Who can tell me...

[dolorous_ett]

... a way to stop buying books?

Books have long since overflowed out of my bookshelves and established colonies on the floor of my flat. While all the piles of books are neat and not particularly unsightly, I have done a quick count, and I currently have 7 piles, all well over a foot in height.

And yet this afternoon, while searching for a birthday present for a friend, I treated myself to two more new books. Despite the fact that I have several very nice books waiting to be read at home, plenty of other books that are well worth a read and two busy weeks of teaching before the end of term...

I can't carry on like this. It's not fair on me, it's not fair on my bank balance and it's not fair on the books - they deserve to be read and cherished, not stored in piles. But how can I stop? New books are nice, and temptation is everywhere. There are at least three second-hand bookshops withing five minutes' walk of my flat.

My F-list seem fantastic at helping answer questions, no matter how abstruse (see last entry). So I thought I'd try my luck again. It's getting crazy in here.

Any advice, up to and including the use of electrodes, gratefully received.

Comments

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness. I'm really not going to be helpful in the slightest. I've already overflowed my current bookshelf in the space of three months, and this doesn't count the (literal) walls of books I've left in both my parents' houses. I'm an addict. I admit to it. In my nine months in Cambridge, I acquired about 90 books in my tiny single room, not counting the ones I brought with me in the first place...

Shelves are good. I don't know if anyone in the UK carries collapsible bookshelves, but I've got five of them and they are absolutely wonderful. Of course, if you've got minimal wall space, you could also try tables with shelves underneath, or possibly hanging shelves so they aren't actually showing up on the floor and the wall; just up high.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Collapsible bookshelves might just do it. I'm reluctant to install anything permanent as I'm going to have to move before so long.

And underneath things isn't a bad plan. Hmmm...