Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Out of curiosity, define "dwindling."

About 10 books, almost half of those are freebies. I try to mix in some old classics that I never read.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

About 10 books, almost half of those are freebies. I try to mix in some old classics that I never read.

I'm aiming for a TBR of 100-200 (eventually). I would be worried with a TBR of 10!

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm aiming for a TBR of 100-200 (eventually). I would be worried with a TBR of 10!

It used to be larger around 20-30, but as I said, I've been so unimpressed with amazon's deal of the day, I haven't bought much. I'll buy new releases when I know I'll read those right away

My TBR list is usually amazon deal of the day books, or classics, reading new ones right away.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm aiming for a TBR of 100-200 (eventually). I would be worried with a TBR of 10!

I'll be lucky to see my TBR drop into the triple digits. I guess you could say I stocked up for the lean times.

[HLS]

I have not purchased much from amazon but I grabbed all the free books for world book day. Also, they had free book specials as a covid19 stay at home special. KOBO even just the other day gave out a bunch of free audiobooks and ebooks. I grabbed those. I only made two significantly costly ebook purchases the past month and that was Texas Ranger by James Patterson and The new Stephen King if It Bites or whatever its called but overall I toned down my spending a lot. At one point I bought books from Amazons daily deals every day now just once in a while

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's been a couple of weeks since my last ebook purchase. So it seems that I've managed to return to a non-ebook-buying mindset without too much of a problem.

And now I've had a sudden flurry of ebook buying. I've bought three books, all of which were long-standing items on my wish list, and came up on £0.99 deals.

But they were all good buys. It's for this kind of good buy that I've been resisting everything else.

[DrNefario]

Yes, I bought 3 wishlist books the other day, too. It's surprising how quickly my good work is jeopardised. That brought me up to my limit based on my goal of reading twice as many as I buy (and I guess 3 books bought needs to be offset by 6 books read, which is kind of a lot). I still have a few more wishlist books on sale, but I'm resisting so far.

[astrangerhere]

I bought two physical books yesterday to help keep my local independent going. I bought a paperback copy of the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace so that I would have a copy I can write in. I am participating in the Tolstoy Together online read, and I have always meant to buy a second copy. I have one of the original print run hardcovers, but that is too valuable to write in. I cannot use an e-copy as there are so many footnotes and endnotes - just doesn't work well on my reader and I don't want to read it at my computer.

I bought my wife Catheryne Valente's Space Opera because she loves Valente and doesn't have that one yet.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I've had a sudden flurry of ebook buying. I've bought three books, all of which were long-standing items on my wish list, and came up on £0.99 deals.

That is, as you say, the point.

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Yes, I bought 3 wishlist books the other day, too. It's surprising how quickly my good work is jeopardised. That brought me up to my limit based on my goal of reading twice as many as I buy (and I guess 3 books bought needs to be offset by 6 books read, which is kind of a lot). I still have a few more wishlist books on sale, but I'm resisting so far.

April’s seen some backsliding from me also, both in terms of purchases and my own goal of reading them reasonably shortly. My accounting is a little Byzantine, as I count books purchased with promotional credit as a purchase with a zero cost basis, but that’s the only thing that’s kept it reasonable. As of just now (when I added two more books), I’ve bought five books for a total of $10. The outlay isn’t the problem, it’s the reading. I’ve finished through February, have started two of my three March purchases, and now I’ve got to add five more. In my mind is Thomas Wyatt’s “I am of them that farthest cometh behind.” May needs to be better; if I continue like this I’ll be in a hopeless hole.

However, the positive aspect is that the need to read the books soon(ish) is influencing my purchases in a good way. I wanted to use a 50% Kobo coupon and instead of choosing the best value from my wishlist in terms of absolute discount as used to be my wont, I picked a book that’ll just be sheer fun. And spent less money as a result, too.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

However, the positive aspect is that the need to read the books soon(ish) is influencing my purchases in a good way. I wanted to use a 50% Kobo coupon and instead of choosing the best value from my wishlist in terms of absolute discount as used to be my wont, I picked a book that’ll just be sheer fun. And spent less money as a result, too.

I think this is a very good idea. If there's a choice of discounted book to buy, buy the one you want the most, not the one that 'saves' you the most money.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I bought two physical books yesterday to help keep my local independent going. I bought a paperback copy of the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace so that I would have a copy I can write in. I am participating in the Tolstoy Together online read, and I have always meant to buy a second copy. I have one of the original print run hardcovers, but that is too valuable to write in. I cannot use an e-copy as there are so many footnotes and endnotes - just doesn't work well on my reader and I don't want to read it at my computer.

Among my purchases this month was the Dunagin translation of War and Peace as I wasn’t entirely satisfied with P&V. I’m now switching between the two and doing a compare/contrast; each has its strengths. While it’s handy having both on the same reader, I also put the Dunagin on another for when I want them both open at the same time.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I think this is a very good idea. If there's a choice of discounted book to buy, buy the one you want the most, not the one that 'saves' you the most money.

Yep. And how long did it take me to come to this realization? So even in a “bad” month as far as purchases go, the “need to read” discipline is having a good effect. It also helped me trim my wishlist; there can be a critical difference between “I’d like to read this” and “I want to read this.” With some books, “would like” was probably not going to transition to “want” anytime in the near future, if ever.

[pdurrant]

Suggestion added to the first post!

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

Among my purchases this month was the Dunagin translation of War and Peace as I wasn’t entirely satisfied with P&V. I’m now switching between the two and doing a compare/contrast; each has its strengths. While it’s handy having both on the same reader, I also put the Dunagin on another for when I want them both open at the same time.

I wish my French were good enough and I wasn't so obsessive about the footnotes. But I have never got the hang of going back and forth to the notes on my Kobo. I will plan to check out the Dunagin at some point and maybe do some compare/contrast. I am considering doing a third-reread next year with the benefit of all the archived discussion and a blank journal. Right now this read along is serving as pure escape for me, but I would love to go through it more thoroughly.

Originally Posted by issybird

Yep. And how long did it take me to come to this realization? So even in a “bad” month as far as purchases go, the “need to read” discipline is having a good effect. It also helped me trim my wishlist; there can be a critical difference between “I’d like to read this” and “I want to read this.” With some books, “would like” was probably not going to transition to “want” anytime in the near future, if ever.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I think this is a very good idea. If there's a choice of discounted book to buy, buy the one you want the most, not the one that 'saves' you the most money.

Neither of my books were on sale, but both will be read immediately. My wife and I are trying to make purchaes from local businesses every week on a rolling basis. Our state has been on lockdown since March 16th and a lot of the early flurry of support for those locals is starting to flag a little.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I wish my French were good enough and I wasn't so obsessive about the footnotes.

I was pleased to find that my French is good enough for the conversations; I enjoy that aspect of P&V and prefer it to the silent translations of Dunagin. I could make it through the letters, but the more formal vocabulary and sentence structure would slow me down more than I’d like. Fortunately, most of the French is conversation. Actually, the relative ease with which I read the French makes me wonder just how fluent those Russians were! I wonder if that wasn’t a point that Tolstoy was making, or if, perhaps, his own French wasn’t top notch.

I do read the footnotes but they generally don’t present a problem. What I miss about paper books is that it’s so much harder to flip around and check on references in ebooks. In yesterday’s stint, for example, I’d have loved to have gone back and read Pierre’s and Andrei’s earlier conversation about fallen women, but it was too much trouble to locate.