This month’s prompt is all about the perils of being a book hoarder. And, well, I happen to know some things about that. Coincidentally, this month I’ve actually made a big effort to get rid of books I didn’t actually intend to read — books I read years ago and won’t reread, books I own multiple copies of, unsolicited ARCs that are just not genres I enjoy — and all that hauling around of book boxes did pull a muscle in my shoulder…
But also, there’s the whole issue that I have literally about a thousand books owned and unread. Someone counted them a while back, I’m not kidding you. I get stressed, I buy books for comfort… and then I reread books I already own because it’s more comforting to know the plot and characters ahead of time! And it’s actually a little bit stressful having such a big, big pool of books to choose from. I already have problems making decisions, and now. Well. It’s at peak levels.
One thing I am doing to get over it is monthly TBR lists — picked somewhat randomly from my backlogs. Usually I’ll pick a category (like, “oh, I’ll tackle some of my unread comics”) and find some books to fit it, and try to use that as motivation, to cut down on the problem of choice. It’s working reasonably well in September, but I gave myself August as a month off because I’m fickle and sticking to a list stresses me out… And I can be pretty enthusiastic about the set-up in the last week of the month, and then go off it on the first. I have a list drafted now for October, but I don’t know how the actual list is going to resemble it.
(You can, uh, see the problem with the fact that I keep masses of lists about books.)
Anyway, rambling done, here’s my general updates on the #ShelfLove challenge and my New Year’s Resolutions. The colour scheme should be familiar by now…
- 47/51+ already owned books read from prior to 2015 (last one recorded: The Martian, 21/09)
- Spent: £21 out of ~£30 budget (budget is 10% of my income) for January
- Spent: £20 out of ~£25 budget for February
- Spent: £22 out of ~£25 budget for March
- Spent: £15 out of ~£16 budget for April
- Spent: £45 out of ~£30 budget for May
- Spent: £18 out of ~£40 budget for June, plus stuck within holiday budget
- Spent: £45 out of ~£50 budget for July
- Spent £51 out of ~£60 for August
- Spent £30 out of £40 for September
Not such good pay so far this month, alas, but the total might go up.
Here’s my more general progress on resolutions:
- No books impulse-bought (I’ve made a couple of impulse purchases)
- Read every day
- Bed before midnight
- Up before ten every day
- Only bought one book from a series at a time
- Posted to the blog every day
- Commented on at least one other blog every day
- Tithed 10% in every month so far
- Done 6o hours volunteering total
- Reading/reviewing books from NG/etc (67% ratio; steady progress)
So not so bad! Especially that leap of eleven books from last month’s check-in, when it comes to reading books I’d previously bought.
You make my ~200 item TBR list seem managable! I have some weird selection processes that I’m not going to detail. I have been using them for decades now but only recently have I discovered that they could be interpreted as an autistic ritual.
I have been winning this year’s battle to reduce Mount TBR. Under 200 at year end may be possible but under 186, recent years’ low point, is very unlikely.
Most of my book habits can be interpreted as OCD ritual, so you know, I recognise that world. Heh.
I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back to those gently rolling hills from my mountaintop!
Well great job getting rid of some of those books and not hanging onto them anymore. But yes, moving heavy books around, even to give them away or sell them, is hard on the shoulders.
It was a much-needed clear-out! And I still have so many books in boxes, sigh.
“No books impulse-bought” – this is an item which will never appear on my any of my goal lists because I already know it is impossible! 😛
Ha, I’ve been doing reasonably well about it. As long as I think about it for at least 24 hours, it’s allowable!
When my tbr reached over 950 owned books I was in a right panic! It’s not until you start to really look at them that you see plenty that you can happily live without! I hope you tame your tbr! Good luck!
But I don’t waaaant to! I want to read all the books ever!
You seem to be doing really well! I never know how much I spend for books in a month … maybe I should start keeping track to see if it’s really unmanageable. And I impulse-buy books all the time, especially if I see that a book I find interesting is a Kindle deal or something. I have so many bought books that I need to get to as well. I’m currently in a bit of a blogging slump because I have so little time (work is really busy!) so I have a lot of books I’ve already read but haven’t reviewed yet (this is a bit problematic with ARCs…).
Posting about it like you’re doing seems like a solid idea, though, it might keep me on track! 🙂
I’ve been very stern about Kindle Deals this year! Only if I have it on my wishlist already and 99p will obviously be a saving. It’s hard, though!
You are doing well this year! Just a couple of months left in the challenge. 🙂 I’ve definitely learned restraint.
It’s helped a lot! I look at my list of acquisitions and it’s still pretty big, but not as big as it was last year, and I’ve stayed aware of my budget!