The average life expectancy of a UK male is 81.5 years - a figure gleaned from some survey conducted back in 2012.
I just turned 53 at the weekend, which if I'm Mr Average gives me 28.5 years left to read my library.
My dad was 63 when he passed, my granddad was 84. I may have ten years left, or I might get hit by a bus in an hour's time - who knows?
My current reading aim is 120 books a year or ten a month. As I get older and my sight worsens this figure might reduce, or conversely when I retire might actually increase.
Retirement is not yet on the cards.
So far I've logged 86 tubs of 50 books which is 4300 total. I think maybe 30-40 books are duplicates. I probably have another four or five tubs to log - so figure 4500 physical books.
The kindle device has 785 books and 360 documents (mainly books from sources other than Amazon). Total = 1145.
This figure is corrupted by some duplicate downloads of the same thing and a reluctance to purge books from the device once I have read them.
Assuming maybe 25% have been read/duplicated - so deduct 285 = 860.
860 plus 4500 = 5360.
Add in all the PDF printed copies of downloaded books (Munseys, author copies and other sources), plus online Crime Fiction magazines in the stash and we are headed way back over 5500.
5500 divided by 120 = 45.83 years.
Ok - I'm going to live to be 100 and the problem is solved but only if I turn down all future review requests (over 100 declined this year so far), stop visiting Net Galley and Edelweiss, get myself (reluctantly) removed from some generous publishers advance readers lists, and basically acquire a
Can I do it? YES I CAN
No doubt, I will continue to receive drips of books unsolicited but that should dwindle to nothing, once I explain to people and publishers my predicament.
Should I have let this situation spiral out of control to this mad extent? No, but it's done now.
I've been greedy Veruca Salt's even greedier brother!
As a start I've killed off my wishlist on my blog sidebar and I've killed off my 120-odd long Amazon wishlist.
I've opted out of e-mail subscriptions from a few publishers - removing temptation from my path. I've also knocked my Net Galley e-mails on the head.
I have previously agreed to accept and have been promised a couple of books that are due later this year and sometime next year from a couple of people. If they still offer to send them I'm not going to renege on my word, but if they don't arrive I'm not going to complain or sulk.
In some respects I think I might find it quite liberating as although I still kind of feel obligated to read everything an author, publisher or publicist has ever sent me, they might have to wait their turn as I'm planning on reading one of mine, one of theirs, one of mine, one of theirs.
As for new books - I'll be taking things like a recovering alcoholic - one day at a time.
Yesterday I didn't buy a book. Today I won't buy a book!
Wow Col. I didn't see this before I wrote of my own TBR woes. But my 130 unread books seems positively restrained in comparison so thanks for making me feel pretty darned good :)
ReplyDeleteWishing you good luck in saying no in the future.
Bernadette thanks. 130 sounds a reasonable quantity- in some ways I'm envious, in others not. Four days in and nothing has breached the barricades yet!
DeleteWow, Col! I never looked at the whole TBR thing in terms of numbers and life expectancy like that. Probably just as well, considering my own TBR... I wish you will keeping your resolution!
ReplyDeleteMargot thanks - hopefully we both have many happy years of reading ahead of us!
DeleteI won't divulge my TBR mountains but will wish you well on sticking to your resolutions. I will admit to being a book-buying addict but the waste of it all when I can't read them all is even more horrifying. So, I do understand the need to say no. I quit taking solicited reviews several years ago. It can all add up quite quickly and happy belated, belated birthday to you and that you will celebrate many, many more. -K.
ReplyDeleteKeishon thanks for the birthday wishes and your thoughts in response to the TBR mountains. I agree with your thoughts regarding the "waste of it all" but then I kind of counter it by thinking someone (author, publisher, book seller or charity) has benefited from my purchasing of the book even if I don't read it.
DeleteGood luck in the enterprise. I don't have 5500 unread books but I probably have ~2000 (plus I'm a bit older than you), so I know the predicament and sympathize. Resisting temptation is one part of the struggle; I also periodically go along the shelves picking out books I know I'm damn' well never going to read and putting them in a box for a local charity sale, or whatever. It's a token gesture, because the numbers are small compared to what remains on the shelves, but . . .
ReplyDeleteI think I don't have a STOP button even though I know I should have pulled the plug a few years ago. RESISTING TEMPTATION is key. Attractive covers, enticing storylines, a reluctance to say no......versus - cold headed logic. Good luck in your own endeavours to maintain order.
DeleteI was laughing as I read this, not because I don't believe you, but because I have done this sort of math myself. I am MUCH older than you but I do expect to live to at least middle 80's IF I have the same life span as my parents and grandparents. My mother and my grandmother lost their eyesight (to the extent that they could not read) well before they died.
ReplyDeleteI have closer to 1000 - 1500 books unread, but I don't read as many books as you do and I know I have more books than I can read. I do buy a lot of vintage paperbacks just for the covers but I am not counting them. I will not stop buying books but I do plan to cut back.
I totally sympathize, empathize, and wish you good luck. You already have a lot of good books. Just last night I was lusting after all the Anthony Price books you have.
Tracy cheers. A lot of us seem to be in the same boat to greater or lesser extents. Glad I could make you chuckle!
DeleteI'll make time for Anthony Price in 2017!
Happy Birthday, Col. I think you should go have a pint or three and leave all this life-expectancy stuff to the actuaries. But I know – so many books, so little time. That may be the reason I am increasingly impatient with books that don’t amuse me or teach me or excite me. So, I will just keeping reading what I like and hope that I don’t get hit by a beer truck. (By the way, if I do, my wife threatens to bury me with all my books and videos, and free up a lot of space in the house.) Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteElgin thanks. I had a couple of beers on the birthday. I'm not obsessing too much on my impending mortality just trying to put the ridiculous size of the collection into context. I still have trouble casting aside books that I'm not especially enjoying, I kind of hope they get better. Watch out for those beer trucks mate!
DeleteCol, that's a lot of math and I'm not very good at numbers, though I appreciate what you're doing here. I have fewer than 200 paper books and less than half that number on my tab. I deleted dozens of freebies and public domain books a couple of months ago. I have a mental wish-list of books though when the time comes I read whatever fancies me. I have subscribed to a few publishers and distributors, including NetGalley, but seldom pick up books from there. I get a couple of e-newsletters in my inbox that I read every month. When it comes to books, I'm trying not to behave like a kid let loose in a toy shop.
ReplyDeleteI think I was the kid let loose in a town full of toy shops!
DeleteWow that is hot news, what a brave decision! I hope you manage to stick to it, it sounds as though you have taken all the right precautions: we'll see. Good luck...
ReplyDeleteCheers, holding firm so far!
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