Alli the Book Giraffe

Hello readers! It’s Friday and that means it’s time for Let’s Talk Bookish. This week’s topic centers on buying books and the intent behind it. I love this topic idea, so let’s talk about it!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originated by Eternity Books and is currently hosted by Book Nook Bits and Dinipandareads. The accompanying thumbnail was also designed by Book Nook Bits. Each Friday, bloggers craft posts where they engage in discussions centered around the designated topic for the week.

Prompts: Do you buy books randomly or do you think about what to buy? How do you decide which books to buy vs which books to borrow or just save for later? For books at the top of your TBR, is your go-to buying a book or do you check your library first? What book formats do you own most of—physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks?

I used to be the type of person who wanted to have the biggest library I possibly could have. I wanted the giant piles of books everywhere. But then I realized I had a ton of books with no intention to read any of them.

When I joined the book community back in 2012, I also got my first job. So, I started buying books left and right. I went from being the person who buys a book, reads the books, and repeat to a person who had well over 150 books on my physical TBR. I would buy every book I saw that was on sale and ended up with all these books I would never read.

The following years, I unhauled nearly all those books without even reading them.

Over ten years later, I try to be realistic with myself when I buy a book. If I see a really cheap book on the shelf, I always ask myself whether I will ever actually read it. Most of the time, if it’s a book I’ve never heard of before, the answer is no. I still impulse buy books, but it is really rare for me.

When it comes to buying or borrowing, I find myself borrowing most of the time these days unless I know it’ll be a book I’m going to like. I’ve just been burned so many times. I am sick of buying books and then it being a 2 or 3 star. I’d rather try a new author or genre out on Libby so I don’t have any accumulation of books I don’t like.

There is nowhere where I live to sell books anymore, so I have a hard time unhauling books. The only place I can take them is a Little Free Library down the road.

When it comes to formats, I own mostly physical books. I own nearly 400 books physically, 165 ebooks (some are my kid’s books), and 15 audiobooks.

I really only buy audiobooks when I cannot find an audiobook of a book I want to read on Libby, Hoopla, or Spotify.

Have your buying habits changed over the years? Let me know in the comments!

This post was created by Allison Wolfe for www.allithebookgiraffe.com and is not permitted to be posted anywhere else.

Where to find me: https://linktr.ee/Allithebookgiraffe

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