Thursday, May 14, 2009

Self-Control, or Lack Thereof

It's that time of the week again!

Mariel suggested this week’s question

Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?


In recent years, I've become more of a controlled book buyer, although I still have plenty of TBRs lurking. The gluttony kicks in when I'm confronted with a bunch of cheap or free books. The old Library Book Sale comes to mind. I haven't been in a number of years, but I used to leave with more than I could carry, because the books started at $1 each on the first day and went down from there. The sale lasted a week, and my family would usually go at least twice. Anything that looked even remotely interesting -- to any of us -- usually wound up in our paper shopping bags.

They changed the tradition when they moved the library building. The library had a room that was used expressly for their twice-annual sale. Books accrued there during the months between sales, as did books removed from the collection. What didn't get sold just stayed. Some of the books were there every year from the time I was in grade school until after I graduated. Several years ago, though, they built a brand-new library and got rid of all of their inventory. The new library has a perpetual book sale room, mercifully out of the sight lines of the rest of the library. I don't go out there much, and when I do, I never go in that room.

I also rescue books that others are giving away, quite frequently. I've mentioned before that my parents and sister are excellent sources of discards. At the last yard sale we held, I estimated that we had somewhere in the neighborhood of TWO HUNDRED books we were trying to get rid of. I suspect a lot of people don't amass that many in a lifetime. Naturally, I pitched in and helped my family get rid of some of their old books by taking them to my house!

For the most part, I confine my book gluttony to library trips. I always come home with at least five books. My trips are short, because it doesn't take long to locate more books than one could realistically read in three weeks. It's so hard to limit yourself, though, when there are so many good books out there.