'm not so much worried by the fact that they are lying everywhere, as much as by their tendency to multiply, and remain unread for such a long time.

Dorte H said...

Kerrie, if you really mean it I would certainly appreciate it. I am ready to love anyone´s crime novels, and should I get too many, I´ll give some more away (when I have read and enjoyed them, of course).

Kerrie said...

Now that's called "calling my bluff" over here Dorte. Postage is hideously expensive, but let me think about whether I can get some Australian crime fiction titles to you somehow. Sometimes publishers are willing to send to people world wide. Perhaps you could email me an address in readiness. Mine is kerrie.smith@esc.net.au

Dorte H said...

Now you remind me, I think you wrote something about the postage some time ago. It is expensive enough to post from Denmark, but nothing compared to what you mentioned.
For the time being I am not interested in writing ´professional´ reviews, however. I like being able to write whatever I think without feeling I owe something to the publisher or writer.

But then I´ll just have to win some of your books, and you can win some of mine ;)

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