Monday, June 22, 2009

My ultimate challenge.

The other day I was thinking about the sheer amount of the books I own. I knew it was just absolutely ridiculous, and so I made a huge and life-altering decision. I am going to stop buying books until one of two things happens: 1) I finish 50 of the ones I own, or 2) a year goes by. Whichever comes along first.

I have also created rules that I am going to follow:

1. Gifts of books will be accepted.

2. I cannot use gift cards to buy books.

3. I can borrow books from people or the library, but those will not count in my list of 50.

4. I can abandon a book if it's too awful to finish and I've read at least 50 pages, but it will not count in my final 50.

So there you have it. I am challenging myself to stop being stupid and crazy, and to save some money in the process. And yes, maybe I did have a "last hurrah" and buy four books on the day before I decided to start the challenge (I took advantage of the buy 2 get the 3rd free sale on B&N classics--The Three Muskateers, The Call of the Wild & White Fang, and Bulfinch's Mythology--plus I also bought Macbeth), but at least I've started and have already chastised myself about thinking about getting any books. I've already started to think about everyone shopping at the store as lucky for being able to buy what they're shopping for.

And in case you're all wondering, I've told enough people at B&N of my challenge, and at least one has promised to make sure I don't give in to temptation. He actually saw me with two books in my hand the other day as I was leaving the store and said with a suspicious look in his eye, "Now, you didn't buy those, did you?" No worries, man. One was already mine... and I borrowed the other.

1 comment:

Lori said...

I wish I could be as strong. I know of one more book coming out (the new Rebecca Wells). But aside from that, I need to be done, especially because I don't have that many more weeks to work.