My year of not buying books is flying by. I have less than 2 months to go now, soon it will be just 1 and then none and….then what? Not going crazy buying books, that’s for sure, but I am looking forward to setting foot in a bookshop and perhaps buying a book or two. I still have a list in mind; it is short and I want to keep it so. I don’t want to go crazy, and undo all the learning and effort. It isn’t really an effort now, I guess habits are pretty easy to break with a bit of mindfulness, but I also know it would be very easy to go back and repeat my errors of the past. I must cling on to my learnings.
And I have learned a lot. I have learned to be less impulsive and I have started to learn my limitations. I have learned I have a lot of great books, and I ought to appreciate them more. When I started I had 278 books on my unread list (actually I think that might be a slight underestimate). Now I have 244. I have read 34 of my own books so far this year. That’s not all I’ve read, of course, there have been a few library books too and the odd re-read, but not so much of that. One of the things I’d like to do when I get my backlog down to a manageable number is to re-read some more. I have a hankering to re-read Kristen Lavransdatter, and World Light, and maybe some Don DeLillo or Kawabata. This will all take valuable time. Time which takes me away from the backlog. I feel less oppressed by it now, but at my slow reading rate I still have a good few years of it ahead of me before I will reach that manageable number. I don’t have a firm figure in mind, but I’m thinking less than 50 unread books is probably a reasonable number.
And I have decided it’s completely okay to have a chunk of unread books. I saw something the other day and it said something about unread books being a treasure to be dipped into. I think it was a quote from Gladstone or someone like that, and I’ve probably represented it poorly here. But the sentiment is right. It’s okay to have a bunch of unread books. But only enough that I could read them within a year. Otherwise it feels like a waste.
Speaking of which, I have been thinking a lot about donating some of my books before the year is up. I recently did a little tidy up of my library and despite not adding to my piles it really is still brimming. I do hang on to books, even those that I’ve read I find hard to let go. But I think I need to let some go. There’s no point hanging on to a book I may or may not ever have time to read again. I have already segregated my library into those books which are absolute keepers, never to be let go, and those which I’m less certain of…and the unread ones of course. If I am going to accomodate new books in the future then I need to make space for them. My shelves are full to overflowing. It is beautiful, but unrealistic. So before the year is up I am going to attempt a bit of a cull. I may include some unread books in that, too. Maybe those Penguin Great Loves I have so disliked so far. I’m not sure I can bring myself to read the rest but they might be something of a treasure to the charity shop, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.
I also have a bunch of philosophy books that my younger self believed I was capable of reading and understanding. My perimenopausal self has a very different, and perhaps more realistic opinion. Sigh. Perhaps they will be the easiest ones to let go of.
Well that’s something to think about anyway. What I have noticed is that despite the fact that I still have over 200 books to choose from, they are narrowing down to becoming mostly chunksters or series and that means that my reading will slow even further. I have a habit of choosing the smaller books because I am focused on numbers, when in fact the volume is in the number of pages. Silly me. I haven’t helped myself by counting compendiums as single volumes. For example both The Balkan Trilogy and the Gormenghast books are counted as one in my list, but obviously each are comprised of three books and each are over 1,000 pages long!
Well these are small trials and I am capable of facing them. I think that once my year long ban is over I will limit myself to buying, say, no more than 10 books in a year, and I will buy them all new and if possible from my local bookshop. And maybe when my backlog is down to less than 200 I can up the number and when it’s down to less than 100 I can up the number again. I don’t want to be too proscriptive. I still want to buy books and support the authors and the booksellers, but I need to remember that there’s a cost to those books in time and at some point I have to pay it. It’s not enough to collect them and put them on the shelves. To really respect the authors, the effort they’ve put in, I need to read them. Ideally if I buy a book I should read it straightaway, that way it won’t languish for 5 – 10 years gathering dust on my shelves before I get around to it.
Speaking of new books, I have acquired two new books! This surprises me as much as it may surprise you. A couple of weeks ago a little parcel came through my letterbox. It had two books in it, published by And Other Stories. I used to be a subscriber but I haven’t been for a long time, maybe 4 or 5 years since I last subscribed. The books are recent publications: The Hunger of Women by Mariosa Castaldi and In Case of Loss by Lutz Seiler. I did not order these books. I am assuming these were sent in error. I wrote to the publisher but got only an automated email back. So I think I must add these to my backlog. They were unexpected, and I am not sure I would have chosen them, but they both sound rather interesting. Unless And Other Stories write back I guess I am keeping them, but I still have the packages just in case.
Maybe it was a little reward for having been so good. Perhaps that’s how I should look at it.
Well I need to be good a lot longer, but I think I can do it and I already feel much better about my library than I used to. Less oppressed by it. I’d like to say I’d saved a lot of money too, but instead I have spent all I’ve saved on fashion from Vinted and a new car! Maybe the book habit isn’t so bad after all!
biisbooks 
Good work sticking to your objectives! I do get unexpected books at times, generally most welcome due to the source, be it a translator or publisher, but sometimes a pile of review copies will arrive and I try not to feel guilt if I did not request them. Of course, they cannot be legally passed for sale and due to high postage prices it’s more difficult to send them to interested friends.
My own slow reading slowed to crawl while I was India and I came back with a stack of mostly books unavailable here with another parcel due to arrive this week, so I’d better get busy. Unfortunately we lack charity shops or even secondhand stores that would welcome the type of books that find their way to me, so passing on books I don’t want, or even the occasional duplicates, is a challenge…
Yeah it is difficult for so many reasons to let go of books, I find it challenging because I always think I’ll read them again and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve thought ‘oh I’ll re-read such and such a thing’ only to find I donated it. Still it isn’t difficult to get hold of copies of most things.
In your shoes I think I would hoard with pride 😁 books are definitely a treasure and it seems like the universe doesn’t want you to let them go.
India sounds amazing. I’m not sure I’d read much if I went there either.
Well, as I’ve said before, I admire you. And I know what you mean about feeling overwhelmed by them all. Your library looks lovely, and I am trying to be realistic about books myself, passing them on once I’ve read them if I think I’ll never read them again. Several boxes went off to the charity shop over the summer and I need to have another prune…
Thanks! I am not sure I am deserving of admiration but I’ll accept it all the same 😉 I do feel like in this area I have ‘mastered’ myself but the proof will be when my imaginary one year barrier ends. I might go mad yet.
This year is flying by, isn’t it? I think the Indian Summer we’ve just experienced makes it feel like early September rather than mid October, so it’s a shock to realise that we’re only a couple of months away from Christmas.
I think you’ve done brilliantly in keeping to your original vision for the year, and the library is a great way of accessing something different when the urges strikes. Like you, I also received a similar package from And Other Stories recently – and again, like you, I was a subscriber in their early days but not in recent years. Maybe they were sent to old subscribers by mistake as there was no info enclosed?
Ah that’s interesting that you also received a package. Perhaps it was intentional then, just strange that it came without any kind of notice or letter.
Yes the year is truly flying by. Lots of Halloween decorations up around here and it’ll be Christmas stuff next. Shocking how quickly the days go by
Your bookshelves are beautiful! I’m out of room and need to cull… I also did a count a few months back and found I own 113 unread books… that’s about 2-3 years’ worth for me. I’m cheering for you as the year of not buying comes to an end!
Thanks! I’ve already arranged with my husband for a trip to the bookshop on my birthday. He offered to drop me off in the morning and pick me up mid-afternoon! It’s astonishing how quickly that backlog builds up isn’t it?
Well done! I am trying to get my TBR down and sort of succeeding a bit, I do need to rein back but then there’s the new indie bookshop locally and I do want to support them. I am trying to be more intentional about my buying, especially hardbacks, or at least then reading them before the paperback comes out!
Haha! Yes I like your rule about hardbacks, that makes a lot of sense. I do love my books, I’m not really sorry I have them it’s just trying to get the balance right. Like you I also want to support my local independent bookshop. There are much worse challenges to have 😁
My bulging bookshelves are testament to what I’ve always regarded as “a treasure to be dipped into” so I totally empathise! But more than a half-century of accumulating more and more books, many still unread, has made my partner insist I tackle my tsundoku habit: I’ve been gradually donating books I realise I’ll never read or re-read to a charity shop. The problem is I start to glance at the shelves of what’s previously been donated . . .
So I’m firming up a project to make 2024 a Year of Reading Randomly, choosing only books I currently own. It sounds very similar to your own year of not buying books!
I do love a bulging bookshelf but eventually they do need a bit of a clear out. Like you, my shelves have built up over the years and charity shop bargains are hard to resist!
I look forward to reading about your random reading year 😁
I’m trying really hard to be ruthless – not always successfully 😐 – but mostly I let gut reaction answer the question ‘Am I really keen to read this any time soon?’ If no, then into the Red Cross box it goes!