New Years Resolution: Read what I’ve got
Posted on: December 8, 2010
like many of you, I own a ton of books (OK, there’s at least one you that makes my collection look like piddly nothing). How many? I have no idea. My guess is in the range of 700, of which 500 or so are fiction.
the big question is how many of the fiction titles that I own have I actually read?
the plan: index my library (or at least all the fiction titles) and figure how much of it i’ve actually read.
My New Years Resolution (and blog goal!) of 2011 to focus on reading the titles I already own. 2010 was a fine year, a great year, but I spent way, way, way too much money on new books. like two car payments worth. 2011 needs to be a little less materialistic, a little more frugal. A little less Kazoo Books and Dawn Treader, a little more personal and public Library.
will there be newly published books bought? of course there will. I already have a short list of “must haves” for 2011 – Rothfuss, Martin, Lynch, Yazawa, a few others.
Over the next little while I’ll be indexing my library to see what I’ve got and what I’ve read, hopefully to have the results posted right around the new year.
15 Responses to "New Years Resolution: Read what I’ve got"
December 8, 2010 at 10:17 am
I was talking to another blogging friend about this last week. If I do a quick and dirty survey of the stacks of unread books in my room, and on the shelves, and average a week reading each one (obviously some take less), then I have at least a year’s worth of reading already in my house. More if I count the classic literature (Shakespeare, Marlowe, Dickens, Melville, etc.).
And that’s just fiction. Tack on another eight months of non-stop reading for the non-fiction.
So my only resolution for 2011 is to read what I have and/or going to the library, only rarely buying new books.
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December 8, 2010 at 11:08 am
I have a growing pile of books that I want to read. Finding the time to read them is becoming increasingly more difficult.
I think I need to put a moratorium on the purchase of new books until I cut down on the stack.
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December 8, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Ah yes, I should do that too. I probably have several years of reading on my shelves. I never seem to catch up. A new book comes along or a library sale, my downfall, and more books arrive.
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December 8, 2010 at 5:17 pm
aahh, good plan! I completely ignore most of the tbr books on my bookshelf for new shiny things. I just accumulate them for later reading haha.
though I don’t have quite that many books… 
anyway. excellent resolution! best of luck with it XD
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December 8, 2010 at 6:19 pm
I keep trying to tell myself not to buy any new books until I can knock a decent hole in the TBR pile, but it just seems to keep on growing. It’ll take over the house soon.
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December 9, 2010 at 9:19 am
Mine HAS taken over the apartment is one of the problems. I keep buying wonderful stuff, and it never gets read because more wonderful stuff gets bought, that never gets read. . it’s a vicious cycle made worse by the fact that I’m a book blogger and everyday I read about more books that I want!
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December 9, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Good, good plan. I started the year wanting to read more books from the library, buy less, and read more of what I bought rather than just adding it to the pile of TBR books. I’ve done fairly well with the goals, and reading more of the books I own is a great next step.
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December 9, 2010 at 9:54 pm
oops, that last one was me. Hands of Glory is my FF league site. Forgot to change my log in.
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December 9, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I have a standing policy to never buy a book I haven’t read (barring a few authors I know I can trust), and the library is my best friend…and I still spent a few months earlier this year digging my way through my pile of unread books. I managed to write down all the books I hadn’t read and force myself to not go to the library until I–nearly–finished it.
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December 10, 2010 at 9:02 am
Carl – hey no problem. 🙂
Cheryl – I used to follow that same rule. then I befriended the guys at the indie bookstore, then i got a slightly better paying job with better hours (more time to read!), then I got addicted to manga. . . it was a downward spiral. and the final nail in the coffin? i started a book blog, and following other people’s book blogs, so i suddenly was tempted by a billion books!
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[…] my New Years resolution is to read what I’ve got, that’s not to say there aren’t some 2011 releases that I am eagerly and anxiously […]
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December 16, 2010 at 8:52 am
This is a great resolution, and one I’m going to repeat for myself (starting with Kavalier and Clay)!
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[…] an effort to read what I’ve got next year, I finished catalogued all the books I own! Ok, I catalogued all the fiction, I cheated […]
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the Little Red Reviewer 
December 8, 2010 at 9:16 am
I keep telling myself to make the same resolution. I probably have at least 150 fantasy books on my shelf I haven’t read. Plus I buy a book in hardcover, then buy the mmpb. That really needs to stop (and mostly has). Now I buy the hc and the ebook 🙂 And while I would like to just read books I own, I am doing most of my reading on my nook color, which means I still have to buy books I want to read (I don’t have a big stockpile of unread ebooks).
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