I’m planning on doing a bookshelf tour since my parents bought me a new bookcase a few days ago and while I was organizing my books, I discovered/realized a really annoying bookish habit of mine that particularly drains all my money away.
I mostly books with gorgeous covers. Yeah, I might have seen the negative reviews for that book on goodreads or heard people talking about the not-so good things about it on twitter, but hey, who knows, maybe I’ll like it. (95% of the time, that sadly doesn’t happen.) Sometimes, I know absolutely nothing about the book but I have to get it because I can just stare at the cover all day. Books with gorgeous covers are my weakness.
Anyways, onwards to my problem. Like I said above, I buy a lot of books with gorgeous covers and most of those books I buy are the first book in trilogies. (Seriously, what’s with all series being trilogies these days? I get so shocked when I hear a series is either a duology or a six-book series nowadays because I always expect them to be trilogies.) When I finally get the chance to read the gorgeous books I buy, which again are mostly the first book in trilogies, I usually don’t enjoy reading the book and by then, it’s too late for me to return the book. Plus, I almost always lose my receipts. Yeah, it’s a recipe for disaster.
But that’s not all.
Here’s my horrible annoying bookish habit: I have to own an entire book series if I own one, two, or even three book(s) in the series. Like, I absolutely have to. I can’t stress this enough. If I have an incomplete series on my shelf where all the books in the series are released or the latest book is released and it’s not on my shelf, I die a little inside every time I look at my shelves.
So even when I’m trying to control my book spending, in the end I buy the latest book in the series so it looks good on my bookshelf. It’s a serious horrible habit of mine that drains away my money for books I’m sure I’m not going to like.
I’ve thought of two maybe solutions for this problem and hopefully they’ll help me with my problem. If you have any ideas, feel free to tell me!
Do you have any of these annoying money-consuming book habits that I have? How do you deal with them? Or am I the only weird one here?
If I have an incomplete series on my shelf where all the books in the series are released or the latest book is released and it’s not on my shelf, I die a little inside every time I look at my shelves.
GIRL. Preach. I even get annoyed when I have part of a series in paperback & some in hardcover. AND THEN sometimes they release new covers of books I love – like the Harry Potter series. And I feel compelled to buy the new ones too, even though I really don’t have that kind of money to spend.
I usually deal with them by…not dealing with them :x My boyfriend is also a book hoarder, so we’ve just given in to dying one day after our bookshelves, crammed full of books, fall on us.
Amanda recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Characters I’d NEVER Want To Trade Places With
YES. HIGH FIVE.
Ugh, I hate when that happens. I swear, publishers know how to make us spend our money!
Aww, that is so awesome to have a boyfriend that also loves books! And ha ha, I can totally picture that happening. Thank goodness that hasn’t happened to me yet. ;D
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [70]
I’m really glad I don’t have that issue. I rarely buy books and use the library a lot so that controls my book spending. I think you really need to start doing more research before you buy a book. Also another thing could be setting a spending limit for each time you go to the bookstore. Say you are only allowed to go to the bookstore 2 times a month and you only can spend $50 each time you go. This way you can’t get that many books. Even better that you are only allowed to go to the bookstore when you have a coupon. For example we had a 20% off coupon in December to Barnes and Noble if we bought 2 books.
Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages recently posted…January Monthly Wrap Up 2014
I also totally buy books with pretty covers all the time! It’s impossible to resist! I do like having the whole series if I have one of the books, but I manage to resist if I don’t like the series and don’t really want to read the rest of the books!
Nadia @ Nadia Reads recently posted…Top 10 Books that Will Make you Cry
One thing that is expensive for me is that I have to have hardcovers. Especially if I start out buying hardcovers, I cannot switch to paperback. Just cannot.
Ashley recently posted…{Review} Her Royal Bodyguard by Natasha Moore
The easiest solution I can think of? When you don’t like the first book, get rid of it! Donate it, give it away, sell it. Is that overly simplistic? I figure, if you don’t have the first, you won’t be tempted to buy more.
I’m OK with having an incomplete series on my shelf. It’s pretty frequent for me, since I get a lot of books from the library, on Kindle, or as e-ARCs. In a perfect world of unlimited money and space, I would love to flesh out my shelves with full sets of series, but it’s really not feasible for me.
I do like pretty covers, but what I’m enjoying even more lately is pretty page edges. Like the Penguin Horror Classics that have black page edges, or the B&N Collectibles that have gold/silver/other colored edges.
Stephanie @ Inspiring Insomnia recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday # 40: Books That Will Make You Cry
I have this same habit with gorgeous covers – my latest obsession is Plus One by Elizabeth Fama. I don’t even know if it’s good, but I know that I just HAVE to buy it because the cover is drop dead beautiful. It’s even the screensaver for my phone now!
Maybe if you know you don’t like the first book in a series, get rid of it before the rest come out, that way there’s not a book missing it’s partner, and you don’t spend money on a series you don’t even like. And then there’s always the old self-control thing… but who has that?? Not I!
Kayla @ The Thousand Lives recently posted…I’m Back!
I have this issue SOMETIMES. I’ve actually been trying to straw away from buying books in series recently because of this awful habit. But I will occasionally decide to buy all of the books in a series if it’s a series that I’m like 95% sure that I’m going to like, based on reviews from people that I trust. I don’t have the “buying pretty covers” problem, though. Although it’s certainly not a bad thing! I like it when my books look all pretty on the shelves. But I think that I’m not obsessed about that because, when they’re on the shelf, all you can see is the spine. I’m probably more picky about the height of the books actually. I like it when they look all uniform :)
Miranda @ Tempest Books recently posted…Books That Made Me Cry {Top Ten Tuesday}
I feel like I’m the only person who doesn’t suffer this problem because I rarely ever buy books (in fact that last books I bought were Christmas presents for my friends) and if I do I only buy books I know I can’t get at my library or really, really want to read otherwise. I definitely always love having a pretty cover on my shelf, though. But if you don’t like the book, you can always donate that book or give it away so it’s no longer on your shelf and you’re not obligated to finish the series anymore because the first book isn’t on your shelf anymore! Haha maybe not but it’s an idea. I hope your solutions work out though! <33
Eileen @ Singing and Reading in the Rain recently posted…Tuney Tuesday: The Monster by Eminem ft. Rihanna
I think my all around habit for books is excessively buying them. I mean, I already have a good 10-20 books that I have on my shelves and I need to read…and yet I still buy more! It’s bad. Before I found the online book community, I would buy a book, read it, then buy another (or get it at the library). And now I just buy and buy and buy and buy until I have no more money. Then a week or two later I’ll have money again…and I’ll just buy some more books.
It’s a problem. :$
You are definitely not alone! Haha. I think the only thing that stops my crazy book-buying is the fact that I have no way to get to a bookstore unless my parents take me and my parents are very critical of how many books I buy. I got away with it over the last couple months, but I won’t be able to get anything until my birthday- which is in April.
I totally get why pretty covers are your weakness. Hell, they’re mine, too. But because I know this, I’m always wary. When I can never get more than 3 or 4 books every few months – you get really picky about what you spend your money on. So I settle for stuff I’ve had my eye on.
As for completing a series – it’s a problem I can’t have. I WANT to finish my series off so badly. But I have neither the space or the money. Exmaples: I don’t have the first two VA books, or the first two Bloodlines books. I only bought the first of the Maximum Ride series. But for the most part, if I buy the first book and love it- I must have the rest. VA and Bloodlines were flukes because I borrowed them from the library first and then decided I loved them and started buying them when they released.
So yeah.
I can’t really think of any solution other than – narrow it down. Tell yourself you can only have ONE or the OTHER. And if you don’t like the first book – giveaway before the next one comes out! ;D
Joanna V recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday
I do the thing where I buy books that people on Twitter love. Doesn’t matter if it’s a genre I hate – if it’s massively hyped on Twitter, I’ll want to buy it!
I don’t really have a solution, though, apart from self-control…which I don’t even have in the first place :P
Emily Mead recently posted…Loony’s Musings (1): Back to School
I really dislike when my books in a series don’t match. For example: I have the Dutch Harry Potter series, half is in hard cover, half is in paperback. I bought them all second hand on the market. But I will in the future get all the paperbacks or all the hardcovers and the others I will probably give away or sell them. Also I just have the Order of the Phoenix in English, I do not own the rest of them.
I have Wither, in Paperback and I have Fever in another paperback that looks completely different to Wither. This bothers me more than it should. But Fever was cheap and Wither was cheap, so I can live with it. I’ll see what version of Sever I’ll buy and then I’ll change Wither or Fever.
I do have series that I really liked, but I only own half, this is just because I don’t have the money to buy anything else. I have a cant-spend problem: I can’t spend more than 10 euros a month. (results into buy around 3 secondhand books every month).
Sandra @Sandra’s World of Books recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #9
I definitely by books based of gorgeous covers alone. Oh gosh, I was 100% in love with the covers of Alienated and These Broken Stars! I wanted them on cover alone!!! (And TBS turned out awesome, so that was fine. I haven’t read Alienated yet.) I kind of don’t have money to have book-buying habits…but my shelves are full of 2nd books in series because I get given ARCs for them but not the firsts. >_<
Cait @ Notebook Sisters recently posted…Cress (by Marissa Meyer) Is Beyond Brilliant + GIVEAWAY
Well, you’re well on your way to achieving the state of I’m-always-broke ha ha.
I can understand you, though. It’s not as err intense of an issue with me but my bookish heart wants all to own all the books in the series. However, as I read more and more eBooks, this turns into a need to have all the books in the series that I love like Throne of Glass series.
I’ve also started this habit where I just buy eBooks first of books I’m not sure I’ll love. That also helps a bit.
But one day I want to own all the books in a home library so just what am I even doing with my life buying eBooks? Sigh.
P.S. So yeah, you’re not the only weird one here. Ha ha.
Sana @ artsy musings of a bibliophile recently posted…Monotypes vs Monoprints: Of Absent Mothers and Female Bildungsroman
I definitely get what you mean! It bothers me so much when I don’t have a complete series or even when my books in the same series are different heights.(!!!!!!!!!!)
Julie recently posted…How do you organize your bookshelves?
If I really didn’t like the book in the series, I usually give the book away – I’m down a pretty book, but then I’m not compelled to continue buying the rest of the series!
But it does bother me when I’ve got a mis-matched series; whether the covers changed halfway through, or maybe I have some in hardback and some in paperback. Usually I’m ok to just suffer through it, but every once in a while I slip. Fortunately, it’s not too often! Haha
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I used to do that with a series. In fact, I used to stop after book 1 until I’d bought every book in that series (in theory, to then be able to read them all, back to back…which I think happened….never). It wasted a LOT of money. Now I’m actually so far below poverty I only get my books from the library (or gifted from other people). I’m saving a lot now! ;)
Maybe I can resist the lure of a pretty cover because I’m in marketing? There are some GORGEOUS ones out there (and sadly, the reverse- good books from small press with horrid and amateur-ish covers).
Beth W recently posted…Books ‘n’ Bloggers Swap Showoff
I don’t judge books by covers so it’s not an issue. Mostly if I like the blurb content of the book then only I buy it and whenits available in my country or on sale. I do get crazy shopping done when books are on sale. And yes even I like to have the complete series. But if I didn’t like the first one I don’t buy books in that series. Mostly books that I own are the ones that I am pretty sure I will be reading again and again. I am not into donating books but if I don’t like the book that I have bought then I donate it to the Library so that others can have the benefit of reading that book! I too am on not really a book ban schedule because I can’t resist buying books ! But as of yet I got only one book this month !! Hopefully you are faring better than me on your book buying ban !
Gayatri recently posted…Teaser Tuesdays #1
That’s me, too! I’m a sucker for beautiful covers so yeah, I’ll buy a book without knowing what it’s about. One thing that bugs me also is that now, I have the sudden urge to get all of my paperback books into hardbacks. I just hate how paperbacks have different sizes. It’s really annoying me right now. I don’t even want to look at my bookshelf until all those paperbacks are gone and are replaced with hardbacks. xD I also hate it when I have a book in a hardback and then the sequel as an ebook. That bugs me SO much! I’m planning on donating it in my school or giving the books to my friends.
Leigh @ Little Book Star recently posted…Review: Avalon (Avalon #1) by Mindee Arnett
Gahh me too!! Okay, so if it’s a first in a series and I end up not liking the first book, I just won’t bother getting the rest but, if I have the first or second books in a series and I love the series, then I need to complete the series on my shelves. (example: I had copies of 1,4,5 of VA – duh I need the others, and I want the old covers so they’ll match) Also, if I have the first book in a series on my kindle, I dion’t want to but the sequels in physical copies because then it’d just be like book 2 on my shelf while book 1 is on my kindle. if it starts off on my kindle, i’ll usually go the ebook route with the series — UNLESS it ends up being one of my all time faves, in which case I need the physical copy. I tend to do physical copies of my favorites. I totally understand you!! I mean, I’ve read all the VA books now but over Christmas I went and bought 2 and 3 because I have to complete the series! but that’s a series I’d reread so it’s worth it. :)
Wendy @ Book Scents recently posted…Book Bangin’ – Sci-Fi Boys!
Wow, that’s too funny! I used to buy whole series that I really wanted to read if they were cheap enough, but I got burned a couple of times (um, I bought the first 8 books in the Sookie Stackhouse series and hated the first book) so I don’t do it anymore. I am a sucker for a pretty cover, though! I’ve bought quite a few books just for the cover and it backfired >.< Sweet Evil and Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea are two of the biggest ones!
Jessi @ Novel Heartbeat recently posted…Review: Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott
I can totally relate! It doesn’t sit well with me either when I’ve incomplete series. Although, I try to only buy series that I think I might like. Once in a while I even end up buying all the books (in a trilogy) at one shot if they’ve all been published. Doesn’t matter then if I’ve already read the first book or not. If I’m unsure though, I prefer to borrow the library books or buying the Kindle editions when they are on sale. That has saved me quite a lot, I should think. Although, when a series has over ten books, then I’m ok if I only own the first few books.
Joséphine @ Dudette Reads recently posted…On Writing in Books
I can totally relate! I have a love/hate relationship with pretty book covers! I would carry them around with me at the bookstore in hopes that I can talk myself out of buying them. That doesn’t help at all, if anything I pick up more books. Then I stand there and pick the ones with the covers that I like the most and promise the others that I will be back some day for them. And don’t get me on the series! Yes, I must have all of them too!! Doesn’t matter if I dislike the first one.
Yes yes YES!!! This is all me! I just bought the entire Grisha Trilogy set without ever bothering to read a synopsis, only for their covers! Granted I have heard they were highly spoken of, but still. I need to be saving money, and instead this whole month I must have spent at most $200 on books… They were mostly eBay wins, so some were great deals. Most of them were also to complete my series, like the Eragon/Inheritance saga, which I did not care to continue after Eldest, but looking at how sad the two books looked on the shelf without the last two made me anxious so I got them to complete the series. *sigh* I need help.