read books almost as quickly as I buy new ones

Since I no longer have the money to buy them, this should no longer be an issue. But since I’ve been too busy and stressed to read off late (to think I’d ever say something like this…), I still have this huge amount of unread books on my shelves…

...I once kept track of every book I actually finished in a year.

When I had a total, I figured out the per-week average, which shocked me: I was finishing only 1.25 books a week (it was a busy time in my life). But that hadn’t stopped me from buying 10 or 11 at a time, with money I could ill afford to spend then.

So I made a pact with myself: for the next year, I allowed myself to buy a maximum of 1 book a week. I still browsed through bookstores, collecting stacks of possibilities. But I disciplined myself to weed those stacks down to a single must-read before heading to the checkout counter.

Interestingly, the result was that I actually bought even fewer than 52 books that year. Whenever I’d contemplate buying a book, I’d think, “Do I really desire this book so deeply that I’m willing to forsake the possibility of buying any other book for a full week?” And at least once a month, I decided against making a purchase.

After that year, having proved to myself that I could exercise that kind of discipline, I loosened the restriction somewhat. For a long time, though, I noticed that I’d pretty well conquered the temptation to engage in the crazed book-buying sprees that had previously been my norm.

I have more disposable income now, so I do once in a while drop $100 in a bookstore. But my current pact is that I must give away a book for every one I buy or otherwise acquire (even as a gift). Fortunately, my apartment building has a “book exchange” shelf in the communal laundry room, so it’s easy to keep books flowing through my life.

Since I had a head injury in November 2006, I have struggled to read. Part of the problem has been an inability to concentrate – but I also find that words won’t stay flat on the page.

I’m still buying books, though…

Recently I haven’t read anything like as many books as I usually do – probably because I’ve not been feeling too great. Concentrating for more than a couple of pages is hard work. Suppressing worries long enough to get into what I’m reading is also dificult. It would be good if I could use books as a way of escaping but, for whatever reasons, this isn’t happening at the moment.

I always buy and buy and buy, because THIS looks interesting and THAT I’ve heard a lot about, and THAT poor thing THER looks so lonely and no one is ever gonna buy it, so I have to… and so on. I was in Norway for a year and came home with 70 kg of new books. 70 bloody kilograms! I have loads of books I haven’t read, and I still buy new ones whenever I’m depressed, or when I want to celebrate something, or… well, any excuse is just good enough for me.
The conclusion is – I shoud really stop taking books from the library and borrowing wagons of books from friends and THEIR friends. I should read what I have at home first.

I can’t resist buying books. Unfortunately I don’t have enough time to read more than a book or two a week. It doesn’t really bother me that I have stacks of unread books – I like looking at them on the shelves. It would be nice, though, to know what is in more of them.