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!
