In the three months during which I was not buying books, I bought 35 books: 0 in January, 17 in February and 18 in March. 25 of those books were for the kids.
So, in the three months during which I was not buying books, I bought 10 for myself. 7 of those books were work-related.
So, in actual fact, in the three months during which I was not buying books, I only slipped three times.
I know, I don’t buy it, either.
I am going to declare the TBR Dare a qualified failure. I gave in to temptation. I bought books for the kids that could have waited, and yes, it was a way to satisfy the book-buying urge without having to cop to it. But I also read 29 books from my shelves and read in a more purposeful way than has been the case in past years. I have appreciated having the external check on my impulse buys and the push to just get on with what’s already on the bedside table.
Books Bought (18)
I bought several new and used Folio Society books for the kids this month. Having joined the Folio Society, I had to satisfy our membership requirements, but I also went in search of second-hand copies of books to add to our library: The Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch, by Rosemary Sutclif, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald.
While killing time before a doctor’s appointment, I went into the Bob Miller Bookroom with Rowan and bought Coyote’s New Suit by Thomas King and Seamus Heaney’s verse translation of Beowulf. We also met Charlotte, whom I was able to thank personally for the push to join the Folio Society.
I managed not to buy any books for myself in Chicago, but I did come home with a pile of them for the kids, both as souvenirs and as gifts from the Easter Bunny (shhhh): C is for Chicago by Ashleigh Deese Gramb, Looking at Pictures: An Introduction to Art for Young People by Joy Richardson, Draw Ocean Animals by Doug DuBosque, Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids by Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen, Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (set in Chicago), Elephants Cannot Dance, by Mo Willems, and 123 A Child’s First Counting Book by Alison Jay.
For work: Only Connect: Readings on Children’s Literature, second edition and Only Connect: Readings on Children’s Literature, third edition Ed. Sheila Egoff.
The real slip: a book about books: The Pleasure of Reading Ed. Antonia Fraser. It was $7. Hardcover. I couldn’t resist.
For the grown ups from the Folio Society: Impossible Journeys by Mathew Lyons and The Complete Miss Marple Short Stories by Agatha Christie.
Books Read (10)
Beowulf
Retold by Nicky Raven
Illustrated by John Howe
John Howe did the art for the Lord Of The Rings movies, which Rowan and Griffin have loved watching since reading The Hobbit, and I liked that bridge. I wanted to read them one of the inspirations for Tolkien’s stories, and they ate it up. I’m keening for my lost Old English knowledge. The one class in graduate school that I thought I’d never, ever come back to, and here I am wishing I could remember more. I think I’ll get the Seamus Heaney verse translation as an audio book to listen to in the car with the kids.
Whodunnit, Mystery Stories Selected by Philip Pullman. A disappointment.
Still Life with June by Darren Greer was a Canada Reads Independently pick, for which I’m grateful, otherwise I would not have picked it up. The story works its way to a wonderful confluence of narrative threads at the end. It was a page-turner, and the metafictional aspect of it appealed to me.
Reading Women by Stephanie Staal.
I got a jump on National Poetry Month and read three collections of poems in March. Boxing the Compass by Richard Greene won the Governor General’s award for poetry in 2010. (Full disclosure: I studied 18th Century Women Writers with Rick in grad. school). It is a marvellous selection, and “Boxing the Compass”, an elegy to his father, has become one of my favourite poems. I also re-read A Newer Wilderness by Roseanne Carrara, another a marvellous collection by a friend from UofT that had me catching my breath with awe. Joy Is So Exhausting by Susan Holbrook rounded out the three.
Looking at Pictures: An Introduction to Art for Young People by Joy Richardson is an introduction to art history that Griffin and I read in a café across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago while we had an early dinner and before our Griffin/Mummy night at the museum. Wonderful.
This Cake is for the Party by Sarah Seleky gave me joy in spades. Not one of the stories in this collection had an ending I would have predicted, and I very much enjoyed the rides these stories took me on.
Finally, I read Clare Messud’s The Emperor’s Children for my book club. Never in all my reading life have I liked a narrator so much while at the same time having so little admiration for or connection to the characters she describes. I kept marveling at how Messud pulls it off. I will definitely read more of her.
I always think everyone who cuts down on bookbuying at all is winning at the TBR Dare. I’m embarrassed when I look around my room and notice how many books I’ve acquired since coming to New York. It has to be close to fifty.
I definitely cut down on books for myself, but, as I say, I bought more for the kids than we can read any time soon. The lasting value of this kind of exercise is that I spend more time reading, less time browsing. All to the good.
Technically, the TBR Dare has nothing to do with book buying, just reading. So I think you can say qualified success.
But as long as you had fun with it, that’s all that matters as far as I’m concerned.
I *did* have fun with it, and I hope you will do one again next year. It helps to know that others are on the same dare.
I *love* that you bought 35 books during the 3 months of not buying books. that’s perfect:) I look forward to discovering poetry by R. Greene — thanks for the reading tip!
Yeah, so much for my will of iron. I guess I can say that I did last for one perfect month. Do track down the collection, Julia. Lots in there about the academic life.
[…] am not a big fan of diets or of deprivation; my attempts to stop buying books have not gone well. But I have found Eliza’s Cross’s money diet challenge to be an effective and […]