sarahwilliamsandco

I promised last week to update you on my 2018 book buying ban so here’s part two and the conclusion!

If you remember, my last update was June and I’d bought five books so far. That still left seven to play with to keep under my one a month goal. So for the remaining six months of 2018 I bought SEVEN books! I actually did it! I only purchased twelve books in an entire year. I’m as surprised as you. And I’m bloody happy with myself. Let’s get to the books:

Oxfam, Liverpool

I’d literally been avoiding this shop all year because I always find excellent books there and I didn’t want to be tempted. But it got to August and I had a few minutes whilst I waited for a couple of friends and I just figured yeah, I could buy a book. So I bought two.

Hot Milk – Deborah Levy: I’ve heard this one floating round the internet so decided to pick it up.

Trumpet – Jackie Kay: I read this in uni and absolutely loved it. I got it from the library though so decided to grab my own copy and do a reread soon.

Oxfam Books, Dublin & Secret Bookshop, Dublin

Fast forward to September and I found myself (as I do many times a year) in Dublin. It would have been rude not to go to my two favourite bookshops. Don’t you think? Oxfam Books is self-explanatory, it’s an Oxfam shop completely stocked with books. Always an amazing second hand find here! The Secret Bookshop is one we stumbled across a few years ago and now always find time for. Walking down a small corridor you find yourself in a basement-type treasure trove filled to the brim with new and used books. There’s even a record shop at the bottom. Could spend hours in here, definitely one to check out.

Paradise – Toni Morrison: I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read my Morrison so this seemed like a natural pick. I also knew this was part of a trilogy beginning with Beloved which I already own so I figured it couldn’t hurt to own the third one before the second, haha.

China Men – Maxine Hong Kingston: I read The Woman Warrior in uni and I thought it was so fascinating. I’d never read a Chinese American voice before and loved Kingston’s. I’ve never heard of this book but thought it sounded great.

The Divided Self – R.D. Laing: This I’ve vaguely heard of but I read the back and thought it sounds really interesting so picked it up.

Bookstop, Ennis

Since I apparently spend my whole life in Ireland, you shouldn’t be surprised to discover I was there in October as well. Oops. This time we were on the west coast in County Clare. We always make a trip to Ennis town if only to fill our hunger for a Supermacs veggie burger. But we were having a wander and found this bookshop we’d never seen before. Was a nice little second hand store with a great selection.

Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng: I’d literally just finished reading Little Fires Everywhere a couple of days earlier on our trip. So when I saw Ng’s first novel I had to buy it instantly.

Amazon (I know, I’m horrible)

I’m a traitor. Bar Kindle books, I haven’t purchased a book from amazon in about eighteen months. I don’t like what they’re doing to the book world but I just couldn’t find this book anywhere else. Please forgive me.

Catcher – Kalyn Nicholson: I’ve been following Kalyn on Youtube for a few years now and I just really like what she’s all about. This is her first book and a novel no less! I had to see what it was all about.

So in conclusion, the book buying band seemed to work a treat. It forced me to read books I already own and it helped me to slowly decrease my physical TBR. However, I wanted to do something different in 2019. A lot of the unread books I own are classics or books from the mid-20^th century or earlier that, let’s face it, aren’t going anywhere. So I plan to read them slowly til they’re all complete. I’m still excited to read them all. But I didn’t want to be restricted to read a book that’s out right now and relevant just because I had bought all my books for the year. But I also didn’t want to go back to overbuying because that’s how I originally got into this mess! However, drunk at four in the morning on Christmas Day my brother cracked it. He said why don’t you stick to twelve books but every time you read one of them you gain it back. So it’s like a rolling twelve books. I thought about it for a second and realised, whoa, what a genius idea! So that’s what we’re doing! This year so far I’ve bought nine books (I know, the freedom got to me a little there!) but I’ve read three of them already so I’m back down to six books purchased. Get it? I’m excited to see where the reading year takes me. What does yours look like?

Happy reading!

re:stacks – Bon Iver