In which I announce a goal …

Posted on April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 by Luther M. Siler

… one which I’m never, EVER gonna pull off.

My unread shelf has been out of control for months (pictured: not my unread shelf) and I have noticed I’ve begun stress-buying things lately; witness my investment in AirPods yesterday and the obscene amount of money I’ve poured into dice in the last week. I have, even considering how fast I read and the fact that I’m not currently leaving the house, far more unread books than I really should have right now.

In the interests of keeping my bank account solvent and my shelves from collapsing, to say nothing of the health of the people working in Amazon’s warehouses, I have decided I’m going to do my damnedest to not order any more books until I have cleared my unread shelf. I do have one currently in transit that I pre-ordered months ago (Daniel M. Ford’s Cheap Heat, out this week and ordered by me in December) but I’m not ordering anything new until my resolve breaks or I clear the shelf. I think it will be the second time in my adult life I have managed to do such a thing.

How long until I break this resolution, do you think?

12:00 PM, Tuesday, April 28: 990,135 confirmed cases and 56,475 Americans dead.

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Luther M. Siler

Teacher, writer of words, and local curmudgeon. Enthusiastically profane. Occasionally hostile. View all posts by Luther M. Siler

8 thoughts on “In which I announce a goal …”

hilarycustancegreen April 28, 202012:01 PM

I have made inroads on my shelf in the last few weeks, but I think purchases have equalled books finally read. Still it feels good. Good luck.

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1. Luther M. Siler April 28, 202012:10 PM
  
  Yeah, everything on the shelf is at least a reasonably recent purchase, but the number of books hasn’t gone down any. Same.
  
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Dragnfli April 28, 202012:59 PM

I’ve been doing the opposite, going through and selecting books to get rid of. I’ve cleared several shelves. The only problem right now is getting them out of the house. Half Price Books is closed.

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1. Luther M. Siler April 28, 20201:10 PM
  
  I took four or five banker’s boxes full of books into the basement in January. Anything I haven’t gone back to look for by next January gets donated.
  
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  1. Dragnfli April 28, 20201:13 PM
    
    I live in Texas, I don’t have a basement. Garage isn’t an option either, it already has 2 kayaks, a very large motorcycle, a small scooter, assorted thins to go with those and my Xterra.
    I know where there’s a couple of Little Free Libraries and I may go make a deposit.
    
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Elisabeth April 28, 20208:41 PM

Good luck. I’m actually developing a book-buying habit. The possibility of a world without Powell’s Books is not worth contemplating, and so I buy brand new releases at cover price, that in another age I would have borrowed from the library & picked up used later if I really liked them.
(“The City We Became” is a particularly worthy investment – I’ll be reading that forever.)

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Jessica May 1, 20206:43 AM

Hey Luther, have you read Robin Hobb? I tried to find out via your goodreads page but your authors weren’t in a convenient alphabetical order. J

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1. Luther M. Siler May 1, 20207:56 AM
  
  I feel like I started one book many years ago but I don’t know that I finished it,
  
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