My pattern:
I hear about a wonderful book.
I desperately search my library catalogs for the book.
It's not available.
I comb through the used book sites for a bargain.
It's only for sale at full price.
I hunger to read that book. I click the purchase button.
Every day I scan my mail notifications. When will my book arrive?
I wait and wait. It takes a week, sometimes two weeks, to make it to my house.
It's here! I go to the mailbox, and rush inside to open the package.
I set the book at the top of my to-read stack. I do not start it.
I move the book to my under-the-bed stack. I do not start it.
I shift the book to my book closet. I do not start it.
The fire in me is now embers. And then ashes.
The book is pushed to the back, to the bottom of the book closet.
I see it several years later. I think about putting it out in my Little Free Library.
Sigh.
I confess to never doing this. When the book I wanted arrives I attack it like a hungry many devours his first meal in days.
ReplyDeleteThis is too funny and relatable.
ReplyDeleteI have done that...I lie, I still do that! But I will say I have tempered my impulsive purchases and now add it to Goodreads and make a note of that title in my little notepad that I keep near me. A few days later I look at the titles again and then many times just pass on it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started working and had money for books, I wound up having to disicpline myself and wait 6 months to buy a book I was interested in. If interest persisted for six months, I knew I was really interested in it. I don't do that these days...
ReplyDeleteSad but true -- as soon as the book arrives, it loses some of the "read it right now!" urgency for me. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually sad.
ReplyDeleteI had to do something special today, alas: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/07/28/top-ten-books-by-keigo-higashino-1958-2026/
Aw no, that last bit was sad (although lucky for whoever peruses your LFL)! The earlier parts of this is 100% me too though. I love and hate the one-click. 🫣
ReplyDeleteI pretty much have the same cycle except I haven't given up hope on reading any of them!
ReplyDeleteI frequently explain to people that, "I don't read books; I only buy them." It's what I've realized after going through the same process you describe, over and over. I hadn't thought of having an Under the Bed stack of books, though. That is likely in my future, but for now, it's stacks here and there all over the house...
ReplyDeleteHa! "I don't read books; I only buy them..." would be a great t-shirt for many of us.
DeleteWhy is this so relatable?! 😭It's worse now because it's so quick and easy to buy books and audiobooks digitally, but the same problem exists because I have so many books on the TBR, and I'll be like, I'll finish this book I'm in the middle of and then start the new one right after, and then of course, it just becomes another book in the never-ending growing TBR.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of us have issues like this with book buying and then putting off the actual book reading. I will admit that I am trying (just trying, right?) to be a little more apt to read the books I already own. We'll see how I progress. I also will say that there are some authors and some series that I just 'must' have the new book right away and often with those, I read them soon. At least you share the books with your little free library - ha!
ReplyDeleteOMG! lol it's ME!!!
ReplyDeleteI used to do exactly this which is why I now have a library full of books and they also spill over to shelves in the living room and den. But I solved that problem some years back by becoming a Kindle reader. I keep a list of the books I want to read and when I'm ready to read I get it on my Kindle. In the past, we donated books to our local library and eventually they'll likely all go there since our children are Kindle readers as well.
ReplyDeleteWow, this made me kinda sad lol.
ReplyDeleteNot even just contributing this to books but all those hobbies you binge bought for with the most optimistic mindset, just to be donated to Goodwill or thrown in the trash years later..
Very well written! Here's to enjoying those books of yours!
My Post:
https://thegentlechapter.blog/2026/07/28/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-have-not-read-yet-but-had-to-have/
I have 200 Kindle books on my Kindle right now that I need to read.
ReplyDeleteI use the amazon wish list to keep track of what I plan or hope to read. I don’t finish every book that I start, but I try not to start too many and lose the thread of what I’m reading. My book shelves are so full that I don’t buy many physical books these days. I sympathize with your enthusiasm that runs away.
ReplyDeletebest… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Been there, done that. Unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThere’s an advantage to working so long and so much you just don’t have time to order books.
ReplyDeleteI love your poem Deb! It's so true though.
ReplyDeleteHere's my TTT for the week: https://readbakecreate.com/the-ten-holiday-reads-on-my-tbr-the-longest/
Ha ha. This is entirely too relatable!
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
Oh dear! Hahahaha!
ReplyDeleteI think most of us can recognise the pattern. You are not alone.
ReplyDeleteAs Lisbeth says you are not alone.
ReplyDeleteAwesome poem and that is pretty much the exact same process I go through! (Except I don't have a little free library near me so they get thrown in a garage sale box and then if they don't sell they get donated)
ReplyDeleteI have a massive TBR pile in my cupboard and yet i still grabbed four Advanced reader copies of books at bookclub (held at our local bookshop) and yet i buy more books...
ReplyDeletesherry