The many justifications for buying books

It’s actually quite rare for me to buy books new. Honest.

New to me from a second hand shop – sure. New as a gift from a friend or family member – definitely. New as a gift for my son or daughter or other lucky friend / family member who loves books – yep yep yep.

But shiny new books bought by me and for me is a lure I try very hard to ignore. After all, my shelves currently look a bit like this:

Not exactly crying out for more books, are they?

Somehow buying new books to weigh down those groaning planks seems naughtier than grabbing some pre-loved treats, probably because I’m an environmentalist at heart and know it’s better to borrow or buy second hand than to buy new (which is one of the reasons I love being given second hand books). Though of course, if no-one ever bought new, the whole publishing industry would be in tatters.

No. More. Books

Over the years I have tried repeatedly to save my poor shelves by establishing a book shopping embargo. No. More. Books. I tell myself sternly. And sometimes, sometimes, I manage to survive a whole month before folding.

 

Then the excuses start.

Look! My library is selling some old stock super-cheap! I’ll only get a couple. (My library tend to sell fiction books for 25p each AND BOGOF, so obviously you’d be daft to choose just one book.) I’ll be supporting my local library (a very worthy cause) and I’ll be helping them reclaim valuable space for new books. Whoo hoo.

Then I’ll casually wander into Oxfam Books, just to kill some time, not to shop. But – look! I’ve had that book on my wish-list forever and no-one’s bought me it…might as well grab it while it’s here. And while I’m here, that looks quite interesting over there…

No New Books

So I decide that really my strategy is No New Books and second hand is ok. (There is no real rationale for this change, other than my inability to stop buying books for more than about a month.)

But then… Buying books from my local independent bookshop is essential – I’d hate for them to have to close. (And, obviously, my custom is going to be the difference between a healthy profit margin and forced redundancy. I can just picture the owners quietly sobbing as they turn the sign to “closed” for the last time. “If only that blonde woman with the two cute children had shopped here more often and not relied so much upon second-hand reading materials.”)

And if I’m visiting a friend who knows I love books…and they take me to their favourite local bookshop…well it’d be rude not to buy a book or, ehm, three.

Or if I’m on holiday and there’s a lovely bookshop that I’ll never get a chance to visit again… Well, it’s hardly their fault that my study could already sustain itself as a small to medium lending library, is it?

Even the chains occasionally draw me in, usually only to browse, but I have my justifications ready there too. (AMAZON. Simple. Gotta support all physical bookshops if they’re going to survive.)

Usually I’ll just wander round Waterstones, taking sneaky pictures of books I want to buy or swiftly tapping their titles into the notes file on my phone, then slink out the exit, feeling vaguely proud that I DIDN’T FOLD. I didn’t buy a book. I am not a book-buying addict but a discerning and sensible adult who sometimes buys books through a rational, logical process. So there.

Adult browsing

Turns out, I might have been giving too much credit to my self-control. Apparently, if let loose in a bookshop WITHOUT SMALL CHILDREN being all cute and attention gathering and in constant need of feeding / changing / cuddling / entertaining, I have not forgotten how to shop.

(Admittedly, this became clear last month in Hay-on-Wye, but that was Hay, book town extraordinaire. This was just regular Reading shopping. Totally different and much less justifiable.)

Having time to properly browse the racks (i.e. browsing without having to periodically use up part of my valuable attention span to snap “don’t hit your sister!”) meant I came home with these two interesting looking books:

 

A mere three weeks later and I have my justification sorted: I’ve already read ‘The Bees’ so obviously these books were just too appealing to resist and thereby jumped to the top of my TBR pile, bypassing all the sad, waiting hopefuls at home.

 

Although it’s not strictly speaking true, because next I’m planning to finish reading this:

I started reading this a couple of months ago and was loving it, but put it down to pursue two books I was enjoying far less but which had deadlines for completion.

But I read ‘The Bees’, which was very very good, so it’s all fine. Hmm.

Purchasing strategies

Are you a book hoarder collector like me? Or do you operate a strict one-in one-out policy? (I swear my husband sometimes dreams about me adopting the latter approach. Poor love.) Do you sensibly read your most recent additions prior to gathering more? Maybe you’re all about e-readers or libraries and bypass the tottering pile of TBR issue altogether?

Do let me know, then maybe I can gather evidence that my book hoarding collecting is evidence of a complete lack of self-control totally acceptable and normal behaviour. Or maybe not…