As I'm sure some of you know, recently J. Kaye started a book ban challenge. In order to read all her books that are piling up she's decided to not buy any new books until she has completed her list. Bravo! I wish I could join but I am weak... this was an especially bad week for me! It really must stop or at least slow down ALOT. Side note, I need to start remembering to take these pictures on flat surfaces!
Sunday: I hardly ever get books on Sundays. Innocently enough I went to Sam's Club with my mom, hadn't been there in months so I thought I'd take a peek. I usually look at the dvds and books. So I went to the book section, all looked normal until I discovered a whole young adult section! Books normally 8.99 for under 6 dollars. I freaked and bought The Secret of Peaches, Wicked Lovely (which I was going to buy myself for my birthday), Pants on Fire (which I was also going to buy myself for my birthday) and Private (I'm a sucker for series, I told you!) When my mom saw me she rolled her eyes, good thing I have my own money these days, back in high school I would have had to beg to get them! I was pretty good at wearing people down though. So as you can see Sunday started the week off on a certain note.
Monday: I was going to be in the city that houses our one and only Barnes and Noble with a used section so I had to stop in, hadn't been in for about a year or so. I made off with True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet, What My Mother Doesn't Know, One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, The Realm of Possibilities, What She Saw, The Last Summer of You and Me (which I was going to get for my birthday also), and Nothing Better Vol 1. which is a sweet comic. I got the first issue of last fall. Let's just say this place is heaven.
Tuesday: Nothing
Wednesday: My only book from the mail this week came, Superheroes from the Read It Forward Program.
Thursday: My weekly trip to the Friends of the Library Sale turned up The Juliet Club which I had passed up the week before because I didn't know anything about it. I found out more from YA New York and was very happy to see it still there!
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Bad Bad Bad day! (Or a good day!) Took my almost monthly trip to Half Price Books and another local used bookstore. From Half Price Books Clearance $1 section I got The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Boy Next Door, Boy Proof (I really like her graphic novel, Plain Janes), The Royal Ghosts, and the Undomestic Goddess. I also picked up Looking for Alaska (yet another book I was going to buy for my birthday !), The Interpreters of Maladies, If We Kiss, Fringe Girl, This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record, and How the Other Half Hamptons.
At the other store I found: Tithe, Pretties, and I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone (which just recently came out!)
So share with me, how do you control yourself when all you want to do is buy books! I think a lot of my problem is now having a full time job I have money I didn't used to have, I think that's what controlled me in the past. I need a new motivation!
wow. i found the ya review books section at my favorite used book mecca today, where the books were no more than 1.50 a piece. and i spent ... $40.
ReplyDeleteadmittedly, i did get one book for about $10, but still. it was like the most insane splurge of my life.
alas, they didn't have "i wanna be your joey ramone," or the as-yet unreleased "paper towns," or even sara zarr's "sweethearts." but that's okay. because i got a million other books, and i'm sure i'll have an impossible time reading them all.
(uh, no tips for how to stop buying, except maybe budgeting X dollars per week ... also, making sure you read everything you buy. and then clearing out a good twenty or so books each month. at least twenty.)
Man! That is quite a haul! You should have seen me after we picked up our packages from the post office after our three week mail hold - I was swimming in new books and my husband looked very worried about where we are going to put all of them!
ReplyDelete"...Or Why I Knew This Week Was Going to be an Anti-Book Ban Week"
ReplyDeleteROTFL!
Oh wow, that is a ton of books! I don't know how you could stop...money is key. If you don't have it, then you can't spend it. LOL That happens to me when I have it as well....true, setting aside a certain amount a week might stop you..orr...NOT going where there will be books. hah that might help. bookstores can be so evil sometimes.
ReplyDeleteas for me, i got one book in a contest in the mail but that was it!
-Lauren
I have a similar problem but definitely not on the same scale as yours!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to stop it. I have yet to figure mine out yet. I suppose it helps that right now I have no job and very little money comes my way. So I really don't get (new) books often. Maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I use PaperBackSwap.com a lot though (according to their calculations I've saved over $100 since I started using their site which is awesome lol). My grandma supplies most of my Christian Fiction addiction (it's her addiction as well so I simply get her leftovers) and then I get a few for my blog here and there (I got a lot for my blog earlier in the year but have cut back a lot on what I accept so I can read the other books I obtain on my own).
I can't imagine what it would be like if I had a job and extra money to spend. Luckily (or not) my next job will probably be after college graduation and I'll be using that money to save up so I can get my own place. I doubt that will leave much for extra spending. I'll probably always get used books though. It's just the new ones I am able to put a stop to buying (and as long as I buy the used ones in small spurts, I never truly know how much I'm spending per year on them).
So this whole long post is meant to say, there is no solution. Book buying is an addiction. We should start a Bookaholics Anonymous. My name is Amee and I'm a bookaholic. :P
Sabrina- Nice! Can't wait to read all these reviews! I could set a budget but probably wouldn't follow it because I would know I actually had more money to spend! I plan to read what I have it's just that I buy way way faster than I read. And I suck at parting with books :( Slowly I am putting some on bookmooch but then I always mooch other books!
ReplyDeleteJ. Kaye- LOL!
Shooting Stars Mag- Yes, I need to not go to bookstores but I just love going!!! That's about all I shop for these days, most other shopping just makes me cranky. I'm going to try and stay away for a few weeks and see how that goes. There's always amazon though... where I have a 20 dollar credit. I've had it for about 2 months though and haven't spent it yet!
Ambeen- Yeah I'm saving money too. I'm about to buy a new computer so that will put a nice dent in it. I don't spend nearly enough to make my savings vanish though. Ahh! I like to buy used too. That's usually where the big haules come from. I'll get a book here and there from Borders but not usually more than one at a time, I always use a coupon too! I like amazon's discounts as well. My name is Alea and I'm a mediaaholic! Don't get me started on my dvds, magazines, cds. Ahhh! I cleaned out 2 movie rental places in the past year, cannot pass up dollar movies let alone penny movies! Or free magazine subscriptions!
s. krishna- Ahh that's so exciting! I kid you not my favorite part of coming home from vacation is seeing what I got in the mail! Can't wait to read all your reviews for these books :)
ReplyDeleteThe Last Summer of You and Me - LOVE!
ReplyDeleteInterpreter of Maladies- LOVE so much!
I don't know how you read all these books! :)
That's why I only go to the used bookstores like twice a year...
ReplyDeleteA- Good to hear! I have no idea how I read these either, er we'll see how I'm doing in a few years.
ReplyDeleteLenore- Ahh I just like going so so much! Books are my favorite thing to shop for!