This week’s Booking Through Thursday question was suggested by Mariel: Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?
Of course I have a stack of books waiting to be read. Still, most of these books I didn’t buy. I may have swapped them, or borrowed them, or received them as review copies. If I actually bought them, most likely they pertain to my primary long-term reading challenge. I don’t know that I actually wait until I’ve run out of things to read before buying more. However, I don’t spend much money at all on books, so it’s hard for me to call my book-buying actions gluttony.
What about you? Could your book-buying habits be called a deadly sin?










12 comments
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May 14, 2009 at 7:38 am
gautami tripathy
Going through various responses, I find you are the only one who is not a book glutton! A refreshing change, I say!
Book gluttons, are we?
May 14, 2009 at 7:52 am
Mrs. Chili
” Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them?”
Doesn’t EVERYONE!?
If we’re rating the seven deadly sins in terms of books, then I’m going STRAIGHT to hell on well-deserved charges of both gluttony and envy…
May 14, 2009 at 8:12 am
Alexia
My book borrowing habit could definitly be considered gluttony
I take out way more books than I could ever get through in the alloted 3-week period!
May 14, 2009 at 8:17 am
Vasilly
I had to laugh at Ms. Chili’s comment. I buy a lot of books. I used to get anxious with my book-buying habit but now I’m not. As long as I do things in moderation I’m okay.
May 14, 2009 at 9:00 am
wordlily
Definitely. Moderation is the key.
May 14, 2009 at 8:54 am
Devourer of Books
I get my books mostly the same ways you do. When I actually purchase something it is probably at a library sale, Half Price Books, or with a gift card (unless I’m stuck somewhere without anything to read, then I will pay full price to avert the bibliomergency). However, I still consider it to be book gluttony when I get enough review copies that I’m worried about them falling off the shelf and onto me, or when each week I get more books at the library than I could read in the whole three week check out time, even if I didn’t have a huge review pile.
May 14, 2009 at 9:00 am
wordlily
Yeah, I can see that. I just don’t think my stacks are that towering. They haven’t threatened to fall on anyone yet.
I’m pretty good about not requesting/accepting too many review books. I’m always amazed at your stacks from the library!
May 14, 2009 at 11:50 am
Melissa - Shhh I'm Reading
I don’t buy many books, but I swap a ton. And I figure these postage costs are basically buying them…I also love FOL sales. I can’t resist cheap books!
May 14, 2009 at 12:38 pm
bermudaonion
I am definitely a book glutton. I would rather buy books than other things.
May 14, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Matthew
Proud to be a glutton, but I try not to buy. I grab the ones that I’m most desperate to read and leave the rest on a list.
May 14, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Natasha @ Maw Books
Oh, yes. It’s a deadly sin. But I rarely buy new, I must admit. I’m a big thrift store shopper. I can come away with a dozen books easy every time I visit.
May 19, 2009 at 11:01 am
Organic Mama
It’s utterly ridiculous how many books I have binged on buying and have never read. I am a huge book glutton!! It’s almost as if I should commit the time to read it RIGHT THEN or not buy it.