Hello!
The rise in social media means now there's a 'day' for everything, and when World Earth Day (focusing on how to preserve the earth's resources) and World Book Night (celebrating reading for pleasure) fell during the same week, it got me thinking about my reading habits, how environmentally friendly (or not) they are, and how they've changed over the years.
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| World Earth Day and World Book Night |
STORIES TO MAKE YOU SMILE
As an aside, World Book Night is offering a collection of Stories To Make You Smile for FREE, which includes pieces by Katie Fforde, Dorothy Koomson, Veronica Henry, Richard Madeley and more, which is available to download in e-book here... STORIES TO MAKE YOU SMILE
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| A free collection of uplifting stories for World Book Night... |
Back to my bookaholic tendencies, and just how environmentally friendly are my reading habits?
E-READER
When thinking about e-books, I felt quite virtuous. I wasn't amongst the first to adopt an e-reader but, once I had one, quickly converted to buying more e-books than paperbacks. A quick audit shows I currently have 523 on Kindle. Number read - 119. Given I read around 50 books per year, it will take me 8 years to complete my Kindle collection. I was shocked! I comforted myself that these numbers were less wasteful than if I'd bought paperbacks.
PAPERBACKS
Time to confront my paperback addiction... I always buy my monthly book club read in paperback form, as well as having a favourite list of authors I love to see on my bookshelf. Then there are the novels I know I'll wish to share with family, with friends. Also, I prefer to read shorter fiction in paperback - short stories, flash fiction, poetry. And non-fiction too.
Last week, I invested in yet another bookcase. The Rose Metal Press Field Guild to Writing Flash Fiction arrived whilst writing this post! I didn't dare count the paperbacks dotted in stacks around the house, but a rough estimate of ones still to be read sits around 150. Again, using my 50 books per year reading rate, this will take me 3 years to complete.
So far, I have enough reading material to keep me occupied for the next 11 years!
AUDIOBOOKS
Over the past year, the most dramatic change in my reading habits has been the increased number of audiobooks completed. I use a variety of platforms, which made it difficult to work out how many I own. However, I can say with confidence that I have 36 still waiting to be read. Given it takes me a fortnight to finish an audiobook, this means I have enough listening to last well over a year.
TSUNDOKU
It would be fair to say I suffer from tsundoku, the Japanese word for purchasing more literature than I have time to read.
MY READING ECO FOOTPRINT
I suspected my book buying habit was hefty, but even I was surprised by the stats and know I can do better - particularly as far as my teetering paperback piles are concerned. That said, I wish to continue to support authors, but my book audit has highlighted that I need to be more thoughtful about the format I chose, and speed up my reading!
So, have your reading habits changed over the years? Do you suffer from tsundoku? How do you decide which format is best when purchasing a book?
Also, remember to bag your FREE e-copy of Stories To Make You Smile...
Happy reading!
Rae xx
I think I'm about similar to you, except no audiobooks (for me, books have to go in through the eyes not the ears). A kindle bursting at the seams and a huge number of paperbacks. I gave away about 100 paperbacks last year when we were decluttering before moving house (though I hesitate to call books clutter!) and about 200 a few years before that. Far, far too many still. But more are bought weekly. Tsundoku - yes!
ReplyDeleteYour comment about hesitating to refer to books as clutter made me laugh, Kath. If another family member made so much house room for their hobby, I'm not sure I'd be so patient! : )
DeleteI love "TSUNDOKU", which is good - because I've got a REALLY bad case of it!
ReplyDeleteIt's incurable in my case, too. I will ALWAYS by books by my friends; the one thing I can't buy though is Time!! *sigh*
Hey Ho, I'll just have to keep suffering!
I agree, John, if each book came with its own little parcel of time, we'd be sorted!
DeleteI've downloaded the WBN short story collection - thank you for flagging it up. You are brave, Rae - not sure I want to know how many unread books/e-books I have!
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting exercise, Kate because even though I'm surrounded by paperbacks, I hadn't a clue how many were still to be read. Also, I find it difficult to pass those I have read to a charity shop. I understand it helps raise much needed funds and is better for the environment, but then the poor author misses out on royalties... As with many eco questions, there are no easy answers.
DeleteI love paperbacks, but I read a lot digitally. It's convenient and cost effective most the time. Always, after I'm done with a digital I enjoyed, I wished I had the paperback for my shelves. I haven't been able to get into audio. I've listened to a few, but usually end up giving up. The only time audio seems to work is when I'm on a long car drive.
ReplyDeleteHi Andie, I spent most of the past five months alone, which made it easier to listen to audio - out walking, making dinner etc. Wearing earbuds feels a bit antisocial when there are others around!
DeleteHI Rae, in a fit of tidying up a while ago I put all the books I hadn't read in one place and it felt like I had a miniature bookshop in the house - very exciting discovering them all again! Now, I try to put any new books there so I can keep a track of what I still have to read. Tsundoku definitely applies to me!
ReplyDeleteI buy most of my paperbacks from charity shops partly to help the charity, partly to recycle and partly because they are so cheap. I prefer a paperback to an ebook, but I am now reading more ebooks than ever before.
ReplyDeleteI definitely suffer from tsundoku, but I will never stop buying books. As for format, I have become quite attached to my Kindle. It's lightweight, so easy on the wrists, and I can read without turning lights on. I also love audio books and would say that I listen to more books than actually read. There's something about being read to by a professional that is so satisfying!
ReplyDelete