read all the books I own

A couple weeks ago I took inventory of my “to read” pile. The stack is about two feet tall and comes up to my knees. Now, I read about four or five books a month on average, sometimes more, sometimes less. After assessing my “to read” pile with that number in mind I figured out that I have enough reading material to last me the next SIX MONTHS!

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because it means I don’t have to buy any new books for six months and it’s just as well because I have more important things to direct my cash towards at the moment. It’s bad because I read a lot of series and I want to buy the next books as they come out. So, to keep myself happy on all fronts I’m allowing myself to buy new books but only if they A) are part of a series I’m already heavily invested in, or B) are written by an author I am heavily invested in. I’m not allowed to pay for any books written by authors I’m unaquainted with or start any new series. I think that’s a good compromise.

I also have a lot of books I’ve finished, but don’t want to keep laying around my house. This week I’ll try to get down to my local branch library and ask if they take donations.

I have unloaded nine or ten books within the last two weeks through chancexchange. There’s a little more space on my bookshelves now. Still hoping to unload more.

I have not read a word in four days. I finished the book I was reading and went to my bookshelves looking for something new. You know what I discovered? That I don’t want to read any of the unread books on my shelves. At all. I returned periodically over the last couple days, to see if my mood had changed. It never did. Today I got so fed up of nothaving anything to read I went back on my word and bought three new books.

I think it might be better to simply get rid of the books I haven’t read rather than forcing myself to read them when I really don’t want to.

Okay, this whole “I am allowed to read books I don’t already own just as long as I don’t spend money on them” thing is not working. In the two months since I established this rule I have not read a single book on my bookshelves. I’ve been too busy reading books found on the library bookswap shelf and books acquired through the use of gift cards.

This has got to stop. If I keep going on like this I will NEVER read all the books I own. From this moment forth I will refrain from reading books that do not already live in my apartment! At least not until I make a sizeable dent in them.

Since adding this goal to my list I have read 4 books, all of which were worth keeping. Even though I’ve not come across anything I’d like to dispose of just yet, I’ve lowered the number of books I have left to read to 91. Or…93. You see, I added a couple of rules to this challenge that you might even go as far as to call loopholes. They are:

1) I am not allowed to purchase any new books for myself with my own money until I read the ones I already have.

2) I am allowed to acquire new books through book swapping.

3) I am allowed to ask for books as gifts.

4) I’m allowed to read books checked out of the library.

While one goal of this project is to rid my over stuffed book cases of books I don’t want/like/will never need again, it is also to stop myself from spending money on things I don’t need. With two years worth of reading material sitting in my house there is no reason why I NEED to buy new books.

All that said, my boss bought me a $25 Borders gift certificate for Christmas, and I put that sucker to good use last weekend. I got myself two new books, hence why the 91 has moved back up to 93. It’s okay though. I didn’t spend my own money on them, so it’s okay.

Okay, after all the unread books in all locations (home, work, mother’s house) had all been accounted for the final tally came to….95! I am shocked and awed. I thought I got over the habit of buy books and not reading them back in junior high!

This task might just be more difficult than quitting smoking.

I am a voracious reader and as a consequence I own a ton of books. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough shelf space for all of them. I am on a constant search for new places to store my reading material. One way I keep my bookshelves light is by passing books I didn’t like on to other people.

Today I made a list of all the books on my shelves that I haven’t read. The totaly came to 86. 86 books! Let me put that number in perspective; Last year, I read 40 some odd books. I have over two years worth of reading material sitting in my bookshelves! And, who knows, maybe some of those are books i won’t like. Maybe they are tomes I could stand to get rid of.

I want to stop buying new books until I can finish all the ones I already own. This starts now.