My Top Ten Book-Related Problems

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme where you get to talk about books and make lists: two of my favourite things! This week’s theme is “Ten Book Related Problems I Have”. But I’ve listed five because I’m a rebel, me!

I am a book-buying addict.

This is the biggest problem in this post — to the point where, when I sat down to compile this list, I remembered there were two books I wanted to buy and opened up my favourite online bookstore almost by reflex. (The books are Fairest by Marissa Meyer and Ensnared by A. G. Howard, if you were wondering. And yes, I ordered them.)

Most of the subsequent points in this list extend from this single fact.

My TBR is two overflowing shelves deep.

And that’s not even considering what’s on my Kindle. I’ve got enough to-read books to last me a year, maybe two — easily a hundred, at least. BUT I CAN’T STOP BUYING THEM.

When I moved house, the removalist heckled me for the number of book boxes he needed to haul up a flight of stairs.

There were over thirty boxes. In my defence, two of them belonged to my son. He has over 100 picture books. (I admit I bought almost all of them for him, so maybe that isn’t as much of a defence.)

This problem could be mitigated if I actually occasionally gave books away. But I really struggle to do that. I’m getting better, though. I gave away two books from when I was a teen to a friend’s daughter, and about a dozen I bought and will never read to a charity shop. SEE? I’ve grown!

I like owning all a series in the same format.

This used to go as far as me getting upset if one book in a series was a different edition than the rest. Now I try and limit it to paperback vs hardcover vs audiobook.

I know one person who will re-purchase an entire series in a new edition if they can’t get the last book they need in the previous one. So it could be worse. (Note: I probably would do that if I had the money…)

But I also like owning paper books.

As an example, I have listened to all of the available Iron Druid Chronicles audiobooks. Now I really want to own the paperbacks even though I’d probably never read them. But they are so pretty. And audiobooks feel so intangible — I can’t pat them. Not that I pat my paperback books.

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I do!

What are your book-related confessions? Please tell me I’m not alone!