chexmix: admitting he is powerless against books

OK. So I met my "75 in 2012" challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130036

... and I plan to sign up for that again in 2013 ... what I'd like to do is align that challenge with THIS one, and do:

- 75 books I currently (as of right now) own;
- plus whatever else, could be new or library-borrowed

in 2013.

... my original goal was to buy NO books in 2013, but I think there are too many necessary exceptions to that (tech/computer books I need for work or textbooks for astronomy classes) to make it as pure a goal as I'd like.

Part of the impetus for this is that I live in a small apartment, and am out of shelf space. As much as I love books, I 1) do not wish to become a hoarder, and 2) would like to be somewhat more mobile (in terms of sheer numbers of boxes of books) than I am now. Given this I am going to have to say that e-books must count on the 'whatever else' side of things.

So there it is. Can I do it? I don't know!

/G

bwhahahaha... the title. fits all of us, I expect.

And I definitely count ebooks.

good luck!

Thanks!

If only there were a 12-step program (maybe there is ... I haven't checked) -- except I'd have a hard time with the 'higher power' part, being a steadfast heathen. :^)

Just popping in to say that I love your username! Chexmix, yum! I'm a fan. Of the food product, that is...Gah! awkward!

Sandy K

Welcome to the Challenge that we all share - managing our own books!
I'm not sure if there was a 12-step program if I'd want to lose my addiction to books. Where's the fun in that!

Thanks, folks ... :^)

It's an early cat-barf mornin' here in Arlington, MA!

Love the title of your thread, @chexmix!

I agree with Fuzzi the title is great and also with cyderry, I am addicted to books but would never want to be freed:-)

Too ... many ... Year - End - Sales!! Got to ... fight it ...

I know the feeling.... sigh

There's no fighting it -- I've already given in to the clearance shelf at Barnes & Noble.

Gladly, we don't have such things in Germany since we have the fixed book price law here and therefore no such thing as year end sales. :-)

Same goes for the Netherlands.

In Switzerland we don't have any more fixed book price, but books are still so expensive that buying them in neighbour countries is much cheaper for us. So only when I'm on holiday in other countries I fill my luggage with new books I'm buying there.

In Antwerpen there are two month-long sales (summer and winter) every year, where most stores have at least half their inventory reduced at least 10%, and some selections up to 60 or even 70% off (and stores aren't allowed to have big sales at any other time of year). I'm not sure about the "regular" bookstores, as their prices are high so we don't generally visit them, but De Slegte, a bookstore that has both new & 2nd-hand stock, always has deals during it that include the new books as well (they nearly always have a lot of the used as 2 for 3 and such). I generally buy new books from bookdepository or amazon, both rather reluctantly but they have the best prices and I'm on a limited budget!, and occasionally B&N, but then have to wait for my mom to ship them here and it's a pain.

The sales I'm trying to avoid are from:

1) Scientific American Book Club;
2) Dover Publications;
3) The Great Courses (not precisely books, but close enough).

Interesting to hear about people having similar battles (or not, as the case may be) across the globe! :^)

Ah, the Scientific American Book Club sale got me bad. Sigh. :)

>16 tungsten_peerts: I failed to resist the Daedalus Books gift Catalog, but you know it's bad when as I saw your post and thought, oh I should just go check those out. Sigh, it's hopeless.

All three of the places I listed above are E-VILLE, with sales galore all the time!

(I have to wonder: who buys Great Courses sets at full price?)

Probably just as well I don't get the Daedalus catalog ... %^O

I just keep thinking to myself "there's SO MUCH I can get at the library! I don't NEED to OWN it all."

... which doesn't help a whole lot, of course.

Fixed book prices? Is that good or bad?

@ 20

Fixed book prices are wonderful for little book shops. Mostly it's the only way for them to survive. Since we don't have the fixed book prices here in Switzerland (and we are a really small country) many small book shops have been vanished. It's really a pity because those little ones were so familiar, had a lot of specialities. Now, only the big ones and the book chains are in competition and they are so impersonal.

Unfortunately with the internet, the small shops can still die off even with fixed prices. People have budgets, and look for the cheapest option -- which is often, sadly, amazon/bookdepository. If I had a fortune, I'd buy all my books, and products in general, from local small shops. But alas, I have to watch my spending, hence frequently, grudgingly, support the large chains.

I don't know. I definitely _am_ on a budget, but ... I think I am coming round to buying fewer books & paying more per volume & avoiding the juggernauts -- because I hate what they are doing to small businesses.

That's just me. I get weirder as I get older. My ex-girlfriend works for a company that was recently purchased by Amazon & she probably thinks me too idealistic (as well as too old, but that ... is another story. Bleah.)

Yikes. Can't go _there_ for Christmas!

#20 I love fixed book prices! As Ameise said, it's essential for smaller bookstores since they are mostly able to survive. Unfortunately even with fixed book prices some of them break down because of the bigger chains who have more books in store and more space. But I try to avoid them generally, since I don't relly like the supermarket feeling you get there. Sadly, I need yet to discover a small bookstore in my new hometown that is in a aceptable distance for me.
Also, fixed books prices serve for relatively fair author wages (or so I imagine) and fixed wages for shop assistants. Also they save the customers a lot of stress, because you don't have to go looking if this book is cheaper somewhere else. You buy it and that's it.
Unfortunately I have to admit that I buy from amazon as well, because I mostly try to buy used books. It's a better feeling somehow. Luckily, I already found one used-bookstore here :-)

But, there's one exception: Some bookstores specialize in seling new books and really low prices. Because after some gime (several months to several years) the fixed price for a book is loosened and then the stores can sell it to whatever price they want. So if you can wait some years for a book to get cheaper, that would also be an option. ;-)

I absolutely refuse to buy a book from Amazon. I don't like their business ethics so if I have to pay a bit more, I will. But I will take any free book they offer...then it's not money in their pockets.

Most often, in fact I get my 'new' used books from swapping pages, because I also really don't like amazon and big store chains....

26,

Could you point me at some of those swapping pages?

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, I am also powerless against frozen blueberries and cats (NOT frozen).

#27 For one there is Bookmooch, I like it very much and it really is easy to handle. Www.bookmooch.com I use this one extremely often. Most of my book I acquired in the last years I got from this platform. You can swap books national and international, but you decide if you want to send it national or international. You get points for entering books and giving books away. You have to pay points for ordering new books.
Then there is Bookcrossing. That's no swapping-page in the narrower sense, because you give each of you give-away-books an ID and then set it free (for instance metro, library etc. It means you leave it there). Someone else picks up the book and hopefully enters the ID again on the page and you see where your book went to and where it is travelling from there. But you can also swap specifically with other users. I tried it and didn't like it much, because I don't like to scribble int my books or stick something in it. Www.bookcrossing.com
I'm also on a german page www.tausch-buecher.de, but I don't think that is of interest for you.
Other sites I've heard of but did not try out: PaperbackSwap, Swap.com, ReadItSwapIt, WhatsOnMyBookshelf and Bookswapper.de. I don't know how they work, but maybe some other LTer does know more about them?

Sorry for this extensive post :-)

Thank you. I have used Paperbackswap and am set up for Bookcrossing (I have a rubber stamp and all the paraphernalia) but have sort of neglected them! I will check out Bookmooch.

Part of the difficulty with Bookcrossing for me is finding a good place to leave books. When I lived in the NYC area I had to pass through Grand Central Terminal every work day, and that was a GREAT place to leave books! My daily commute now includes no such place ... and although there is a "book sharing shelf" at work, it isn't quite the same (although there are lots of people from other countries where I work and so there is always a chance someone will take one of my former books to a distant land!).

Wow that would indeed be great. But well, I don't like the books being stamped or something... so Bookcrossing was just not the right thing for me. But I really like BookMooch. Thdere are many many people from the USA, so I think it'll be really nice to find and get books. It's a bit more difficult from Germany, since there are not so many people from here and not all members are willing to send international. But one gets definitely enough points to always get books :-)

I will give BookMooch a try. :^)

The thing I liked about PaperbackSwap is that they have a system where you can purchase postage for the books which you could then print out and use as part of a wrapper. That way one avoids a trip to the post office (which I usually try to avoid as much as I can!).

I know what you mean about the stamps with Bookcrossing but I love being able to track books ... _@

UPDATE. Okay, I've changed my mind about e-books. I am definitely going to count them.

> 33 - Good plan! ;-)

So ... not to short-shrift this thread or anything ... but I'm keeping a record of my reading here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/146878

... it's broken out into "library" and "ROOT."

My library count has already pulled out ahead of my ROOT count, which is a bad sign, I guess.

Me too, @chexmix, don't feel bad:

January
ROOTs read: 5
Books acquired: 16

Ouch...

Well ... I've been sorely tempted ... but so far ... staying strong on the not buying.

_@

Getting through another of these George R. R. Martin doorstops will clear a couple of inches on my shelves! ;^)

>38 tungsten_peerts:: You are stronger than I am. applause, applause.

>40 connie53:

Thanks. It's been REALLY HARD. I love books soooo much!

NEW RULE: I not only may not PURCHASE books -- I may not ADOPT them.

My workplace has a nicely stocked book sharing shelf. It's not going to help my space issues any if I continue to bring items home from there!

If someone wants to BUY me books, however .. ;^)

Now THAT is iron willpower! I find it very difficult to resist giving books a good home, especially when it's family members asking me to do the adopting!

No adopting! awfull!

> 42 - "NEW RULE: I not only may not PURCHASE books -- I may not ADOPT them."

But.... but.... what if their neglected and destined for a life of neglect or *sharp intake of breath* destruction? That being said, I see that you are okay with others buying you books so would the same apply to books 'saved' by others and then handed to you for safe keeping......? Loopholes are always good. ;-)

Ehhh, so I bought a book. One measly book. ;^)

Ehhhhh. I have to confess I pre-ordered 3 books (or maybe 4) due end of this month. But that is all.

I also confess I accidentally got a book from the Scientific American Book Club because I forgot to tell them not to send it! But it isn't staying with me -- I'm giving it to my best friend for her birthday.

I was doing really good, until last week when we went to De Slegte, and I picked up 5 paperbacks and a hardback EM Forster anthology all for like €22, and then like 2 days later I noticed the email from OUP about their massive sale so I bought 6 cheap books from them, and then I discovered Vidal had released an edition of Creation in 2002 that added back in cut parts so I had to get that one instead of mine so I made the purchase I'd been waiting on of several of the cheapy Wordsworth Classics books at the same time, so now I've also got those 8 coming. Oops? LOL.

PolyMon, you're in good company here...

hahaha I know, that's why I love this place! :D

Hrmph. I may need to buy another book or two ... but perhaps for Kindle only. I've been told I need to become better at project management (in an IT context) and, well, this has never, ever been a skill of mine.

Not that you can necessarily learn such stuff from books, anyway.

I had to get something work related as well. I'm ignoring that little blip in my clean record of not buying since January. I may crumble before my review date of June, but so far, just adding books to my wishlist has felt a lot like adding them to my shelves. And, when I look at my progress in reading my real books, I'm equally close to getting the virtual ones read as I am the real, sorry to say.

Yesterday I walked numerous times past a double pile of orphaned tech books. :)

They were all pretty old.

Did you buy any?

O, sorry for the ambiguity -- these were orphaned at my workplace and in a "take me, I'm free" spot.

Despite my "I won't ADOPT any books, either" policy, I might have walked away with ONE of them ... for the office, of course! :D

You "might have"...

...so, did you?

... maybe ...?

;^)

Uh huh...you sound like one of my kids...evasive...

I don't think it counts as part of your collection if you keep it at the office ;)

@59 ... I have a memory of a cartoon by John Callahan ... it is a single frame of a man looking into a bookstore window at a title on display there: "Digesting Your Inner Child."

Truth be told, though, some parts of me are stuck at 4, others at 14. Other parts are, I think, already dead. It makes life ... interesting.

On my desk there is a copy of a small astronomy book in French by G. de Vaucouleurs. It was discarded by the Wolbach Library. I'd really like to bring it home. _@

Can you?

Did you?

O, I can. But I haven't yet. I'm not convinced that having an astronomy book in French around the house will actually "induce" me to learn to read French.

No, that will not do it for me and I've had 5 years of French in highschool.

Oddly though, scientific prose is ... in a way ... easier. There are more cognate words, a la "scientifique" and "astronomie." :^)

Yes, that's true. Some words are global!

To have stopped the influx of books ... is an interesting feeling. Now more than ever I look around my cluttered, book-y apartment and think "I have a lot of work to do!"

Well, I may have nothing else to be proud of ... but I've still only bought one book this year.

So there's that.

Yay.

That is really great! And something to be proud of!

I agree. I am also on a book ban, but have bought 4 work-related books. I'm turning a blind eye to them.

If I did well enough in my astronomy class -- I am waiting to learn the fourth of four individual grades -- I am going to allow myself a book, I think. I should make it a special one.

You do that! You deserve it!

I got it! Now I have to decide on a book! :^)

What are the options? Do you have some books in mind?

Maybe Plato's Ghost by Jeremy Gray. Or, if I am feeling really ambitious, An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics ... that one is really pricey.

You are really into Astrophysics, aren't you!

Well, yes. Who isn't? ;^)

Me!

I decided on Plato's Ghost. I was considering some other, electronics-oriented things but I can get them on my Safari O'Reilly bookshelf, so I don't really need hard copies.

Enjoy, chexmix.

So, my brother got me an Amazon gift certificate for my birthday. I suppose I could have used it for something other than books ... but I didn't. I got myself a couple of techie titles:

Margolis, Michael - The Arduino Cookbook
Platt, Charles - Make: Electronics

A cookbook is always handy. Electronics books too, I guess

Well that 'cookbook' is really an electronics cookbook. ;^)

Okay, ---> going to investigate.

I see. What an interesting hobby!

My name is Glenn and I bought a book today.

Well, yesterday, really.

Have gotten kind of excited about the programming language Ruby. Understanding Computation uses Ruby as a vehicle to explain complex topics in computer science. Whee!

Welcome to the club, Glenn ;-))

So, I am in NW Arkansas with my ex inlaws (the ex wife and I are best friends). Yesterday we went to one of my favorite used bookstores on earth, the Dickson Street Bookshop.

I succumbed, I'm afraid. >:^)

Wow, Let's have the list, Glenn. ;-))

How to Solve It
Elizabethan Plays
The Mathematical Experience
The Story of Alchemy and Early Chemistry
A History of the Sciences

... there ya go. :^) I feel like I got off lightly.

They all sound just like your cup of tea, Glenn. Enjoy!