I don’t always make a new year’s resolution, or if I do it is usually something vague like ‘learn to relax’ (which, one day, I might achieve!) But for 2022 I vowed not to buy any books (with a few caveats, which I’ll mention in a bit)!
Initially, this was a really hard resolution to keep. I’d spent my Christmas pocket money (yes, I still receive that from kind relatives, even into my 30s!) on books before 31st December and then gave myself a stern talking to.
Why this resolution? For a lifelong book lover surely that’s bizarre and unneccesary and unkind to myself? Here were my motives:
- My book shelves were overflowing
- My TBR pile was growing far faster than I could read
- We wanted to save money
I was hoping to save space and money and also read through the books I already had!
So, how did it go? I have so far kept the resolution, with a little less than three months left of the year. I have bought books as gifts, and one or two books I needed for study groups I was in. But apart from that, I have stuck to the resolution!
For the first couple of months, I kept ordering books at the library (they were still doing free reservations!) every time I came across a book I wanted, which for sure was a great way to read books for free, and not clog up my shelves, but still my TBR pile kept growing, and I wasn’t getting through all the great books at home that I wanted to get stuck into! So after a while I did put a stop to that too.
There were, of course, a few must-have books that popped up through the year, one of which I did mostly coerce my husband into buying me when it was our wedding anniversary, but, still, I didn’t actually buy it myself. And I managed to borrow a few books that I was keen to get my hands on, too. So, all in all, this was a succesful resolution, I feel!
The result? I discovered some fantastic books that were sitting on my shelf all along. I enjoyed reading a lot more, without the pressure of a growing stack making me feel like I need to rush through volume after volume. And I enjoyed re-reading some books, too, which I think I wouldn’t have done otherwise, if I had the aforementioned pressure of a growing inventory.
This year has really remindeed me that I love reading, and reading is about READING, not acquiring books (thought, that is fun too, but not when it takes over!)
That said, am I planning exactly how to spend any Christmas money on books? Yes, yes I am.
PS I must confess that this very day I did order three books for myself…. BUT they will be SUPER helpful for my DYCP project (see previous post! Much excitement there!) and I used my grant budget to pay for them, and I’m thinking of them much more as training resources than books. See? No hypocrisy. None at all.
Lose Yourself Books 