Buying books in mass bad?

Submitted by kornychris2016 t3_117pkoz in books

Tax time has hit, I'm super into books atm and I've always wanted my own personal little library.

Over the past few months I've amassed a good little shelf full of 63 books. All books that I've personally wanted to read and or felt belong in everyone's library.

Needless to say my TBR list is insanely long.

I currently have a list of 35 books I want to buy to add to my collection. Would buying all 35 books at the same time be a bad idea?

Seems like a crazy thing to do, buy so many books at one time. But each book I personally want to read and own. I'm not buying a random box of books.

On the flip side, I'd make huge progress towards my dream of a wall of books. I'd have my whole life to read through them.

But I also considered, instead of buying mass, I could pay the same amount for one/couple of 1st edition or foilio society editions of my favorites.

Would you go for mass book haul or select special editions of one or two books?

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vinniethestripeycat t1_j9d4ibn wrote

If you can afford to & if you have the space for them, live out the bibliophile's dream & buy them all now, en masse, then start saving up for any special editions you'd like.

(ETA some words)

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bhbhbhhh t1_j9dba0i wrote

I'm moving between continents next month. It's definitely not great for the luggage situation that I bought so many books over the last few years.

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ReturnOfSeq t1_j9dy29y wrote

If you plan to actually read them, don’t bother getting first editions.
If you’re more frugal, put your list into ThriftBooks.com or similar and buy them over time as cheap, good condition copies pop up. It sounds like you’re not pressed for time, so I’d suggest doing this

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kornychris2016 OP t1_j9erty4 wrote

I actually have my list on thriftbooks. I was considering doing multiple orders to take advantage of the rewards for free books.

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BinstonBirchill t1_j9d4b0g wrote

Close to 1/4 of my collection is TBR and my list of books I’m interested in acquiring is unknowably long at this point. For reference my collection is north of 1000.

The cautionary example I’ll give is that my taste in novels have changed. I went from a genre fiction reader to a reader of literature. Nonfiction mostly stayed the same. So many of the genre fiction books I picked up and didn’t get to I no longer have an inclination to read in large quantities.

Some book interests will never change and some could. If you recognize your likely trends you’re good. Depending on price constraints I’d use some caution but not too much lol. If you pick up 10 books for a buck like at some book sales go hog wild by all means!

Periodically I’ll pick up Franklin Library or Folio editions of a few favorites or if they slip through the cracks for cheap.

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kornychris2016 OP t1_j9d4pn9 wrote

That is good cautionary advice. My tastes could change. I wouldn't be going all in on any specific genre. I'd say a good mixture between fantasy, science fiction and the good ol classics.

However if down the line my tastes do change, I'd have reason to buy even more books!!!!

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BinstonBirchill t1_j9d7dpo wrote

I’d say classics are the safest best. And then the classics of sci fi and fantasy as well. Ones that even if you don’t love them you’ll be glad you read them.

Ohhh not to worry. There is never a lack of reasons to buy more books 😂 Each new one opens the door to at least a handful of others.

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jp_books t1_j9d0qvs wrote

Hoard as many as you can, you never know when one you're looking for will be available again.

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sarchh t1_j9f6000 wrote

Personally I find it harder to read books the longer I’ve owned then so I try not to buy too many at the same time and instead buy a couple, read them, buy some more and so on

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Bananaman9020 t1_j9eh224 wrote

Personally I buy one book only after I finish the last. I don't have a backlog. But I id you are happy collecting. Go ahead.

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Muted-Chemical-6129 t1_j9eaox6 wrote

Book sales at libraries

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LFLreader t1_j9eq2ia wrote

And little free libraries in your area, they can be found at LFL website, world map.

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vivahermione t1_j9fiff8 wrote

I love a good library sale! One caveat is this usually works best with standalones. I haven't had any luck picking up a series this way. YMMV.

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DangerOReilly t1_j9gmcvb wrote

I usually find parts of a series that way and other parts of the series at later times. Depends on the series, though. Trashy YA like House of Night is relatively easy to find, I guess because people don't want to hold on to them. But very beloved series either don't get donated as much, and/or get picked up by other people very quickly.

For the stuff I don't find at those sales, I put it on my shopping list.

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vivahermione t1_j9h666a wrote

Every time I find parts of series, they don't match. Some books may be hardbacks and others paperbacks. I'm particular, so I like them to match. Lol.

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DangerOReilly t1_j9j0ag5 wrote

Totally valid! For me, it depends on the series and how attached I am to it. The more attached, the more pretty I want it to sit on my shelves.

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yeetedhaws t1_j9d8oah wrote

I'd personally buy a few nicer editions of books I know I love/have been coveting if I had a chunk of change devoted just to books laying around. I'm good at saving money but bad at giving myself permission to spend a lot of money on one item. I'll happily spend $50 on 5 books (what a steal!) but spending $50 on one book would make me pause. Also not sure what your financial situation is but if you usually don't have as much money to spend on books it's worth considering how long you'd have to save/restrain from buying other books to buy the nicer editions you want.

It can also just be fun to pick up a few cheaper books you know you want every once in a while (as opposed to a ton at once). Feels a lot easier to say 'ive wanted this book for a while and now I have it' then to say 'ah yes I just spent x amount of money on books I've never seen before'.

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Characterinoutback t1_j9dnxs0 wrote

I don't see any issue with you buying the 35 at once, if it's like the one big buy a year that's fine. It it really depends on the book as I would try to get the special edition when buying one at a time as a way to pace myself

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Shadow_Lass38 t1_j9dr31w wrote

You don't want to see my to-be-read piles. There are currently 11, and some of them are nearly as tall as me.

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Summerlvr-01 t1_j9erkq5 wrote

I recommend not buying them all at once, at some point you will lose interest since you got to what you wanted so fast and you’ll end up not reading as much as you did before

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LFLreader t1_j9epttj wrote

Yes! Life doesn't always tread along in a predictable rhythm. Today you are busy making money, the day will come when you have time to read. Also use something like wooden apple crates to put your books in, they stack good as a book case as your library grows. On moving day you just need a Trash bag to cover the top and the move is done.

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Pinglenook t1_j9et1tc wrote

There's nothing wrong with it in general, but for me having the books in my house would make me feel like I have to read all of them asap and would make reading into a chore. For me reading should be about the journey, not the destination.

Personally what I do is, I do have a TBR list on Goodreads, but I usually buy 8-10 books at a time. Then I get new ones when I'm almost done with my 8-10 books. This way there are always unread books on my nightstand to choose from, but I don't have the unread books stacking up and making me feel guilty about not yet reading them.

But if you're a young person looking to fill their first bookshelf, I can imagine how that's different for you!

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Arrow_from_Artemis t1_j9f2ynv wrote

This is tough. I feel like special editions are something you invest in when you are collecting and want to to keep the books in pristine condition for display. If you're going to read them, I would say buy regular copies so if anything happens to them you're not destroying a coveted first edition on accident.

Before you invest in a huge haul, I'd think about what you actually want out of this library. If it's purely aesthetic, or whether or not you actually want to read all of these titles. If you are planning on reading them all, I'd suggest maybe only buying a few at a time, so you're motivated to read through every title so you can increase your collection. This is also a better way to go about it if your list changes over time. i.e., if you buy a big haul now and you lose interest in some of these books because you get hooked on another genre before you finish reading through your collection, you may find you end up never reading some of the titles at all.

If you purchase and read one or two books at a time, you can really tailor your collection to suit your tastes and interests as it changes over time.

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kornychris2016 OP t1_j9f3i5e wrote

The special editions would be books I already own and would be purely display. These being LoTR and or various Ray Bradbury books. I already have a 1st edition of Fahrenheit 451.

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Arrow_from_Artemis t1_j9f7xgm wrote

Oh I love Fahrenheit 451 <3. Color me jealous, lol!

This is definitely hard then. I don't personally collect special editions because I am running exceptionally low on real estate for my books. However, I love and admire special editions, especially when you have the space to properly display them. I wonder if you could get a few special editions, and then splurge a little on a smaller number of new books to add to your collection so you get the best of both worlds.

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tabs_jt t1_j9f66jz wrote

I have a big TBR at home and it overwhelmed me sometimes because i keep buying new books i want to read.

I would recommend buying like 5 books at a time and when you have read them buying new ones you want to read. Then you dont have to go buy a new one after everybook you read and your home TBR isnt that big

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vivahermione t1_j9fizdq wrote

I think it depends on your personal and financial situation. For example, if you have a book budget, would this blow the budget so you'd have no money for impulse buys later on?

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caitie578 t1_j9g1vvn wrote

Please if you buy new try and support a local bookstore. They can usually find what you want even if it's not in shop.

I usually do Half Priced Books for a lot, but for when I want brand new I go out of my to the local place as they are so knowledgable and fun to walk around.

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kornychris2016 OP t1_j9g261l wrote

98% of the books I have already are from either HPB or a smaller book store near me called book rack. Almost never do I buy new. Always support local if you can.

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DarthDregan t1_j9gbfyl wrote

If ever you think your TBR list is too long, think of the random Sith on reddit who has 127 waiting as we speak with three more pre-ordered for the next few months.

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Gullible_Cut8131 t1_j9gd88x wrote

I love being surrounded by books, so I would say go big!

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kloktick t1_j9gm0nd wrote

I keep track of the books I want to read by adding them to a shopping cart on my local bookstore’s website. Every few months I’ll purchase everything in the cart, usually around 20 books, and those will be on my TBR bookshelf while I take a few months to fill up the shopping cart again.

I like having a variety of books to choose from, and keeping about 20 books on my TBR shelf gives me options. If I lose interest in a book I’m reading I can just put it back on the shelf and pick up something else to read, returning to it when the time’s right.

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Still-Peanut-6010 t1_j9gp7bq wrote

Try your local library. Normally they have sales at least once a year. You may find some of the books there for a discounted price as long as you are good with "used" books. Some libraries also sell first edition books. These may be offered to "friends" of the library before the general public though. If these are books you have not read yet I would recommend getting them cheap first. After reading then you can decide which one one you want in a first edition and look for a good copy.

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Redwending22 t1_j9hge7p wrote

I have a wall of books. Sadly I am a book junkie. Everything is interesting, yet there are so many now sitting unread. I am Trying this year to start reading ones I know I don’t want or need to keep. Then I’ll move on to the keepers. So, my advice. Read what you have first.

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Bananaz45 t1_j9j230v wrote

Personally, I set my limit to buying 3 to 5 books a month. Not because I couldn't afford more, but my interests in books, authors and genres shifts every now and then.

Last year, I was really into magic realism, not soon after in late Victorian fiction, Modernism and then Gothic Fiction. This year started with a deep adoration for American novels of the 20th century - mostly William Faulkner - and just a week ago, I fell in love with Pynchon's the Crying of lot 49.

So, just go with the flow and embark into your wonderful journey of discovering books. Pick what captivates you most at a given time and more books will follow.

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Mary_themother t1_j9jkx3b wrote

In the past I bought more than I could read. Now I have books on my TBR that I don't want to read anymore because I'm a different reader then I was 5 years ago. But it's your money and if you believe you'll still be interested in reading them in the future, then go for it.

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The__Imp t1_j9rqoyg wrote

I like to buy my books slowly. If only because I love to pick carefully. Different versions, different printings. Different translators.

For example, I want Les Mis. But I want the Donougher translation. In hardcover. Unfortunately that combination is very inflated in price. So I’m waiting. Half hoping for a Folio Society version. Translation can be a huge issue and many classics have many translations.

When I’m selecting books, I want the right version for me. One I’ll be proud to have. In the selection process I tend to find versions I like, those I don’t and sometimes it switches. For example I was looking for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I want the folio society version (but am unwilling to pay the hundreds it goes for these days. But I found the First Edition Library version with slipcase that I like a lot and was able to find cheap-ish.

I feel like if you just go to Amazon or b&n and add and purchase en masse you miss out on the selection process and may not get the best picks for your money.

If you’re going to just pick quickly either way, then getting them all at once sounds fun.

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MountainSnowClouds t1_j9xcat1 wrote

If you can comfortably afford it and you want to, then sure. Do it.

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jlaw54 t1_j9e9nos wrote

All the books.

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