I lost the original email my friend sent, but it was about Richard and Judy (morning show) in the UK and their comment that 'heavy book buyers' buy an average of 12 books a year but people who get book recommendations from their show buy 16 a year.
I don't actually think they were talking about the body weight of the person who purchases the 12 books a year when they said 'heavy', so perhaps they were trying to imply that the people who buy 12 or more books a year are at the top end of the book buying scale.
If that's the case then I'm buying somebody else's share!
How many books do you guys buy a year? (Or how many a month if the yearly figure is too big to fit on the screen!)
I am usually living hand to mouth, and I still manage way more than 12 a year!
Do Richard and Judy actually know any recreational readers?
I wouldn't take Richard and Judy to seriously - they have had a few stunts played on their afternoon talk show recently...
Ummmm... back on topic. If I don't buy at least one book a month, I'm borrowing from my friends/cousins/the library
I usually buy four or five at a time. I can't say how many per month because some months there may be none while others I may shop several times. I purchase through bookstores, school book orders (yes, my kids are young, but I have access to their book order forms as well as the older ones), Amazon (usually if there's a particular book that I want), and thrift stores. I also borrow books from friends -- though lately I seem to have better books than they do!
Our apartment always has books lying about: three of us live here and each of us has several books going at a time. I can't imagine not having books around.
I don't know how many books I buy a year but its much more than 12! I get new books mostly from thrift stores. Theres this one in Gorham that has SECTIONS like a real book store for their books they have so many. I also occasionally get to book stores to buy specific books (like I'll do for HP7, Inheritance 3, Max Ride 3, etc.). But I also get books from my friend at school. I ask him for the book and he "lends" it to me. Then never asks about them again. I've gotten 5 or 6 that way. But its ok because his mother actually donates books from his room at least once a month, I just save the few that I can.
My family has always been poor, so my book BUYING is limited to once a year. (Winter Holidays, I tend to get a $150 Barnes and Noble certificate and that's ALL the books I get ALL year, except for maybe 2 on my birthday.)
However, the local library owns me (though I read everything I WANTED to in there by the time I was 10.) Also, my mom goes to doctor's appointments in one of 2 farther-away cities at least 3 days a week. My family tends to just drop me in Barnes and Noble for 3-4 hours and let me amuse myself. And I can read an average Star Wars or Star Trek (about 300 pages each) in 2 hours. Thus, I'd say I read over 150 books a year, easily.
But I very rarely get to buy them. The only one I've bought all year was from a used bookstore and it was only $1.
I don't buy books often. Only occasionally, and usually only at a sale of some sort. But not often.
There are exceptions (like the Harry Potter books. I've had the upcoming 7th and final installment on pre-order since the release date was announced. It was so funny when I asked the clerk at the Barnes and Noble if they were going to do the midnight release. I only get them at midnight releases cause I can't stand the thought of just laying there waiting for the morning of the release day. She was like "It comes out in July." I was like "Yeah, I know that. Will you be doing the midnight release?" Silly clerk! But the answer was yes and my book is waiting!)
I utilize the library. Though I'm nearly always late returning them, so wind up paying some money anyway! lol
I buy from all sorts of sources (Amazon, Book Closeouts, Fishpond, eBay, TradeMe, charity book sales, op shops etc) but I buy a lot. Last year between 800 and 900 books. Unfortunately I'm not reading at *quite* that rate so the 'To Be Read' pile is getting out of hand.
Quote from: "Jane"Unfortunately I'm not reading at *quite* that rate so the 'To Be Read' pile is getting out of hand.
I have a friend with a similar addiction. She has a room full of unread books. I did manage to liberate a couple of dozen when I visited at the top of the month.
In the last couple of years I think I've bought maybe two or three books, brand new. JK Rowling, and a couple of Patricia Cornwell. But I just discovered that PC, and James Herbert both have new novels out, as well as Jeffrey Archer and Dick Francis, so I'll be haunting the local op shops to see if I can find any there.
In the last two years I have read basically nothing but scrapbooking magazines. Though I am slowly coming down from that high, as I realise I suck at scrapping and actually am quite a nifty card maker.
I love off the page projects, so again I buy quite a few OTP mags as well.
Any spare coinage I may have, these days goes on increasing my scrap stash. LOL
I'm a book freak. I have boxed and boxes of books in 3 states, and most I've probably never read. I just love having them.
I love the way a full bookshelf looks. Hehe. :rollsmilie2:
I have all the original Dragonriders of Pern books, as well as the Harper Hall Trilogy that my mother gave me when I was very young. And then over the years I've obtained the new issues of them all.
I love Historical Biographies and am currently obsessed with Henry VIII, his wives and the Tudors in general. I have a nice collection of biographies, ranging from Catherine the Great of Russia (my namesake) to Virginia Wolf to Cleopatra. As you can tell, mostly women. Tee Hee.
But, over the past year (06)... I'd say... roughly 30-40. Most were Art books, anatomy, theory, artists and whatnot.
Last time I checked (about six this evening before I got off work) I had 93 items out on my library card. Only 26 of which are CDs. The rest are books, and all of them will be at least flipped through before they are returned. Most will be referred to repeatedly as I work on my novels, and many will be read cover to cover.
I do work in a library, and have for years, so I don't have to pay overdue fines :D
But in an average year, I do buy at least twenty books. I prefer to get ones I have already read at the library and know I will enjoy repeatedly, but since I started college that has proven highly unrealistic. So now I buy new things by authors I know I like from the library or a loan from friends, (we mail books back and forth across the country when we find something we think the others will like) and read like crazy in the few moments I have between semesters or while on break at work.
I tend to buy books more than I get them from the library, simply because I always forget to return library books. I'll go through a library phase where I read 2-4 books a week, and then I'll go for months when I don't check out a thing.
As for buying... I tend to buy books that I KNOW that I want rather than take risks on strange books (unless they're recomended). The last book I bought was for my trip and called 'Bellweather' by Connie Willis. That was about $12 I think. I'd recently rediscovered 'To Say Nothing of the Dog' by the same author at a used bookstore ($4.50) and really enjoyed it, ergo another book by her. I buy way more than 12 a year... maybe... oh, 20 or so new, and a few more second hand? I'm really trying to curb my spending habits and am trying to remember to go to the local secondhand bookstores now since they're within walking distance... and really, it's so much better for the environment. :)
Connie Willis? Didn't she write Passage, out of curiosity?
Also, I agree on the whole "buying things that you know you want" and renting new things. Once I love an author, though, they go on the buy list.
I agree. If I love the author, I'll buy his/her books. I usually don't take the chance on other books written by authors I don't know unless they come recommended. (Thank you, Bree, for opening my eyes to Kelley and Patricia :D) As far as how many books I buy a year...it depends if my favorite authors have come out with new stuff! Or if anyone has recommended anything to me :)
I buy tons more books in Japan. I might make my 12 books a year. However, I only get through maybe 4 or 5, so I have a surplus I'll be taking home with me ;) A book really has to grab my attention for me to read the whole thing, and I'm a huge re-reader. If I love a book, I'll read it over and over.
I bought two today! Woohooo!
I read maybe 1 or 2 new books a month during a semester... and probably re-read 10 or so a month. ;) I have to read for about an hour to get myself to sleep, but I try to only read books I've already read before, since otherwise I stay up till I'm finished.
I read 3 books over spring break this term, though!
I read really fast, too. I can knock off a Melanie Rawn book in a couple evenings of trying to get to sleep, which means I can go through all 6 of the Dragon Prince books just trying to get to sleep at night for one month!
I like to cycle through things. I'll read my Rawn, then I'll jump to my Card, then I'll flip back and wander through Anne Bishop, then I'll read some Kelley Armstrong, and by the time I make it through all those I can go back to Melanie Rawn again! (Though I swear, Rawn, Bishop and Card MEMORIZED. All of them. :p)
Okaaaaay. Now I'm starting to feel like I'm a little odd.
Quote from: "Jane"Okaaaaay. Now I'm starting to feel like I'm a little odd.
And this is the first time this has happened?