This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish, asks what bookish things we’ve quit. Once I got going, I had no trouble thinking of 10 things. Here’s my ten:
1. Collections of letters.
I used to be an absolute sucker for collections of letters. There was something irresistible about them for me and I’m not quite sure what it was. Maybe I just wished I was a professional bookish person (maybe a writer or critic?) who could spend free time reading in my study, pouring over collections of letters. I bought letter collections for authors I love (P. G. Wodehouse) and for authors I didn’t love (Ted Hughes) and letter collections between writers (Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell). And then they sat there. Collecting dust. Untouched. It turns out I am not a professional literary person who can pour over letter collections at my leisure. I am a person who can’t keep up with all the novels and non-fiction and galleys that I want to read. During my Great Book Purge of 2014, I accepted that about myself, and got rid of these collections. As of today, I’ve only finished reading one collection of correspondence (As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto) and I only own one letter collection (Kurt Vonnegut – I figure I can keep my favorite author’s, and I have read some of it).
2. Buying fiction from authors I’ve never read before in hardcover.
I’ve had to stop this habit because one of two things usually happened: 1. I read the book and I enjoyed it ok, but it wasn’t something I felt I needed to own in hardcover. 2. Because I wasn’t familiar with the author, the book lost its initial excitement in my eyes and I wasn’t motivated to read it right away. And then it was still sitting there, unread, months later when the paperback came out. Now I either wait for the paperback or, more often, reserve it from the library. I try to only buy hardcover fiction by authors I already know and love: things that I enjoy owning in hardcover and that I want to read right away: Jhumpa Lahiri, George Saunders, Jasper Fforde, and Nicholson Baker are the fiction authors that come to mind first.
3. Fancy journals.
I love beautiful journals. They are so lovely, and fun to look at. But I do not like writing in them anymore. I buy the 3 pack of 5 x 8.25 Moleskine Cahier Journals
4. Cookbooks
I used to buy a lot of cookbooks and baking books. I love them, but I think I hit a wall – I had a lot, too many really. I edited down my collection and got rid of the ones that I never opened. Now my collection is well used and well loved – mostly Alton Brown, America’s Test Kitchen, and some particularly great baking books. They are my gold standards, and any other recipes I need I get from the internet.
5. Believer Magazine.
I love Believer Magazine, in theory. It’s full of interesting articles and interviews, and it’s responsible for introducing me to my beloved Nick Hornby column, Stuff I’ve Been Reading. In practice, I never had time or enough motivation to read it instead of all the books piling up. I’ve quit a few other literary magazines too, but The Believer was the one I subscribed to and kept all the back issues. It took a lot of gumption to accept this and get rid of it all, but I’m a happier, less burdened person now.
6. Buying multiple travel guides before a vacation.
Before all my vacations pre-2014, I would buy at least 3 to 4 travel guides about my destination. My devotion to studying them pre-departure did not match the intensity of my purchasing, but I bought them nevertheless. After traveling to 16 countries in 4 months last year and not having time to plan everything out ahead of time or space to bring along guides for each destination, I realized I don’t need so many guides. I’ll still buy a travel guide before a trip, but now I buy just one, which is much more manageable to study before leaving.
7. Bookplates.
I love bookplates. I think they’re beautiful, and can be a quirky and fun way to add personality to a book. I used to collect them: I’d hunt for vintage bookplates on Etsy, and buy new ones at bookstores. But I found I was never using them – my preferred mark of book ownership is my name and the date & place purchased – written simply in the top right corner of the first page. I’ve recently had to embrace the truth that while I love bookplates in theory, I’m not someone who enjoys using them in practice. So I’ve stopped collecting them.
8. Amazon.
Ok, yes – once in a while I’ll grab a used book from the Amazon marketplace that is out of print or hard to find, but for the most part – I won’t buy books on Amazon. (I’ll buy other stuff, not books.) I love Independent bookstores too much – I love slowly wandering through them on a weekend afternoon, popping in after work to grab a new release I’m excited about, and exploring indies when I travel. I value them, so my book money goes to help support them.
9. New editions of Harry Potter books.
Last year I owned 3 sets of Harry Potter books: the original hardcovers that my Mom and I collected and read as they were released, a set of British edition paperbacks, and the beautiful boxed set with the Hogwarts art across the spines. That’s a lot of editions, even for someone who owns 3 Harry Potter wands and has been to Harry Potter World twice. In my recent book purging I donated the set of British paperbacks to an after school reading/writing program nearby, and now I’m quite content with just my hardcovers and beautiful boxed set of paperbacks. (And full set of audiobooks, although those don’t take up space so they don’t count.) I’m aware of the absolutely beautiful illustrated editions
10. Buying books to fill a house I don’t live in yet.
Someday, hopefully, we will live in a cozy little house, with two dogs and a cat. It won’t be huge, but it will be bigger than our NYC apartment, and it will have plenty of room for books. During the 9+ years I’ve lived in NYC, I’ve had this goal in my head, and it felt real enough that I would sometimes buy books to put in this house. Beautiful old copies of classic novels to fill a guest room shelf with. Old books about sea travel to put on nightstands, books of photography to put on coffee tables. I didn’t buy them often – usually just when I saw them at a used book sale at a price that was too good to pass up. But I bought them enough that I had no room to store them in my NYC apartment alongside all the books I wanted to read, and own now. I usually lugged them home to my old closet in my parent’s house in Michigan (sorry Parents!). Well – I’ve quit this habit now, it’s no good. We will still move to a nice little house someday, but when that actually happens is when I will go out and enjoy hunting for books to fill it.
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What bookish things have you quit? (Or what bookish habits do you NEED to quit? Or WILL NEVER quit?)
Oh boy, I’m a total sucker for the journals, too. And I don’t think I’ve written in a journal properly since I was in elementary school, I just really, really want to. I keep thinking that gorgeous paper will make me.
I just want to own all the beautiful leather journals and gorgeous paper. And yet, even though I write in my notebook fairly regularly, I somehow NEED the plain moleskine – it’s like the pressure of the gorgeous ones is too great.
This was such a unique list for today. I’ve never heard of collecting collections of letters. It’s interesting. I love journals too but I’m not much of a journal-writer. I have journals where I’ve made entries and I even come back to them from time to time. However, I don’t even average an entry a year, lol. I have no discipline for consistent writing.
I write fairly regularly in my notebook – but for some reason I just need a plain one to fully relax and write – the pressure of the beautiful journals is too great! Weird, but true.
Great post, I’m impressed with both coming up with ten things and the substantive things you’ve given up. I’m with you on the hardbacks. I sometimes get lulled into a hardback buy from a new author, generally when I have a gut reaction to the cover and am out supporting my indie. Otherwise, I get from the library and THEN if I fall in love I go out and buy the hardback for the shelf. Which is something *I* should give up, since I am not a re-reader. But I still love having my beloveds on the shelf, you know?
Completely agree – if something is a very favorite, I must have a nice copy. I don’t always need it in hardcover, but often they end up that way… especially when I go to events and signings. And then I get sucked into the trap of “well I own all their OTHER books in hardback… this new one needs to match!” Oy. The problems of book lovers. ;)
Oh, don’t even get me started on the whole “must match’ thing. I almost hate it when I’ve been collecting an author’s books in quality paperback (because that’s the only way they’re published) and then the author gets popular and they start coming out in hardcover. THEN WHAT DO YOU DO?!?! Such quandaries. :)
Great list. I’ve looked at letter collections, but I’ve never bought one because I know that I won’t read them.
Thank you!
You’ve been better disciplined that I was – I for some reason could not resist them. I should have known I was unlikely to ever read most of them! :)
I had to stop buying books solely for decorative purposes as well. One day, I will have a house with a library AND built-in bookshelves, and then I’ll buy books for them. (If there’s still room after I unpack all the books that are currently stored in boxes in the guest room closet…)
Likewise! And what fun we’ll have when we have those built in shelves and can start to buy beautiful things to fill them …. if there’s any room left! :D
Ahahaha, this is such a good list. I have stopped owning multiple copies of the same book, with a very few minor exceptions. Including, yes, I’m going to buy all the illustrated Harry Potters. They’re too pretty, I cannot resist, and I no longer live in NYC. :p
I just looked at the illustrated edition in person for the first time tonight … and I don’t blame you. They are so pretty. I’m going to hold off for now, but if I have kids someday, I think I’ll have to get the set. For them… of course! ;)
Cookbooks are hard to stop buying. I get a lot of recipes online these days, but there is something about paging through a cookbook with those beautiful pictures that is hard to beat!
They really are – especially with how beautiful they are these days – the design of cookbooks has really transformed over the past decade or so, they are just so beautiful now… practically works of art!
This was fun to read! I do really enjoy reading collections of letters. I love writing letters too and think it is a real art form. I find reading letters of other people to be inspiring :) The thing I have given up doing is subscribing to the book review magazines like the Times Literary Supplement and the New York Review of Books. I read them slower than they arrive in my mailbox and they wold just pile up and collect dust and I would feel really guilty. Also I felt like I had to read them from cover to cover. Now I get the NYRB digitally and for free from my public library and I don’t feel obligated to read every article and because it is digital no dust!
Have you read Shaun Usher’s collection, Letters of Note? I love it – he assembled 125 fascinating letters from important figures or moments in history, and introduces each letter with a little context to help you appreciate it more. This was right up my alley – I love letters too, but found some collections to be daunting – the ones in particular that dragged me down were a bit hard to follow, lots of letters about mundane things that I didn’t know the background on. I am enjoying Vonnegut’s letter collection though, because I’m familiar enough with his life (he’s one of my favorite authors) that I get most of the context behind the letters. It’s wonderful! For some reason though I went through a phase where I bought collections from famous figures that I was not a huge fan of, but just curious about. In those cases, I think a biography or their own work would have been a better place to start.
I’ve had to cancel my subscription to NYRB too! I’d love to have all the time in the world and be able to read each issue cover to cover, but alas. I feel so much less guilty now that they aren’t in piles all around! :)