First, let me preface this by saying I am sleep deprived because of a day job production database situation that kept me up and tense for about 10 hours Sunday afternoon through about 2:00am Monday. So the brain is a bit mushy. Things came right in the end, but it was scary bad for a while.
Anyway.
It seems to be the case that when I buy books, physical reference books in particular, eventually, I run out of places to put them. My stacks are out of control. In fact, they no longer resemble stacks. Instead, they slid around like there’s a layer of jelly between them.
If I go higher, someone, probably me, is going to get hurt.
If I go wider, someone, probably me, is going to fall down in the attempt to find floor space for my feet.
So I have had to get mean.
Yes.
REALLY mean. Meaner than that Spartan cat.
I have begun to throw away books. Paper books. In my TBR. Book I bought and wanted to read. I loaned my copy of Wise Man’s Fear (a behemoth) to someone and told the loanee to take his time because when I do have time to read the book myself, I will buy it for Kindle. I just don’t do big books in paper anymore. Sorry.
Big Freaking Hardback Fantasy vs. iPad3?
The ipad3 wins. The iPad3 wins in just about every category actually.
The substructure beneath my TBR has begun to emerge.
My GOD!!!! There’s a floor here!!!!
I have found other things, too. Like, my copy of Thieves Kitchen, the Regency Underworld. I’ve been wondering where that went. People, there was a LOT of crime in the Regency.
Until such time as an eBook can adequately display the contents of some of the great, image-heavy reference books, I won’t be giving up my reference library. I suspect none of those reference books are making it to digital anytime soon.
Shame that, because eventually the presentation for books like that will be BETTER than paper. (video, color, 3-D image rendering. — Imagine if your fashion book showed you a 360 of that gown and zoomed in on the details, or showed a person wearing it, not a mannequin but a person. THAT would be awesome. I can’t wait.)
My TBR I’m afraid, is physical toast. It’s going digital.
My Questions to You
- How close are you to going nuclear with your physical TBR?
- What’s in it?
- What’s a book you’re dying to read but haven’t yet?
- What’s the best book you’ve read lately?
Next week, Crime?
P.S. Whichever Risky was nice enough to put the cover of Not Wicked Enough in the right-hand column over there ——>
Thank you. That was really nice.
First, I do most of my reading courtesy the public library, and I have never been unable to get something I wanted to read. I only buy books that I liked so much I will want to reread them or books by the half-dozen authors I feel certain will be rewarding. That makes the storage problem much simpler.
I have an ereader, but I do not enjoy reading on it. I find it physically and aesthetically unpleasant. The only books I have on it were free or cost less than 1.99. It’s useful for trips, but I no longer have to commute so it is rarely necessary.
As for research books, I can’t see myself ever preferring them on an ereader. It’s too much of a hassle trying to find the passage you want, or going back to check on something. Paper and stickies forever!
We moved in with grandpa (so he could stay in his house) over a year ago and that’s when I set most of my paper books free. Ironically, I am now buying used titles of books that I want to have in physical form. Prices are good right now and I figure they’ll go back up when print books become more rare. If you don’t hear from me, I’m under the books. We really don’t have room.
I have a Nook color, and I think it’s great for magazines and stuff (no more magazine piles!) but I want to get a simple e-ink Kindle for reading.
I am doing the same sort of thing–getting almost all novels I want to read on my Kindle and only buying (and keeping!) research books. I am hoping it will help clear out this house before I get crushed by the teetering piles of volumes 🙂
Me, too!
Actually, I’ve preferred ebooks for a long time. I get frustrated if a book I want is not available for my Kindle.
I even prefer my research books on the Kindle, but those are few and far between.
My “book room” is in desperate need of a decluttering. I’m getting that springtime need to clean…
I’m currently reading Henrietta Temple A Love Story by Benjamin Disraeli, because some of my research indicated that it has a description of a gaming hell in it. This is one of the advantages of ebooks – I got this one for free! The print version would have cost me $11.
I do have an e-Reader and I enjoy those books I buy for it – primarily books that only come in e-form.
However, my paper books and I will in all likelihood live and die together. I have bookshelves all over the house and it is very much like living with all of my oldest and dearest friends. The best part is, I don’t have to feed them, entertain them or clean up after them.
I guess my niece and nephews can turn this place into a museum once I’m gone as everyone seems to think paper books are destined to disappear completely from the earth like the dinosaurs. Pity.
Um, been there, already done that? I switched to eBook only for fiction a couple years ago and I’m never going back!
I passed nuclear a long time ago. I just can’t stop buying books. I have over 40 double stacked bookcases and enough books in boxes and piles to fill them again. Some are reference type books of topics I am interested in or I got when the children were in school, before computers. I collect old books. I collect children’s books. I collect cookbooks. There is so much I want to read. I have found myself putting aside the books I really want to read and picking up the random, quickie reads so I can get rid of the book.
My husband has encouraged me to get an e-reader. He is tired of tripping over boxes and piles of books. I can’t get to much of my other stuff because books are in the way.
I like having the physical link with the suthor and characters. That said I Iknow I will have an e=re