Too Many Books

I have a problem. I have too many books.

I used to think that could never really be a problem. I mean, there’s no such thing as too many books. There’s just not enough book shelves.

Now, I still hold to that to a certain extent. Just today I bought three more books when my wife insisted I join her at Half Price Books. Seriously, she’s such an enabler. We probably enable each other, though. She may have also gotten a book or two.

We have two libraries in our home. Each bedroom has multiple bookshelves, too. We don’t have room for all the books we have. And I just backed two more campaigns on Kickstarter! Where am I going to put them all?

And then, on top of that, I’m a writer. We have an inventory of my novels here. A few crates of them. One entire wall of our entryway is just books for selling. And there’s another crate coming of Cade and the Last Starship.

Why is all this a problem?

I look at all those books, I gaze on my TBR wall, and… it hurts. I know that each of those books were written by authors that I want to support. Some I know personally.

When I was still in grade school, I read that there were more than a hundred books published a day. I don’t remember the exact statistic, but I recall reading it and being overwhelmed. How could I ever read all the books if they’re coming out faster than I could read them? And I actually… I actually gave up reading for a bit. Because, seriously, what’s the point?

Clearly I got past that. But now I walk into my library—any of them—or I look at that wall of books beside my bed, and I feel a little guilty. Purchasing a book comes with the implicit promise that I will read it. I have broken that promise again and again and again.

Oh, and then well-meaning friends will tell me I need to read this book or that book.

And I’m not upset at my friends. I’m more frustrated by my own reading.

What am I going to do about it? Get rid of some of my books? Purge the collection? Cut it down to size? Well, yeah, I am going to do some of that. I’ll still have too many books, though.

And I need to remember, simply by purchasing a book, I’ve supported an author. Yes, reading it and reviewing it is also very, very good support, but even just purchasing means I’ve supported them. I don’t need to feel guilt about purchasing and not reading.

I still wanna read them all, though.

So…

Really, I have no idea. Thanks for listening to me vent, though. I appreciate it.