The picture below is of my cozy corner where I read. You can see the backlog of books that I have to read. One more is on its way and my kindle has twenty more to be read.
My problem is that I keep getting leads to good books and when I come across such a lead or a good review, I immediately send for the book. The same thing happens to my collection of DVDs. I have some thirty films to catch up on!
I am at my wits end to come to grips with the backlog. I have made a new year resolution not to buy a new book or a new DVD till I clear both the backlogs. I intend to stick to that. Any other suggestion/s?
I got nothin’. (DISCLAIMER: I’m a writer. The words ” I keep getting leads to good books and when I come across such a lead or a good review, I immediately send for the book.” are music to my ears! Why would I want to discourage that?)
As for the films, we call it “binge watching.” Just queue ’em up and go for it on a quiet weekend.
Holly Jahangiri recently posted..A New Leaf for Lyle Nominated in Annual Preditors & Editorsâ„¢ Readers’ Poll
You would not have any ideas. You are a vested interest.
Right the binge watching sounds interesting.
There are a couple obvious solutions. Traditionally a bonfire has been used at times to reduce the backlog, although I am not aware of this method being used except to reduce someone else’s reading list. Given your single situation, you could also hire an attractive woman to read the books to you. From my experience, the most painful method is to not put every good book and DVD onto my reading list, but to engage in some sort of brutally extreme form of triage. i.e. I am only going to add in every third good recommendation.
Looney recently posted..Je ne suis pas Charlie
Don’t be surprised if one of these days, I do resort to a bonfire. An attractive woman sounds even better but my attention will not be on the content of the books!
Suggestions:
Make two lists, one for books and the other for DVDs. Then go on a diet, it is as simple as that. if you were on a food diet, you would restrict your food intake. In this context realise that the world will not end if you do not read every book written, or every DVD made. Make a resolution not to be so compulsive. You did ask!
Grannymar recently posted..Sunday One liners ~ 63
Yes GM. That is exactly what I will do and also eliminate some books which I do not really need to read fully.
i used to think because i started any book i had to FINISH it!
i don’t know why i thought that but i did.
now i know by the first two chapters usually if i want to read the entire book. sometimes it’s a book i just like to ‘pick and choose’ the chapters that particularly whet my interest. the author of said book would probably be having a stroke knowing his ‘flow’ was read that way.
but at least i come away with the gist of the book rather than not having read it at all.
then . . . those that i love and can’t stop reading . . . well . . i just read!
as to dvd’s.
even minimalist that i am i have a hefty collection. i watch them intermittently and will keep them. but i’ve long since quit buying them!
i have absolutely no good advice for you! 🙂
tammy j recently posted..in our blood
That is the “light” moment. I have decided to junk some which have been rather uninspiring. And that is a good piece of advice.
Oh, Ramana, I thought better of you.
Your reading is becoming a chore rather than a pleasure. Listen to yourself: ” … have to”. Someone holding a gun to your head? You mention “backlog”. A backlog is having to fell long overdue trees to then chop them into neat fire logs. That’s backlog. Not least when someone is standing over you with an axe.
You sound like a man who is in fear of missing out on something. You aren’t. So much in life is just self imposed crap.
Anyway, on a practical note and to lessen your anxiety over all you haven’t read yet: Put that mountain of books in your cozy corner somewhere else, out of sight. Put only the one, two or three you are currently reading on the side table. You’ll feel immediate relief. By way of comparison: If someone piles tons of food on my plate I feel full, nauseous and vaguely sick before I’ve even lifted my fork.
And leave all those “self help books” where they belong (this goes for Jean too). On the shelf (not yours, the bookshop’s). Either you’ve got the gist of life by now or you never will. And remember: I am younger than you. As an aside: One of the reasons I like Grannymar (and BHB is of a similar ilk though the two of them don’t know it) is that she has a no nonsense approach to life. So lighten the load, don’t take more on board, allow yourself the luxury of letting thoughts and dreams wonder aimlessly, smell the roses and don’t fret over unread books and unwatched DVDs.
End of sermon.
U
Ursula recently posted..Down under
Practical & Funny as usual.
Grannymar & I both sew, knit ,crochet, cook & are practical. (Also I spent 5 wks. in Ireland while daughter-in-law was studying the Irish.
Grannymar is so Irish.}
What’s a self-help book? Why do you assume you know what other people read?
Cheerful Monk recently posted..An Interesting Problem
Phew! And what a sermon! And my sincere thanks for the good advice. I shall follow it.
LISTEN TO BOOKS ON YOUR IPAD—— while doing active things along with Grannymar’s hint/suggestion of a diet. SORRY. Kill a lot of birds with one stone. Shouldn’t be hard since you don’t eat animal fat–a real killer.
Sorry. I can’t help lecturing what you already know.
I am totally incapable of multi tasking BHB.
I don’t buy nearly as many books as I used to, and I’m with tammy, if a book doesn’t grab your attention, give it away so it’s not nagging at you and it might find a more appreciative audience. It’s easy for me to say, because the library and Friends of the Library bookstore is an easy walk. I might give it more than one chance before passing it on, though. It might grab me when I’m in a different mood.
What about the reviews make you want to buy a book?
Cheerful Monk recently posted..An Interesting Problem
I also agree with tammy that we don’t have to read the whole thing. Browsing to see if parts of it grab us is fun, too.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..An Interesting Problem
I too agree with that.
Agreed. I will shortly be doing that.
I never have more than three or four books waiting to be read. I simply don’t buy any more books than I can get through in a few weeks. If I see a book review that impresses me, I put it on my “to buy” list and wait till I’ve got through my existing pile. Such self-discipline, huh?
nick recently posted..Come flirt with me
I have started doing that on Amazon. I really wish that we had good libraries around!