Overwhelmed and Overloaded...on E-Books

In an age where we hear about what others are reading right away and it only takes a click on Amazon it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the amount of books bought.  Back when I was working full time my true weakness was Kindle daily deals, Romance deals, Book Riot deals because the books are so cheap. I justified this ongoing book addiction because I had co-workers who would spend their breaks at work smoking. E-books seemed like a pollution free, lung friendly way to relieve some stress.  I justified this to myself by saying that if I bought a candy bar I would be spending the amount of money...so it seemed like a great sugar free alternative. But then after a while I felt overwhelmed by the amount of Kindle Books that I had unread.

When I left my position with US Bank I realized that I had to slow my book buying habit down quite a bit. However it really was not that hard when I realized how much reading material that I already had but just needed to find ways to organize better.

First of all, I made sure ALL of my e-book were put intofolders in my collections. Having folders for romance, poetry, sciencefiction/fantasy, etc. made my life so much easier.  I realized that in doing this when I got intoa specific kind of mood I would go to folders that I already had on my Kindle and start to “shop” my collections. I realized that I frequently looked for cheap items in any given category when I got into a certain kind of mood when I was obsessed with my book buying.  Now its kind of fun to see that when I get into these moods that I am working my way through reading more of the books that I already have.

Its not that I do not buy e-books anymore. I do from time to time but I vowed to myself that it has to be something that I know that I will read right away. I usually strive to keep those purchases under five dollars but when I find a book like Bad Science that I read slowly for Doctor Anna's Book Club discussion it provides less of a severe financial impact.  However I do not do this very often. My parents got me a Kindle Unlimited subscription last Christmas and I find that I’ve read quite a few excellent books on Unlimted. We was a strong influence on 1984 which I found frightening and fascinating. And Match Making for Beginners was a really fun romantic comedy that I found through Unlimited. While Unlimited is not curbing my finding new books its nice to have more of a set subscription service and to have books for as long as I want them. In fact I found my favorite vegan cookbook, Thug Kitchen through this service.

My public library has a great selection of e-books as well. While this is not curbing the finding new books constantly dilemma it helps me get a copy of the books for free. This has not only helped my financial budget but it has taught me the art of when I get a new book to read it as soon as I can. The downside is that the wait list for new books can be really long but it also means that when I get them I am really excited to read them. Right now I have some titles that I am excited to sit down and read in my library: Ghosted and The Merry Spinster.

The other thing that helps me a lot is tracking the books that I am reading. I journal regularly about everything I read. I have many comments that I have written about what I read that do not hit my blog. I also love using Goodreads to keep track of what I’ve already read. I honestly use Goodreads more as my personal record keeping system than I do as a social media platform. However I love reading other people’s lists and reviews.

I do not imagine that I will ever completely stop buying books. Its more that I have needed to find ways to get this aspect of my life under more control.  I’ve read things on how to deal with buying books faster than you can read them (and feel relieved that if there is an article on this subject that I am not the only one with this struggle) but the issues specifically surrounding e-books were not addressed as much.  I know that I have talked previously about some of my issues with buying books  (see My Own Reading Challenge, Misconceptions of Book Buyers) and book organization in previous posts. But as accumulating books and reading them is a lifestyle for me various aspects of keeping this life under control needs to be addressed from time to time.  Not feeling overwhelmed or overloaded on e-books makes it easier to enjoy reading them!