Category: Bookish Things

Every time I go to an Airbnb and there’s a bookshelf, I spend an exorbitant amount of time perusing them. This is in part, because the only bookshelf I ever really get to see is my own. When I stand there looking over the creased spines, reading the titles I’m always reminded of that John Waters quote. You know the one, “If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t *ahem* them.”

After a little perusing the internet, I found a full version, which I do prefer: “We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t f*** them. Don’t let them explore you until they’ve explored the secret universes of books. Don’t let them connect with you until they’ve walked between the lines on the pages. Books are cool, if you have to withhold yourself from someone for a bit in order for them to realize this then do so.” But, I digress.

I don’t necessarily agree with this, I mean, if you go home with someone and they have walls and walls of bookshelves filled with crime novels, true crime books, and books on how to commit crime, maybe run the other way as fast as you can?

The books we own can say a lot about us as people - people with shelves lining their walls evidently enjoy collecting books, those with few are perhaps more selective, a person with a heap of nonfiction may love learning, and someone with a bunch of fantasy probably enjoys escapism.

I like to think my shelves have meaning. For me, that meaning is also a means to keep my book spending to a minimum. I use my library a lot, (like, a lot, a lot) and that’s a massive way that I can read widely without busting the budget. I buy very few books. Yes, sometimes it’s very difficult to resist temptation. Yes, I enjoy perusing bookstores. Yes, sometimes I cave, sometimes I break the rules. But I do have rules, they are what help me maintain my book buying budget.

Firstly though, you should know, I’m a naturally frugal person. I don’t like having stuff. It panics me. Too many books and I feel like they’re going to crush me. This could be, in part, due to living between two countries and having to fit everything I own into a medium sized suitcase. It could also be due to growing up in an earthquake prone area that succumbed to disaster in 2011, where you really couldn’t have bookshelves, because they would crush you if the books all fell out. I refuse to own any piece of furniture that is taller than me. But this isn’t a counselling session, so let’s move on. Now you know a thing or two about me, these rules might make a little more sense.

The Rules of the Shelf

The rules of my bookshelf revolve around the goal of my bookshelf, they are determined by what kind of collector I am, and what I want my bookshelf to say about me. I’m a story person, and I want my bookshelf to tell a story. The books upon my shelf are all books that I have found a piece of myself in. I’m not saying that reading helped me on a path of self-discovery, instead, it was much more that while reading these books I had that, ‘omg! Me too’ sensation, where something the author said or had characters do really clicked with me. Connected with me. Those are the books that fit into the first of three golden rules:

1. If You’ve Read it Twice, and Want to Read it for a Third time, Get It

Truth is, I generally really only reread books I absolutely love. I definitely only reread them more than twice if I really connect with them. If I read a book from the library and spend the next few months after returning it, wishing I had a copy to delve back into, then I’ll buy one. Usually, I’ll splurge to get a really nice copy. Sometimes I’ll wait for it to be discounted, which I don’t mind, because I’m not an impatient person.

I could list every book I own if you really wanted me to, because they all mean something to me, granted, I own about 50 books, so it’s really not a feat. I guess the poetic side of me likes to think that anyone could go to my shelf and read the titles, trying to find the bits I related to, trying to piece the puzzle of me together by the books on my shelf.

If you want to save money on books, I recommend borrowing the ones you want to read and buying the ones you love. Or, if you want to buy all the books, sell them if you don’t want to keep them, and come up with a poetic puzzle to your own bookshelf, something to tell people about, or something to keep close to your heart, like an inside joke between you and your bookshelf.

2. If You Want it and it’s Under $5, Get it

This rule was designed with two facts about me in mind: I like good deals, and I am human. Sometimes I cannot resist the temptation to purchase books. It’s not often that I go to a bookstore and have to have something. I’m good at leaving when I want something really bad but I a) know I don’t need it and b) can imagine it falling off my shelf and crushing me. Having said that, I often buy a handful of Wordsworth classics when they’re on special for under $5, because I like to annotate my classics, and I don’t like writing on expensive books. Sometimes I even push the $5 to $10 if it’s a book I’ve wanted to read for an age but the Library copy is really grotty, and I can’t get into it as an eBook. Honestly, I only own two books that I purchased on a whim for under $5, one that I purchased for over $5, and three that are Wordsworth Classics, which means I've used this rule a grand total of five times.

3. If You No Longer Love it, Get Rid of It

I love getting rid of things. I purge my wardrobe every few months and always manage to get rid of something (having said that, I’m really getting low on clothes), and I purge my bookshelf at least once a year, usually selling and sometimes donating. I un-hauled my entire set of Throne of Glass last year, not because I didn’t like it, but because I knew I didn’t want to reread it anymore. The year before I un-hauled my entire collection of Twilight. Selling books frees up money to buy new books. It’s a very good cycle. Besides, getting rid of things is very liberating, especially if you don’t like stuff like me.  

The Exceptions: There have to be exceptions to every rule, right? Otherwise, they’re not rules at all. On my bookshelf, I make exceptions for gifts. They’re allowed to live upon the shelf even if I haven’t read them, in part, to throw a curveball at a prospective peruses, and also because I adore being gifted books. It’s not something my family or close friends do, they say they can never pick out books for me and know I generally only want books I love, and I already have them, so what’s the point? I do have a handful of good friends in the book world that do know what books to get me, and the others I’ve been gifted were from publishers.

So there it is, the simple way that I manage my book buying budget. Do you guys have a book buying budget? How do you manage them? Or, do you have a poetic mysterious secret that explains your entire collection while perfectly representing your personality? Sound of in the comments, I'm excited to hear!

As always, thanks for reading!

I don’t know about you, but I love my local library. I don’t have a massive book budget to fill my shelves with every book that I’ve ever wanted to read, but lucky for me, my library seemingly does (I’ll admit, I don’t know the extent of their budget, but they buy me five books a month, so it’s larger than mine). Though there are a lot of people who use the library, I feel like there aren’t enough. Maybe it’s my divine purpose on this planet to make people realise what a good thing we’ve got, so here you have my top ten epic features of public libraries.

Books

Of course, books are my first reason. The amount of books you can loan will depend on your library, and the length will too. My local library allows thirty books for thirty days. Yes, I often max that out and hit the renew button like it’s a lifesaver, but if you’ve got better time management than me and you can read a book a day, the library will hook you up with 360 books a year. My Goodreads history will tell you that’s more than I’ve ever read, so you’ll be set if you want to really challenge yourself.
If you’re one of those folks who only like to read new releases, you’d be surprised at how quickly the library gets them in. The key to it, is to know of the release well in advance so you can place a reservation before all of the other bookworms in your area.
As for one of the main deterrents that stop people from borrowing from their libraries, sure, some of the copies are a little beat up and dirty, but if the book has been protected with clear contact, you can easily just wipe it down with an antibacterial wipe. It may still look a little yuck, but you won’t catch any nasties.

Wifi

My town is all over free wifi. We have it down Main Street, we have it on the beach, in most cafes, and in all our malls, but my favourite place to sit and use the free wifi is in the library (see number 3 and 6 for my reasons why) Sure, it mightn’t be the fastest internet on the planet, but if you’re from Australia and you’ve been suffering through private NBN recently, you probably won’t notice much difference.
Sure, there are limitations to what you can do on public wifi (no illegal business, sorry folks, but you know you shouldn’t be doing that anyway), and if you didn’t bring your own device, the public computers often have time limits and a lot of websites blocked, and on top of that, there are things you probably shouldn’t do on public computers and wifi, for your own safety and security (leave the online banking for home), but for scrolling Instagram, jotting down blog posts, updating your Pinterest, finishing assignments, and even gaming, YouTube or streaming services, the local library’s wifi is definitely a massive perk, and something I’ll be eternally grateful for.

Air-con/ heating

I live in the subtropics, south of the equator, where summer spans December to February and Winter is just some strange concept or an old memory from living in another place. It’s March as I write this, and the temperature hit about 35 degrees yesterday (about 95 for you Fahrenheit folks) so air con is a must, especially in the humidity. Thankfully my library cranks that air con right down to a lovely cold temperature and places a good amount of seats in the sun, so you can bask in that beautiful light (protected from the UV, and the ozone hole by the glass) while staying at a comfortable temperature. Of course, the free wifi and cold air con do make the library very crowded during summer holidays, and it’s not always the quietest space, but from a reprieve from the heat, I’ll take it.

Requesting titles

One of my favourite hobbies is to spend my local library’s money. It’s their fault for offering this service and putting it on the homepage of their website. Granted, it’s in tiny letters, but I’m fairly good at finding things on the internet. So, you can bet that I fill out that purchase request form a great many times, and thankfully my library always obliges me, and orders in the books I’d like to read. It’s a service to them too, though, because the books always end up with a thousand reservations on them (credit to the internet book world for hooking me up with the hottest new reads, you make me feel popular *insert Glenda, WICKED gif*), also I’d just like to quickly apologise to anyone living in my region who reserves a book that I’ve requested because I always forget to return them quickly, I know, I know - I’m working on it.

Inter-library loans

Sometimes, if I’ve drained my library’s bank account for the month and they don’t have any spare money to let me buy stuff with, they’ll bring in books from other libraries (likely ones with fewer book bloggers spending all their money, but that’s just speculation). The best part about this, is that you have the option of paying for an inter-library loan, or requesting one for free. We all like free things, no? So, don’t worry if your library doesn’t show a particular book in their catalogue, scour their website for small little options to request a book for purchase or interlibrary loan, and if you can’t find that option (likely written in very small letters) pop in and have a chat with one of the friendly, bookworm librarians and they might be able to find it for you.

Reading nooks

It's about 10am as I write this and it’s just hit 31 degrees, but I’m pretty sure the air con is on 20, and this sun is the only thing that’s keeping me from grabbing my cardigan. I love the seats I'm sitting in right now, they’re perfect for curling up in and reading whatever book I can grab. I have sat in these chairs for hours and hours some weekends and read multiple books from cover to cover. I’ve also spent hours annoying everyone within hearing range with my very loud keyboard as I write posts. They’re one of my favourite things, and I’m always a little upset when they’re not available. I know not every library has spots like these, and I’m always grateful my library does. Scour your local library for somewhere warm or cool to sit and read or work. Bring some headphones (or earplugs) if you don’t want to listen to the usual noise of the place. Some Ibrahim’s are quiet, but mine, unfortunately, is not.

Music

My library has a lot of ways that you can listen to all the hip new music, sure, with streaming services like Spotify, I definitely don’t use these services as much as I used to, but I’m grateful they exist. My library allows free loaning of CDs, and you can also download five free music titles a week from their website. We love a cheap Queen.

Movies

My library also has a giant range of DVDs available for loan, both movies and TV shows. Online, you can also watch a lot of indie and local film and TV for free with their unusual streaming services.

Ebooks

So the grotty old library books really got you down? Never fear! The ebook collection is here! My library has two book catalogues, Overdrive (compatible with Kindle eReaders in the United States only), and Wheelers. Both are compatible with Kobo eReaders, like the Kobo H2O I own. Overdrive and wheelers also have apps in the App Store and Google play for mobile devices. The ebook catalogues are way bigger than I thought they were, and requesting a title for purchase is super easy too!

Audiobooks

I don’t use audiobooks half as much as I should. My local library offers audiobook downloads across three apps, Overdrive, Bolinda Borrow Box and RB digital, each site/app have different books on their catalogue, making it easy to find what you’re looking for. I'm not a big audiobook listener, but one thing I really like about having access to free audiobooks is that I can slowly ease myself into listening to them, without feeling as though I'm wasting money by having a subscription to an audiobook service and not using it.

Bonus: Educational resources.

Along with a massive non-fiction catalogue, my library also offers free subscriptions to sites like Mango languages, perfect if you want to learn a new language or brush up your skills. My library also offers free seminars and talks about interesting topics, everything I know about photography I learned from one of these free talks. I'd definitely recommend checking out their events calendar to see if its something they offer.

What are some of your favourite features of your local library?