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Originally Posted by C-novice
Are we hopeless book / reading addicts then?
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We're not hopeless, but we can do some steps. I don't have a 12 step program though. For ereaders, I recommend selling off the ones you haven't used in 1 year. Why? The batteries will just go dead. My brother ruined a perfectly good Kindle Keyboard simply by not charging it for 2 years. Complete waste. Either sell or give away ereaders you are not using. (let's not mention my current ereader glut - it's a long story).
Next, separate out your paper books - ones you've read vs. ones you have not read. Among those you have read, give away or sell those that are not beloved. You'll never reread the others and you'll save your family a lot of anger having to do this after you are gone.
Among those you have not read - separate out those that don't really appeal to you now. Make a plan to read ONE of those each month. Pretty soon you will find out that you don't want to waste your time on things that no longer appeal to you and it will help you pitch them so that you can focus on books you do enjoy now.
Something my sister and I both found helpful is to have a couple of bookshelves and eliminate books until ALL the books fit on the bookshelves available. No more books on the floor, in cupboards, in the closet.
I'm not sure that we can stop buying, but I've gone from accumulating over 150/year to about 80/year. Since I read about 100-120 books a year, my TBR will dwindle slowly. To stop the buying, read large sections of this thread for tips and suggestions. Maybe something will work for you.
I found it easier to cut ebook purchases by tracking what I buy as Paul mentioned. Helps when you realize just how many books you've accumulated and how long it will take you to read all of those. I feel no guilt over the free books though - other than sometimes they encourage me to get an audiobook. I sort them and stuff while I'm hanging on hold on the phone. Hope some of this helps.