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Post by lucie on Dec 31, 2014 3:00:51 GMT -5
All right, I have found a place for those new books, 8 in all and put them on my acqusition book list into the next year - I could have taken them home from work on Friday anyway and it would be next year. One thing I noticed and want to share with other book lovers: I realised that most of my books are young adults, with some for older chidren (like Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons) and not much for adults - the adult fiction would probably fit one shelf - maybe two, if I added my old Silhouette books. The new books are a good example: 2 older childrens (Enid Blyton's Famous Five) 4 young adults (Terry Pratchett's Tiffany) and 2 adults (other Terry Pratchett). And the two I got for Christmas are also young adults (Ranger's Apprentice) I have a lot of adult fiction in my ereader, but at least half of my ebooks are young adult too. Are there any other adult book lovers who like childrens / young adults books and buy them more than adult fiction or am I the only one crazy?
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Post by dtesposito on Feb 5, 2015 16:54:33 GMT -5
I am back to report on January books. I'm glad I decided to continue keeping track of this, because now that my big book purge is done, the numbers from January are creeping up (just by a few books--but still--that's the start--the insidious creeping upwards!). In January 2015 I have gotten rid of 7 trade books, and I've added 14. Now, to be fair, the 14 that I added are here because I discovered while listing sale books that these were not able to be sold--so I'm considering them trading books. So 14 books have not newly entered my house, they have changed category. I also acquired 17 books that were for me. Unusually, only 4 of them were series mysteries. 5 were fiction, and the other 8 were NF. Since I don't have any room left in my NF boxes, this is a bit of a problem. Some of these books, too, were ones not able to be sold but after I examined them they looked really good to me. Prior to do doing these numbers, I only had gotten rid of 6 books of my own--all series mysteries that I decided I would not read. When I saw that I had acquired 17 and only gotten rid of 6, I looked through and found another historical mystery series I will probably never read--consisting of 8 books. So that's 15 out. That brings me to the following: I am UP by 7 trading books and 2 of my own books. Not the direction I want to be going, so I'm going to have to be careful in February to pay more attention and to get rid of more books so that I'm at zero in each category by the end of the month. This is educational--I didn't realize I was getting in so many more and had totally forgotten to get rid of some until I saw the numbers. I think I'm reading more library books right now too, which doesn't make a lot of sense since I have so many books here already. The good thing though, is that--even though I'm requesting these library books because I can't easily find a cheap/trade copy, there are only a few of them that I really would like to OWN. After reading the library copy, I often realize I don't need to own that particular title. Different from in years past. Diane
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Post by dtesposito on Mar 1, 2015 10:56:52 GMT -5
Preliminary report on my books for February:
My books: 13 in, 6 out.
Trading books: 7 in, 31 out.
Since I started the month behind, I'm even more behind in my own books, which means I have to go searching for something to get rid of.
So I'll report back once I get rid of enough to make me even.
Current numbers:
My books: Up by 9
Trading books: Down by 22
Diane
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Post by lucie on Mar 1, 2015 11:11:31 GMT -5
I am glad to hear you are still on track with your books. Congratulations on getting so many trade books out. Great job, Diane.
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Post by fluffychild on Mar 1, 2015 12:55:39 GMT -5
I picked up this week -free - 12 4 inch paint brushes which are really too big for me. I also got a total of 30 6 oz, 30 8oz, and 30 12 oz containers with screw on caps. Should I just put all the paint brushes on my neighbors kitchen counter since he is at work today and I am checking on his dogs. I have used a few of the 8 oz containers for taking food to work. What is a reasonable amount to keep?
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Post by Arid on Mar 1, 2015 14:27:09 GMT -5
lucie: I'm just stopping by to say that I enjoy so-called "juvenile" books as much or more than most "adult" books. However, I have an extensive collection of both!
Arid
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Post by dtesposito on Mar 1, 2015 15:19:51 GMT -5
Thank you lucie, the website I discovered last month helped, you can send your books to people who pay the postage to receive them. I'd rather give them away that way, because I know they're going to someone who requested that specific book.
Fluffychild, are these containers you wash and reuse? If so, just keep a few of each size that you plan to take your lunch in, because you'll be washing them after you eat the lunch and can use them again right away. Yes, give the paintbrushes to someone who'll use them! And maybe the extra containers could go to a charity also--a school could use them for crafts, an animal shelter for supplies or medicines.
Diane
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Post by dtesposito on Mar 2, 2015 16:30:25 GMT -5
I went through some of my nonfiction books and found 8 to get rid of, however, 7 of those are being added to the trading pile for now. So at the end of 2/15 I am at: My books = +1 Trading books = -15 Diane
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Post by hungaryhippo on Mar 28, 2015 15:11:11 GMT -5
Hi Diane - I've just caught up with this thread and I have to say I'm really impressed with the progress you've made. Once again, your journey has mirrored mine to a certain degree and now we're both able to look at our books differently. I used to really worry that a particular book should be kept for a mythical "someone" who might need it in the future, but I'm a great believer in fate and synchronicity and have come to the conclusion that if this "someone" is destined to find a certain book, then it will just happen and in fact by holding a book back I might be interfering in fate - what if they were supposed to find my book in a charity shop but I was keeping it at home just in case?
I've only bought one book recently - it was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which I had to re-buy as I lent it out and never got it back. I'm planning to buy 3 books which I think I'll have to do on Amazon as they're not that common - "Magnificat" by Julian May which is the last book of a trilogy which is itself part of a series of 8 books and the last 2 in the "Worldwar" saga by Harry Turtledove. Then my book collection is "complete" and I plan to buy no more books ever. Drastic, but likely, as there won't be many English language books floating around in Hungary. And I'm cool with that - I'm taking around 40 Stephen Kings, a load of multi-volume sagas and lots of crime fiction and they'll keep me going for a while. If I ever get to the end, I'll just start again - I'll have forgotten whodunit by then.
lucie - I like some childrens' and young adults' fiction myself. A few years ago I treated myself to a boxed set of The Five Find-Outers mysteries by Enid Blyton (I always thought they were way cooler than the Famous Five) and I also have a lovely box set of The Chronicles of Narnia. I used to have more childrens' books and originally struggled to get rid of them as they reminded me of happy childhood times but I've been able to gradually let them go (even "The Adventures of Binkle and Flip" which is probably my all-time fave Blyton book). And I read a brilliant book recently called "Being" about a teenager who wakes up in the middle of an operation and realizes he's made of plastic and wires and stuff and then goes on the run from baddies. It was written for young adults but was as good as any "adult" book.
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Post by dtesposito on Apr 12, 2015 10:11:41 GMT -5
Well, during March I lost track of the trading books. Since I found the second trading site, I've been betting rid of more books, and between moving books from the sale category to trade and trade to donation, etc. etc., I found it was taking more effort to keep track than I feel it's worth. So I don't know what happened trade-wise, although I will say that the number probably increased. I feel better about the trading books though, because they'll definitely get out of here one way or another.
I do want to continue keeping a count on my own books for the rest of the year, I've found it so helpful. So for March, I acquired 12 books--3 nonfiction, 2 series mysteries, and 7 fiction. I got rid of 29, almost all series mysteries that I decided not to read. So for my books I was 17 ahead, and since I was +1 last month, I am now -16 for the year. That's good, because so far for April I have acquired more than I've gotten rid of.
Diane
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Post by dtesposito on Apr 12, 2015 10:15:56 GMT -5
HH, you've done really well with letting things go. I know it has to be scary thinking of going somewhere with no English books--but I'm guessing that as time goes by, you'll be getting better at speaking Hungarian, or whatever you'll need to speak to live in Hungary--so you'll eventually be able to get books! Plus prices have to come down eventually on e-books, I think they're ridiculously high considering there's no printing, manufacturing, freight or end-point physical store costs involved!
Diane
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Post by lucie on Apr 12, 2015 10:58:28 GMT -5
Hungary Hippo, you might be surprised to find there will be english books available in Hungary - maybe not the latest bestsellers, but the classics will be - at least in the libraries.
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Post by dtesposito on May 19, 2015 16:55:29 GMT -5
Am finally doing my April update. I took in too many books in April (which seems to be continuing so far into May) so I'm making a big effort to get a lot out. I've now gone through half of my series mystery books, and was able to admit that I would not be reading many of them, so I'm letting them go. As a result, my totals for April are good: I took in 21 (8 series mystery, 8 general fiction, and 4 nonfiction) and I got rid of 33 (28 series mystery, 5 general fiction). So total for April is -12, and since I started with -16, I'm now minus 28! If I keep up with the incoming though, that will change, so I have to either slow the incoming or else keep going with the outgoing. I still have half my series mysteries to go through, hopefully I'll keep finding more to get rid of. I need to read faster too.... Diane
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Post by dtesposito on Jan 2, 2016 19:08:50 GMT -5
Wow, the last month I reported for this was April! I'm still keeping track in my little notebook, but just haven't gotten any totals. I'm afraid of what the final result will be, because at the beginning I was really getting rid of a lot of my own personal books so I was ahead, but the last few months I started flipping the results, taking in more than getting out. So I'm interested to see the final result for the year.
Anyway, so far I've totalled:
May - 10 in (8 series mysteries, 2 fiction) and 28 out
Started at minus 28, plus 18 more gone, so I'm at minus 46 books.
June - 13 in (5 series mysteries, 7 fiction, 1 NF) and 15 out
Started at minus 46, now at minus 48
July - 12 in (4 series mysteries, 1 series fiction, 3 fiction, 4 NF) and 16 out
Started at minus 48, now at minus 52
So, pretty good so far, the number out keeps going up!
Diane
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Post by dtesposito on Jan 2, 2016 19:21:17 GMT -5
Well, I'm going to be fine--I forgot that in August I did a big purge of my boxes of series mysteries, and got rid of 84 books in one month, so I'll have no problem ending the year ahead. I'll finish the rest of the totals later.
Diane
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