Cold Turkey

[nookkatz]

Originally Posted by voracious71

I wish they had a "shuffle" feature on ereaders, like on MP3 players. I would just hit shuffle, and read whatever came up next.

Ooooh! That sounds like fun!

[coderserdar]

i have a lot of books to read

i didn'T take a count of them

[Ryvyan]

I have stopped myself from buying pbooks since a while ago even before I got my Nook. The ones I have started feeling like clutter.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by voracious71

I wish they had a "shuffle" feature on ereaders, like on MP3 players. I would just hit shuffle, and read whatever came up next.

I think Calibre has an "open random book" selection on one of the menus. You could always use that to select your next book...then open it up in your reader-of-choice.

[jersysman]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I think Calibre has an "open random book" selection on one of the menus. You could always use that to select your next book...then open it up in your reader-of-choice.

It sure does! It's under the View icon. Click the arrow and you will get to choose a random book. Very nice!

[caleb72]

My problem is threefold:

- I had a problem with paperbacks that I never waited until I was ready to read a book before I purchased it. Consequently I have a large number of books I have not read. This includes whole series (eg. Dark Tower).

- Once I bought a Kindle, all the books were about 1/3 the price of paperbacks (in Australia). And a massive number of works which were free or a negligible price. I went nuts and bought/downloaded more books than I currently have in my library.

- I started an independent authors review site. Now most of the books I read are given to me by authors for review. This doesn't actually add to my number of unread books necessarily as I consume at a 1-to-1 ratio. However, it leaves me with even less time to make a dint into the problem caused by the first two points. But it does leave me a massive backlog of correspondence and samples to go through. I usually get at least one request/sample a day and I usually read about 1 book a week.

I've decided that next year I'm going to continue to allocate 3 spots a month to independent authors for my review site and the remaining time is going to be spent trying to read books I already own. No book clubs giving me ideas to read books I don't have; no e-library card to open up another avenue of reading; no scouring around looking for freebies or cheapies; no more buying a book just because I love the author - sorry Neal Stephenson. My purchases are now only going to be made if I'm going to read the book NOW, or if I'm purchasing an e-copy of a paperback I already own so that I read the book NOW.

Then there's the other side of the coin - time to read. And so I add this little nugget to my resolution for next year. No ridiculous time wasting on the internet. This site is OK, but the amount of time I waste surfing around, doing the You Tube shuffle, playing Bejeweled Blitz (or all utter time-wasters) is obscene. The time would be better spent reading and so it will be - next year.

How long with this all last? Hopefully all year. You never know - I started a health kick this year and joined a gym and got a personal trainer. Still going 7 or 8 months later. So maybe I have some self-control afterall. I'll let you know next year.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by caleb72

...
Then there's the other side of the coin - time to read. And so I add this little nugget to my resolution for next year. No ridiculous time wasting on the internet. This site is OK, but the amount of time I waste surfing around, doing the You Tube shuffle, playing Bejeweled Blitz (or all utter time-wasters) is obscene. The time would be better spent reading and so it will be - next year.

How long with this all last? Hopefully all year. You never know - I started a health kick this year and joined a gym and got a personal trainer. Still going 7 or 8 months later. So maybe I have some self-control afterall. I'll let you know next year.

Good for you!

I continue to struggle with my internet addiction as well -- I think many do, I've started writing a couple of different articles on it...if only I could get off here and finish them!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by jersysman

I think everyone in this thread needs to talk to Pdurrant and get over to the ebook addictive thread!

Please, it's for your own good!!!

I think jerseyman is referring to this thread.

You are indeed all welcome there. It has now been 26 days since I last bought an ebook. My TBR folder is below 400 for the first time since February or so.

With mutual support, we can refrain from buying ebooks before we need them, and so save ourselves lots of money.

(Because, of course, we add them to a wishlist and wait for a special offer!)

At my current reading rate, I have about 2.5 years of ebooks on hand. There should be lots of special offers and deals on ebooks on my wish list in that time.

[speakingtohe]

(Because, of course, we add them to a wishlist and wait for a special offer!)

Ahh a reason I can relate to.

And of course we could borrow one or two from the library or put a copy of the wishlist on the refrigerator door in hopes of warding off another Christmas pair of socks or birthday oven mitts.

Helen

[captkjaneway]

All my paperbacks went into recycling bins when I left Blighty.........I probably had in the region of 500 or so and there was no way I could ship them out to Hong Kong. I have about 200 ebooks, but some of these are old friends I re-visit and have about 10 or so to read.

I get through approx 2 books per week jsut travellign to and from work.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by captkjaneway

..d.

I get through approx 2 books per week jsut travellign to and from work.

and I think commuting by bus, rail, subway is definitely good for reading.

...unfortunately it's not so good here for me and for my other duties/time...

[khalleron]

Eh. You're enjoying yourself and you're not hurting anyone.

Unless you're going into debt to buy books, I don't see a problem here.

Misplaced guilt - it's what for dinner!

[frahse]

Originally Posted by JDK1962

Okay, I have to stop this.

I have a wall in my living room that's floor-to-ceiling bookcases, with probably 100 pbooks awaiting a read (and a bunch more that I would happily re-read). The To Be Read folder of my Kindle just passed 325. We won't even discuss my laptop's hard drive.

At an average rate of two books a week, that's at least four years of reading at my fingertips. I've always been a bit of a book hoarder, but the purchase of my Kindle a year ago has made my habit much, much worse. I feel like I'm drowning in books.

I'm JDK1962 and I'm a book hoarder. It's been...umm...17 hours since my last acquisition. Here's what I'm going to do to get better:

-- I will stop cruising my local thrift stores, where I seem to continually find (to my eye) excellent books in pristine condition at ridiculous prices.
-- I will stop visiting my local library's new fiction and non-fiction sections.
-- I will stop downloading ebooks from my local library (or anywhere else).
-- I'll let my spouse use up my credit at my local used book store.
-- I will write down books and authors that appeal, rather than running off to Amazon/my local bookstore/my local library and letting books jump the queue ("...but it's the new Reacher novel from Lee Child! I'll just buzz through that, THEN I'll finish The Sense of an Ending.").
-- On a related note, I'll continue listening to the NYT books podcast and reading the weekly email of featured NYT reviews, but I'll write down rather than purchase what looks/sounds good.
-- To address the backlog more effectively, I will be rigorous about my 50 pages (or 25%) and re-evaluate policy, i.e., if not enjoying a book by a certain point, grant yourself permission to let it go.
-- I will not buy that Kindle DX I've had my eye on that will make reading all my PDFs more practical/enjoyable.

You got a real problem bro!

I suggest taking up drinking, fast women and gambling. It is hard to read while participating in those activities.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by voracious71

I wish they had a "shuffle" feature on ereaders, like on MP3 players. I would just hit shuffle, and read whatever came up next.

I am out of karma today, or I would have given you some for that idea.

[Toxaris]

I don't have time to read, I have to much work converting my books to ebooks... Oh well, perhaps when I retire....