Tuesday, January 06, 2009

My Hopefully Exacting List of Qualifications Before I Will Buy A Book

I have way too many books. I admitted it. Having put together four bookshelves that are 6 1/2 feet tall by 3-4 feet wide in the past few days and having filled them more or less to the brim, I must admit I own too many books. I have more books in the garage. I am a bibliophile. I am a book-addict. It's the truth. There are worse addictions, most definitely. And I am not about to give up my books. But I must cut down on my book-buying. So here is a plan. I will put together a list of questions I must be able to answer yes before I buy a book.
Here are the questions:

1. Can I afford to buy this book right now?
2. Can I get this book for a better price?
3. Do I have to read this book?
4. Why do I want to read this book?
5. Do I honestly think I will enjoy this book?
6. What is the track record for my reading of books by this author? Good or bad?
7. Have my trusted bookreading friends raved about this book?
8. Is this book worth taking up more space in my crowded book collection?
9. Will reading this book be a good use of my admittedly sparse free time?
10. Will buying this book get into the way of fulfilling a more important fiscal responsibility?
11. Is this book one of my not-to-be-missed themes (i.e. virgin hero, tortured hero) but does notinvolve themes I detest (adultery) or objectionable subject matter (menage, non-vanilla sex)?
12. Is this book part of a series not to be missed?

Okay I think this is a good list. I think that I should have to be answer yes or have a good answer to Questions 1, 3-6, 9, and 10-12, and no to 2 before I buy a book. If I am undecided, then I will require question 7 to be a yes as well.

In addition, I will no longer buy a book because what the heck, it's only $1, unless I can answer most of the above questions in the required manner.

I will not buy a book just because it is the latest controversy in the romance novel reading world. That is just a waste of time and energy, and I may end up hating the book and being frustrated anyway.

Lastly, I will do my best to keep my trips to the bastion of all book lovers' havens, Half Price Books, to once a month. Danielle, you can do this. I know it's hard, but you can do it.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

You have a good list to go by.

Danielle said...

Thanks.

Islandgirl Evy said...

Hi Danielle - I am in your yahoo newsgroup and I wanted to touch base and say hi -- great ideas before you buy.

Danielle said...

Thanks, Evy for checking out my blog. I am going to check yours out too.