“Where Do My Books Come From?”

1. On November 7th, 2017 at 6:05 am Rebecca Foster Says:

   I’m glad you chipped in — this post was too fun to pass up, wasn’t it? The library use and e-books make sense given your downsizing efforts. I see a couple of books I absolutely loved on your lists: The Longest Night and Sweetbitter. How did you like those? And then I was surprised to see that Samuel Hawley is a real author name — I’d only seen it as a novel character (The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti).

2. On November 7th, 2017 at 10:14 am Debbie Says:

   Funny you should ask about Sweetbitter. I was using an audio version and couldn’t finish it. Maybe it was the narrator, but I just wasn’t getting it. The Longest Night was really interesting, and taught me about something I had never even heard about.

   Thanks for pointing out about Hawley’s name. I KNEW I had heard it somewhere before. 😉

3. On November 7th, 2017 at 4:12 pm Naomi Says:

   Great library use! I think the library will likely be the highest percentage for me as well. (When I get around to this post.) Although, I also feel the frustration of never getting to your own books because of it!

   What did you think of Will Ferguson’s new book? I just won it from Goodreads.

4. On November 7th, 2017 at 7:44 pm Debbie Says:

   Naomi, since 419, I never know what to expect from Will Ferguson (my #nonficNov Instagram post today (7th) features Ferguson). So it’s probably not very informative to tell you that it’s “different”. It’s a really interesting look at how the human brain works and I very much enjoyed it.

5. On November 7th, 2017 at 5:03 pm BuriedInPrint Says:

   I’m in a library phase right now, for sure, but that’s mainly because I’ve slipped out of my backlisted reading for this year to read the Giller longlist and some of the other new CanLit titles! In the past, there have been years where I have read almost exclusively from the library (sometimes by choice, sometimes not-so-much) but I’ve been really trying to shift the balance in recent years. I love to actually “check the math” on habits like this, because so often we think we are doing one thing but we’re actually doing something else entirely – something happening to our intentions (good or otherwise) along the way!

6. On November 7th, 2017 at 7:47 pm Debbie Says:

   So true, Marcie! My intentions this year were to simply augment my reading from my own shelves with the occasional library book. :-0

7. On November 7th, 2017 at 5:12 pm Whispering Gums Says:

   Lovely to see you back. I won’t do the analysis, but I know roughly. More than half are review books (all hard copies), most of the rest are bought (about two of which were eBooks), and a couple were gifts. I daren’t go near libraries, even though I’m a librarian by profession (now retired). If I don’t read review copies, I read books I’ve bought (for reading group, because tempted by a review or award-listing, or at an author event) or gifts because I feel guilty. Some of the “books I’ve bought” and “gifts” are TBR. This is where I go instead of to the library when I’m deciding what to read, and l feel l can have a break from the review copies! I don’t do Net Galley. Review books HAVE to be print for me.

8. On November 7th, 2017 at 7:49 pm Debbie Says:

   Thanks for the welcome back, Sue. Unfortunately, print review copies seem to be in short supply in Canada. How often do I see “U.S. mailing address only”? Far, far too often.

9. On November 18th, 2017 at 6:11 pm Emma Says:

   I hardly ever buy books, but right now for this year, my library use is 33%, as I receive a lot of books for review
   I do major charts and pies at the end of the year, and one is about that.
   It’s actually more than last year, I can see on my 2016 recap, it was 28%: https://wordsandpeace.com/2017/01/01/year-of-reading-2016-statistics/

10. On November 18th, 2017 at 7:43 pm Debbie Says:

    Cool statistics, Emma! I’d be interested to see how my books look broken down like that although I suspect they are not nearly as varied as yours, especially in language and country of origin.

11. On December 14th, 2017 at 6:26 pm Whispering Gums Says:

    Just decided to do the analysis Debbie and I was right: 50% exactly were print review, 33% were print bought , 10% ebook bought, and the other two books were a free ebook and a gift. So, too many review copies. I’d like to get them down to about one-third. But I do leave they be print and since I only review Aussie books that seems to work. Very very occasionally I review an e-version.

12. On December 20th, 2017 at 12:23 pm Debbie Says:

    That’s a lot of pressure to get reviews done, Sue, having half your reading as review books!

13. On January 13th, 2018 at 3:33 pm Patty Says:

    Most of my books are from publishers so I feel a tremendous obligation to read read read! I do get some ebooks from the library and I love that!

14. On January 13th, 2018 at 4:06 pm Debbie Says:

    I found that too, Patty, when I was getting (mostly) ebooks for review. My guilty conscience finally got the better of me, and I took my name off the list.