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A Book Buying Ban Isn’t For Everyone
What I discovered after failing my 2022 goal
At the end of last year, I publicly set myself the challenge of not buying any books in 2022. There were various reasons for the ban. Mostly it was to get through my backlog of unread books, save money, and be more thoughtful with my reading.
The article did hold me accountable which I appreciated — it’s the longest I’ve ever gone without buying books! But what was I thinking?! An entire year? It was a very optimistic goal.
By the start of April, the urge to buy books — to revel in the pleasure of browsing and adding new reads to my library — became too strong to ignore.
I caved. I bought 5 books.
- How Should One Read a Book? by Virginia Woolf
- Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
- The Idiot by Elif Batuman
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
They’re all relatively short at least, so they won’t keep me from my other unread books for long. In fact, I’ve already read 2 of them — both were 5-star reads! — and I intend to tackle the rest this month.
