The Effects of Book Hauls on life in general & TBR Shelves

I just ordered 9 books off of the internet. I do not know why I do this to myself. Though in my defense I have been holding off on buying books for a few months now. And then someone told me about the clearance sale on Flipkart and I just freaked out. I got two, that's right TWO hardcover books for less than 700 rupees. That's less than 10 USD, which is rare in India.

It is a good thing that we are now able to get a lot of books in India that were not really available to us before. But there is a problem that arises when there are addicts like me around. I allude to my addiction to books. The minute I hear of a good book, I need to read it.

I do read e-books but somehow its not the same. So when I read a book and love it enough, I buy the physical book. And sales like the ones this past weekend encourage me to buy books I've not yet read but have heard a lot of. My family might be horrified to learn that I ordered NINE books but what they do not know is that I passed over buying double that number of books. They would not understand that this is actually shopping in moderation for me.

I justify my buying of books by saying that I do not buy high ticket items like clothes or jewellery. But that actually pisses my mother off more I think. She would actually prefer me wearing better clothes. So buying books gets me into trouble with my Mother and also my Grandmother.

Another problem that arises is that of space. I am have stacked my books in boxes, in my closet, in shelf space behind a mirror and at my home in Karimnagar. I have close to 200-250 books that I bought with my own money or received as gifts. Now, when I have to move out and go to a place of my own I'll have to search for a place that can accommodate my existing collection of books and the future books that I will buy.

The major problem with me buying books is that my To Be Read shelf increases by those many books. One of the things I do to offset this is that I first read the e-book version and if I really love it I get the physical book. This helps me keep my TBR shelf in check. This would be a great solution if I didn't discover new books that I would just love to read every other day.

Anyway, no matter how much I think I'm going to curb on my spending when it comes to books, it ain't gonna happen. I'll just have to be very careful and save before I splurge. I will try and spend money on books when there are sales like the one Flipkart had just a few days ago.

If anyone is curious as to the books I got this time around, they are:

1. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
3. Flipped by Wendelin van Draanen (Hard Cover)
4. There is no Dog by Meg Rosoff (Hard Cover)
5. Nobody's Girl by Sarra Manning
6. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
7. Persuasion by Jane Austen
8. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
9. The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherine Valente