Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

I Totally Blew the Whole Book Moratorium Thing (Again) Tonight

A box of books, but not mine.[For those of you recently joining me, here’s a link to the first post I made about a book moratorium, and another on the failure of said book moratorium.]

* * *

I dropped by the library after work tonight to check out a movie, and of course I couldn’t help but peruse the book-sale rack.

I’ve done this a couple of times in the last few months and have been relieved to find those shelves chock-full of stuff that didn’t interest me. (Which was good.)

But the librarians must have spent their time this week winnowing out the sci-fi and fantasy sections of the library and dropped it all on the shelf before I came in.

I can’t even tell you how many books I picked up (though I will say it had to be close to 40, because I spent over 10 bucks and the paperbacks are only a quarter a piece. I did score a few hard backs.

Sadly, this comes on the heels of a book-buying binge over the weekend.

In 2011, I “officially” purged 227 books from the house. This means they were boxed up and carried away from the premises. This doesn’t count all the books I gave away to relatives and friends.

There are literally hundreds more sitting in bags and boxes in a little room off my kitchen because they’ve (so far) been too much trouble to haul away.

(It’s funny how I find it no problem to bring, say… 40, books into the house one day, but I can’t be bothered to take that many out the next time I leave.)

I think a large part of the problem is the lack of venues for divesting myself of books. The local thrift stores will take them, but not in the quantity I have to give away. The library doesn’t want back the books they sold me – though they’ll take the ones I’ve recently bought. I don’t mind giving them away, but I’d rather not have it be at my expense. (See how complicated it’s getting?)

And I am completely against tossing them in the trash.

I’ve been known to take a box of books on vacation, and then leave them for the next renters…but you can only rid yourself of so many that way.

How do you get rid of your excess tomes?

Tags: , , , , | Category: Books | 6 comments
Monday, October 18th, 2010

So Remember that Book Moratorium? #Fail

How to Read a Book - the Book VersionIf you recall, I issued a moratorium on book purchases only a few short days ago.

I’ve already failed…big time.

I had a meeting with the owner of Constellation Books yesterday – this was part meet and greet, part reconnaissance for me. As I am notorious for getting lost, even armed with map and GPS, I needed this dry-run so I could work out the kinks before my reading with other authors there on October 30.

(I did get lost, BTW – and that cost me nearly an extra hour in travel time to get there.)

The problem was not the bookstore…although I did order a book while I was there — but I’d already factored that into the moratorium.

The problem was the church yard sale I passed on my way to the bookstore. Have I admitted here yet that I’m seriously addicted to yard sales? Here goes:

Hello, my name is Kelly.
 
I salivate at the prospect of a good yard sale. I hyperventilate if it’s a multi-family or community affair.
 
If I’m driving, be a good sport and don’t complain when I stop. If you’re driving, you’d better pull over if you know what’s good for you.

Okay – I’m not that bad. I’ve been known to drive by tables filled with, ahem, junk. I do have my standards. Plus: I won’t stop if there isn’t a lot of stuff to look at. Otherwise, it’s just not worth my time.

But I digress.

So, I stopped at this church yard sale….and I nearly filled TWO shopping bags with books. They were mostly paperbacks, which means I fit quite a few into the two bags. I haven’t counted them. Suffice to say, it was a lot of books.

I’d like to think that this serious book acquisition is tempered by the fact that the books are mostly what I like to call disposable books: books I want to read, but (probably) won’t keep. I’ll donate them. In other words: they’re only temporary residents in the house.

Oh, and I picked up a several with someone else in mind (Hi, Sue!). I’ll hand those over the next time I see that someone. And since I didn’t get those for myself, I figure those don’t count.

Nonetheless, a major fail for me and my moratorium.

Anyone else have trouble sticking to this kind of “diet?”

Tags: , | Category: Books, Off-Topic | 9 comments
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Moratorium on Book Acquisitions (Again)

No BooksWith one exception, I’m declaring a moratorium on book acquisitions until the new year.

(I say “acquisitions” rather than purchase, because I’m just as likely to borrow a half-dozen books from the library or receive an ARC for review as I am to walk into a book store and buy a few. Alas. And these things tend to pile up.)

I vaguely remember mentioning this last year, but for the life of me, I can’t find the post. Maybe I only thought about declaring a moratorium last year…but this time I’m taking action.

The reason: I have more than thirty (30!) books in my to-be-read (TBR) pile, several of which I need to review for folks. (This number does not include books that I’ve purchased on the off-chance I might get around to reading some day.) If I keep obtaining books like this, I’ll never get to finish those promised reviews before December 31. That’s a self-imposed deadline, btw. I just don’t like having accepted books and keeping people waiting on reviews.

My bookshelves are shelved double-deep and I count nine separate stacks of books in this room alone – two of which are in danger of toppling. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the books were breeding on their own.

Sigh.

So, here’s the exception (and the danger)…

I have an hour-plus one-way commute to my day job and I listen to audio books to pass the time. Depending on the length of the book, I plow through one, sometimes two, during the work week. This requires a lot of trips to the bookstore and/or library.

And therein lies the danger: setting foot in either always results in a purchase or loan.

My plan: to stay out of either until my TBR pile is “substantially” reduced.

But temptation looms already!

I received a call from the library yesterday that one of the audio books I reserved is in. (I’ll be stopping by after work today to pick it up.)

And I’ll be reading at Constellation Books on October 30. [Details Here] I already know this is a deal breaker as far as my moratorium is concerned: it’s just not polite to be invited to a book store and not buy something. So, I’m not counting this purchase in my moratorium.

If I’m diligent, I should be able to knock out quite a few of the to-be-reads before January 1. And if I’m lucky, I can replace a few of them with audio books and kill two birds with one stone.

At least, that’s the plan.

Tags: , , | Category: Appearances, Books, Reading | One comment