Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[chookie2]

Yes most books are old friends and I do return to them. A lot are reference too and I NEED those.Thanks for the welcome folks.
BTW let me know when anyone finds a way to prolong a human's reading life- I despair that mine will run out before I read everything - twice!

[pdurrant]

My unread books list in calibre is currently at 761 ebooks. I hope to have it under 750 by the end of the year, or lower. We shall see!

I've done very well on the ebook buying front this month. I was only anticipating one more purchase this month, if I can get a good coupon in the current Kobo competition.

But I see that the new No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is out. If I get two good coupons I don't think I can resist that either.

[BuyMore]

Due to the very bad distribution ratio this time, and the fact that I need to purchase at a site with the new checkout, I've made good use of the multi-tabbing function and gotten a few purchases with a single code.

I have a 65% code which I plan to use for two or three new releases next week (I sincerely hope the codes still work by then).

GM, you may try multi-tab if both the books you want are available by the time you get a decent code.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BuyMore

GM, you may try multi-tab if both the books you want are available by the time you get a decent code.

That is tempting. Thanks.

[pdurrant]

Amazon UK have the Cadfael books by Ellis Peters on special offer, today only, at £0.99 each instead of £4-£5 each.

I just have enough unallocated budget left for this year, but it will leave me with only $10 unallocated for the last THREE MONTHS of the year! But I really enjoyed reading (most of) these books in paper years ago, and I don't think I can or should resist this offer.

It does make me regret one or two of my earlier purchases this year. Who knows what's going to come up in the last three months?

But in this case, I think buying is the right move. However, I will let the decision rest for a few hours before actually hitting the buy buttons.

[DrNefario]

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm trying to avoid right now. I have plenty of unread crime fiction, so even though I have previously read at least one of the Cadfael books and know I would enjoy them, I'm just going to leave them unbought. I already have that vacancy well covered.

I realised after my splurge on the contest codes at Kobo last month that it's actually the more unusual items - usually things that have sat unloved on my wishlist for ages - that mean something to me. I like fantasy, SF and crime, and often fall for good deals on those, but I have dozens/hundreds of unread books in all three genres. If I pick up some weird memoir or piece of non-fiction I am much more likely to actually read it in the near future. The one kobo coupon book I have been dipping into since the splurge is Just My Type by Simon Garfield, a book about fonts and typography, which I almost didn't buy, not sure I really wanted it that much. The rest of them were F&SF and go to end of some very long queues.

[pdurrant]

A fair point. I have indeed read most of them, but not, I think, all. And so I'd enjoy adding them to my list of mysteries to enjoy over the next few years, along with my Agatha Christies, Georgette Heyers, and Dorothy L Sayers and others.

My hesitation, if that's what it is, is over the fact that this leaves me almost without spare budget, with three months of the year to go.

[peachiekene]

I'm jealous. I don't travel for purchases (I do for freebies!), but that's a really, really tempting offer.

[pdurrant]

And I have indeed taken it up. I did already have "A Rare Benedictine", bot none of the others, so adding in the first which was £0.59, that's 20 books for £19.4. (Or $29.10 in my weird accounting system.)

[pdurrant]

Well, we're nearly three quarters of the way through the year.

Looking back at my 2014 purchases, I don't regret many of them. In fact, perhaps the only ones I regret are the The Doctor Who graphic novels in May, as although I love Doctor Who, I don't really read graphic novels.

The lack of regret is, perhaps, a problem going forward. I've still bought too many books this year, although I'm not over budget for the year yet. But I can't go on buying 250+ books per year and reading less than 200 per year.

I shall have to be even more ruthless next year in my purchases. And I have a chance to practise for the next three months, as I only have $19.84 unallocated for the next three months of my $480 budget for the year!

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The lack of regret is, perhaps, a problem going forward. I've still bought too many books this year, although I'm not over budget for the year yet. But I can't go on buying 250+ books per year and reading less than 200 per year.

I'm looking at the new Kobo contest restrictions as a blessing in disguise in that respect. With that in mind, I absolutely don't regret buying as many "conversion" books as I did before the restrictions went in. I was able to replace a solid number of physical books at reasonable "upgrade" prices, and that's a good thing. Further, the new restrictions will help me control my new purchases, so here's hoping the net effect of this year's activity has been much like a squirrel (SQUIRREL!) gathering nuts for the winter: I've got a backlog of Limbo books to process, and now I can start going through them faster than I add more to the list. Then that lump will pass through to the proper to-read list, and maybe I can start whittling away at that mountain.

With a penknife.

[bookaho!ic]

i currently have a £10 ebooks by sainsburys voucher which i won for a review however you have to spend all in one go which ordinarily I would not have a problem with but want to get more bang for my buck so gonna wait so see what deals they put on this october - they were fab last year and got lots of books GULP.

[Kirtai]

I got bitten by the removal of DRM on a number of publishers on Comixology plus the Humble Bundle. So many comics I wanted but refused to get due to the DRM, now available to be scooped up. I can already feel my wallet getting thinner...

[bartveld]

I thought I'd share this with you:
A young Dutch artist, Ella Sanders, created pictures illustrating those foreign words which say in one word where an other language needs an elaborate description.

[pdurrant]

I suspect we're all guilty of tsundoku in this thread.