Addicted to books!!

W

waterlily

Cathlete
I am a serious bibliophile. I will collect tons and tons of books. As soon as an author comes out with a book, I have my credit card waiting to order or even pre-order.

This is a serious problem for me. I have over 300 books in my 'to be read' pile, not to mention how many I have already read. I think I have over 2,000 books, yet I continue to buy more and more. I can't help myself. Sometimes I even buy the same book twice if the cover is different or if there is a re-print. It's a compulsion.

The sad part is that I don't re-sell or trade these books. They are just there sitting and collecting dust. What's the matter with me? I ask myself what is missing in my life why I feel compelled to buy so many books, but the only answer I can think of is more books. (you see the irony ).

Any suggestions about this 'problem'? I need some serious help. My house looks like a library.

W
 
You sound like me. Fortunately, I'm a fast reader and manage to read most of what I buy. Hubby's the same way, and DS appears to be on that track. Sorry I can't help, but you have company!

Nan
 
I always have a "to-read" pile, too, but it's not quite that large. With 300 books to choose from, I would say you should stop buying them until you have less than 50 in your pile.

Consider keeping only the books you absolutely LOVED and might like to re-read again in the future. Give the rest to friends and family, sell them at a flea market, or donate them. Another idea is to get involved in a book club where you swap and share books with one another, so you'll spend a lot less money to enjoy as many books. Of course, getting your books from the library is the cheapest option yet. Think of the money you'd save. Maybe try this: every time you're tempted to buy a book, put that cash aside and see what you've accumulated in 6 months. Probably enough for a getaway or spa day or new workout equipment!

[font face="heather" font color=brick red size=+2]~Cathy [/font face] http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/wavesmile.gif
"Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be." -George Sheehan
 
A couple of suggestions because I love to read,too. Donate any you've read to the library. Our local library has a huge tag sale of books next week. Of course, you can go to the sale and buy more! Keep a journal of what books you have read and the date you finished it and any comments. this way you can see progress. Keep a list(instead of the books) you plan on reading. When you get to that on your list you can get it at the library. Hope this helps!
Ellen
 
One thing that has really helped me was to stop reading book reviews, going to the bookstore, etc. There are times when I have just felt overwhelmed with all of the books that I've wanted to read.

When it starts feeling like a job or a school assignment(I have to finish all of these books!)I remind myself that I read because I love it not because I want to 'finish' something. I remind myself that it doesn't matter how many books I finish and just let it go(easier said than done.) I managed to go through my stack of 15 'to-read' books by just avoiding all new info and I feel much happier. I just don't think about whether I 'missed' something over those months.:)

Sorry...I don't have any advice on getting rid of books. I pretty much keep all of mine. But, everyone else has given great suggestions.
 
Hello, my name is melrose and I'm addicted to books. It's been 3 days since I bought my last book, but it won't be long before I buy again.

I have about 1,000 unread books in my house. I guess that's not good. I do give them away when I finish them, except for the truly wonderful ones. I don't really like doing this, but, if I didn't, there would be literally no room in the house for the humans.

I'm hardly ever worried about my book complex, except when I ponder whether or not the house might develop a crack in the foundation.
 
I was in this same boat. You wouldn't believe it now, if you saw my book shelf. BUT...what finally got me to stop buying and stockpiling was MONEY! Financially, I just couldn't afford to buy 'extra' of anything besides the necessary daily things to survive. BUT..the addiction was hard to break.

What I finally did with my entire stockpile was donate them to a neighbor girl, who organized a fundraiser book sale for Make-A-Wish Foundation. I took her under my wing and ran ads in the local papers, put up signs in the neighborhood, got it announced on the local radio stations. She ended up collecting and selling TONS of books and raised over $2,000 for the Foundation. We're planning on doing this every summer now. You'd be surprised how many people are book hoarders! lol

Gayle
 
I don't think buying a lot of books and READING them is a problem. Nor is having an actual 'collection' of something. But when anyone starts collecting anything and not using it, especially when it's causing them some distress (and some badfeng shui!), there's something more than just love of books (or whatever) involved, maybe a type of compulsive disorder (I'm a "doctor", but not that kind, so this is just a lay opinion).

I have somewhat of the same problem, but I've actually read almost all the books I have. My problem is that when I read a book, I annotate it (a habit I picked up in grad school): underlining key ideas and taking notes in the margins. This isn't bad if it's a book I intend to keep and that will be a useful reference (like a fitness book), but not so good if I find I don't need to keep it to remember the important info, as I don't like donating marked-up books to the library, and I don't know if used book stores want them either.

I recommend this process:
1)first, do not buy any more books until you have taken care of the current 'backlog' (if you want, keep a 'wish list' at Amazon for any more books you want, but don't buy any)

2) go through your 'read' books, and determine which of them you really want to keep. Why do you want to keep them? Are you going to reference them again? That's the only reason to keep them. For the others, donate them to your local library (you can check them out if you ever want to read them again), get a receipt and claim the donation on your taxes, or sell them at a used book store. You could even use some as gifts. If there are any in unusable condition (like water damaged), recycle them through a paper recycling facility (ours accepts books).

3) go through your 'unread' pile and determine which ones you actually will read. For the others, donate/sell them as well.
For those you plan to read, make a specific reading plan. Which ones are you going to read, and when?

Once you've made it though the 'unread' pile, again donate/sell the ones you read (or keep those that you really are going to reference again). You may then get more books, but only those that you will read within the following month or so. No 'stockpiling.' That's what you wish list is for: to have the books available to buy if you really want them and will be reading them soon.

(That's a pretty good plan, isn't it? Now I just have to go and apply it to my own collection!)

HTH!
 
I'm addicted to books too. I recently had a birthday and received 11 books of which I have no place to put them. After reading, I only keep the books that I absolutely love. The rest I pass to friends or donate to our local library. I send mysteries to a friend in Germany who pays the postage.
 
>3) go through your 'unread' pile and determine which ones you
>actually will read. For the others, donate/sell them as well.

Well said, Kathryn!(your whole post, not just this part:) ) This was something that I did. I was really stressing about my 'to read' pile and I finally just openly admitted to myself that some of these books I would just never read; there were too many new books coming out that I would always put ahead of them. When I did this I cut my pile in half and, psychologically, I felt like a weight had been lifted. I never want to feel like reading is a burden. :)
 
Hi Waterlily,

I used to have an enormous book collection, but then I had children and found I had no time to read them. (LOL or sob?) Anyway, I started donating books to our local library for their collection or for their book sales. I also found there are a lot of non-profit organizations that take book donations and give them to schools, women's shelters, homeless shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, Native American groups, Appalachian aid organizations, prisons etc. Some even ship book overseas for Peace Corps volunteers or to soldiers serving in foreign countries. Once I realized that books could have a second life once I was done with them and be sent somewhere it might even be more appreciated, my hoarding instincts really dwindled. Just as an example, there's a place near me in Connecticut that's been sending books overseas since 1949. (http://dba.darien.org)

Obviously, there are many other organizations but I always feel great after I donate books because I know someone else is going to benefit. You might try imposing a "one in, one out" policy on yourself. Not buy another book, until you give/sell/trade one away. At least your collection wouldn't grow! HTH!

Jonahnah
Chocolate IS the answer, regardless of the question.
 
I used to do the same but then I got smart. I'd go Borders and browse and if something looked interesting I wrote down the author/title/ISBN and obtained it from my local library. After reading, if I determined it is a must have for my collection, I'd buy it. For those of you who use firefox as your browser I highly recommend installing "book burro" which will check a variety of sources and let you know where you can purchase the title at the lowest price. I use it all the time for work (I'm a library director) as well as my personal reading. You can also use the Yahoo toolbar with WorldCat searching which will allow you to find out which libraries in your area own a particular item.

Also, why not catalog your collection? I absolutely love Library Thing which will not only help you organize your collection but let you find out what others with similar interests are reading (so you can BORROW them from your local library). It's free for the first 200 titles, and dirt cheap after that.

Also, as previously mentioned, consider donating your books to your local public or school library. They generally don't accept textbooks or old moldy junk with pages falling out (you would be amazed at what some people donate. they think of the library as a free dumping ground!). If they don't add your books to the collection, they will sell them and use that money to beef up their collection. I'm always amazed at how few people think of the library first on this forum and I'd like to slap them all silly (in a friendly way of course!). Stop buying so many books when your tax dollars already fund an awesome place for lifelong learning YOUR LIBRARY!!!

And that was your public serice announcement of the day. Cheers!
 
>I'm hardly ever worried about my book complex, except when I
>ponder whether or not the house might develop a crack in the
>foundation.


Very funny Melrose.:)

I can't imagine having over 1000 unread books. That seems insane. I wouls stop at at least 500 unread books!!
 
I think I will muster up the courage and donate some books to the library. Seems like a sensible and logical thing to do.

Than again, I may just find space in my house and buy more.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

W
 
Waterlily:


I have often succumbed to the same compulsion to buy, and it is usually books, like you. However, I keep them in the bag, with the receipt, in my car and after the compulsive need to purchase has passed, I return them for a refund. I now only buy books for other people, usually my kids, and as gifts for others. We have very limited funds and the guilt I feel over unjustified purchases is enough to send me back to return them.

I now do what Beavs does. I make note of all new titles I'm interested in, whether BOCD or book and get them all out of my library. I have about 300 items out from the lib and it's not a problem for me or with them so everyone is happy!

With your collection, I think in addition to making donations to a cause that can raise money with them, you should start up your own informal lending library with friends and borrow books from them in return. That way, you still get to hold new material in your hands, and some of the stuff you are hoarding actually gets read (!), but you stop spending quite so much money. Just think of the Cathe workouts you could buy with the $ instead!!

Clare
 
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