Tuesday 17 September 2013

Too Many Unread Books on my Shelves



56 books on my shelves are unread. Later this week or beginning next week, that number will grow a little since I still need to buy some books for the Romanticism course I am taking upcoming term.  The number is just insane and instead of slinking, it keeps on growing. 

The best way to reduce this gigantic pile of books-to-be-read is not buying books anymore; a book-buying-ban. That is, however, not as easy as it seems. I am simply drawn to bookstores and it requires a great deal of effort not to buy a single book. It does not help that I discovered this amazing bookstore on my holiday to Helsinks. They had a great collection of English books. I had not planned to buy anything, but when I discovered the Kalevala in English (Finnish mythology) and some books of Finnish authors translated in English, I had to buy books! I ended up buying four books. When I paid them, I was told that if I bought three more paperbacks, the fourth one would be free. Who can resist a free book? So I went back a couple of days later and picked out four more books and got the most expensive one (!!) for free! As if picking up 8 books on a holiday wasn’t enough, I picked up two more about Finland. I bought 10 books on a holiday. 


I had imposed myself the rule of not buying books that were a part of a series unless I have books of that series. I failed this on holiday as well. I found a beautiful cover of Divergent by Veronica Roth and since people keep saying how wonderful this series is, and a film is coming out somewhere next year (I think) I just had to have it. Woops.

Goodreads, youtube and forums are horrible places to go if you try to stop buying books. Recommendations are the main reasons why I buy books that I regularly do not read. John Green is a great example of this. Because so many people loved his writing so much on youtube, I picked on of his books up and absolutely loved it. I have now four of his books, two on my to-read shelf. Forums are even more dangerous. I mainly spend time on forums related to my writing and often I ask people what kinds of books feature something that I am researching; this results in more books I have to read. So far, I have only bought one of them since I have not encountered any of the others yet.
The fact that my bookcase was full didn’t stop me either. I put all my books face-down so I could fit more in it. I still have room left. It is not pretty, but it is very practical. I suddenly created loads and loads of space that just needs to be filled. Even if my bookcase would be full, I am certain that I still will be able to find some place somewhere in my room to store books. 

As you can read, I have a problem. I know it is a matter of having a strong character and not buy anything until I have lessened my pile of books to read to a certain number, but I always get so very exciting when I pick up a book that seems so very interesting to read! 

If someone is having the same problem or has any great advice how to manage a to-read pile, please share!

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