Fiction Accumulation Syndrome

[NovaSilisko]

I have a problem.

I discovered the used book market. It's like a steam sale that never ends, with thousands more things than you're ever able to buy. It is wonderful and terrible.

My current acquisitions number at eleven twenty-one sixty-two. I am starting to wonder if I need professional help.

So, readers of the KSP forum, can you sympathize with my plight? Have you undergone a similar experience? Have you already buried yourself in books and are typing your reply with your last choking breaths?

Edited November 30, 2015 by NovaSilisko

[Ethanadams]

Well I don't use ebooks but I do read ALOT

[Starwhip]

There's this thing, it's called "The Library".

You can read this stuff for free, or so I've heard.

But yeah, we've got like five thousand sci-fi books at my house, including, but not limited to the Dune books, tons of Anne McCaffery ones, Cosmos, Larry Niven, Issac Asimov...

[NovaSilisko]

There's this thing, it's called "The Library".

You can read this stuff for free, or so I've heard.

Don't have one within easy reach. And, it's not very well stocked without a long request process - the only science fiction they have is a bunch of stuff by Orson Scott Card.

That, and I like having it as my own anyway.

[Starwhip]

That, and I like having it as my own anyway.

Yeah, I agree that owning something is much more satisfying.

[Ethanadams]

http://www.gutenberg.org

free library

[tater]

11?

I have about 500 science fiction titles. I started when I was a kid, but most are now in storage, even though my house has about 250 linear feet of book shelves (all filled with books). This is since my own reading has tended towards history, plus my wife and kids get some shelves as well... Gotta move some good sci-fi back so my kids can discover it, actually.

[InterCity]

I understand you. Been through that as well. It ended when I started to write my own fiction. Though its art qualities are non-existent, it's good to live the stories of your character. As of now, I've finished three novels and 18-19 short stories.

[tater]

The sad thing about e-readers is that you can no longer visit someone's house and peruse their books (or judge them for their lack of books ).

I'm always surprised at how few books most people have. When I see period movies that show some English estate, the part of that house I always wish I had is the library with a 2d floor, or a ladder on a rail...

[Newt]

I have been more of a library person generally, but I too have gathered, many books, maps, et cetera. My town has some nice used book stores, including one (anyone here ever been to Bookman's in Arizona?), where it is very easy to sell back to the store. I have surprisingly little fiction, looking over it, mostly history books (some fairly historic themselves), language books, space and science books. As far as ebooks, I have read a bit on an ereader once, but never really got into it. I only realy use ebook services like Gutenberg to find very obscure titles that are not practical to find elsewhere, or at least not cheaply. Even then, I have gone to the trouble of carefully formatting and compressing texts so that I can print them out, rather than read them on a computer.

[NovaSilisko]

I plan on, as I acquire more books, to continue updating the image in the first post, until it's just a pair of hands poking through a wall of books. Whenever I acquire some sort of steady income (or any income, period), I have a hunch that accumulation will kick into high gear, and I'll hit triple digits within a year.

Note however this isn't my entire collection of books - just what I've consciously purchased in the past two months. There are probably a few thousand books of various genres all over the house.

[tater]

Yeah, used book stores are a menace to any attempt to manage clutter at my house The kids know we will buy them any book they like, too.

[razark]

Used book stores can be a dangerous place. I tend to acquire books much faster than I can read them. My pile of "to be read" books is constantly growing.

Between kids, wife, and a job, I just can't get enough quiet time.

[NovaSilisko]

Used book stores can be a dangerous place. I tend to acquire books much faster than I can read them. My pile of "to be read" books is constantly growing.

Between kids, wife, and a job, I just can't get enough quiet time.

I have almost the opposite problem. I absolutely devour books, The Martian lasted me two days. Consider Phlebas, 470 page monstrosity, lasted a week.

My current site of sin has been www.abebooks.com, average price I'm finding for many things is in just the four-dollar range, including shipping.

[Flymetothemun]

You discovered the used book market? Welcome to an addiction much stronger and more expensive than any drug ever made.

Most of the books I have are bought used. It's sort've a neat experience buying used. In one of them right on the 1st page there was a birthday note from what must've been two older people giving it to their middle-aged son. Sometimes you get some with folds & creases, I even found an old receipt being used as a bookmark once. In one of them I found a bookplate with a birthday message and signature from the author. Sometimes they're dirty or have stains & they show their age, but the dirty ones, in fact all used books have a history & a character to them that you don't get with new books.

EDIT::

As for Abebooks, I just found a website called thriftbooks.com. Almost everything's around 4 bucks too (large books/newer books/very old books/rare books are more expensive), but if you spend more than $10 you get free shipping (less than that it's a buck a book). The books ship from all over the US, but I honestly don't mind. I got 7 or 8 books (can't remember) for just under 30 bucks. You can see if the jacket's missing or if it's a copy that came out of a library, and you can pick from a list of different editions & conditions. It's also got, IMO, a better interface. It isn't something you browse for books with, I browse on Amazon and then look up the ISBN on TB, but if you know what you're looking for it's great.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Flymetothemun

[razark]

I have almost the opposite problem. I absolutely devour books, The Martian lasted me two days. Consider Phlebas, 470 page monstrosity, lasted a week.

Given the right environment, I can go through books, too. The problem is getting that environment. Any background noise distracts me. The TV on, people talking, music with lyrics (instrumental is fine), the kids' games or videos all distract me to the point that I can't read. Most of my reading has to be done late at night when everyone's asleep, or when everyone's out of the house. That just doesn't happen often enough.

[tater]

I read the Martian in one sitting, lol. I tend to do that as well (read fast, I read all the Patrick O'Brian sailing books in a month (21 books)---but I was reading late at night when I had time, and having to guzzle coffee during the day, lol. Usually I have a few non-fictions going at once. Fiction is a different matter, either it's not good, and I grab a different book, or I get engaged, then I have trouble doing anything else until I am done. Luckily there are places to escape (mostly kids watching youtube videos about minecraft) in my house, as it was built in the '70s, and added on over time in a sort of random, rambling way, and the walls are thick (adobe).

[NovaSilisko]

I really must have my copy of Rendezvous with Rama repaired. It also needs a new dust cover (or rather, it needs a dust cover, period)

I wonder how much of a pain it would be to design and print my own dust cover for it (like, using a printing service of some kind, to get it on nice glossy paper)

[Vaporo]

Yeah. I know your plight. I've been pulled into books and have had a hard time not reading them at every chance I get (i.e, reading while walking).

Have a free link to a book I liked:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/robert-l-forward/dragons-egg.htm

[NovaSilisko]

Yeah. I know your plight. I've been pulled into books and have had a hard time not reading them at every chance I get (i.e, reading while walking).

Have a free link to a book I liked:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/robert-l-forward/dragons-egg.htm

Dragon's egg is currently en route, actually. I sincerely hope it's not that cover, though. The ISBN number of the one I ordered is the first paperback edition, so, fingers crossed...

[tater]

I have the first paperback edition of that, I bought it new

[NovaSilisko]

So, here's a question - has anyone here read Excession by Iain M. Banks? I'm kind of a complete squeamish wimp, so the vivid depictions of violence in Consider Phlebas made me have to put the book down and take a break on several occasions. And given part of the plot summary for Excession talks specifically about a race of aliens notable almost solely for their sadistic tendencies , I'm kind of terrified to look. Anyone able to confirm/ease my fears?

[basic.syntax]

I really must have my copy of Rendezvous with Rama repaired.

unless it's a first edition, and perhaps even then... would probably be cheaper to hunt down and buy another copy, than have the damaged one professionally put back together.

Inkjet printers can produce amazing quality on the right paper, but unless you already have one, I would compose a photo/image, and take it to a place that prints large format photos.

[NovaSilisko]

unless it's a first edition, and perhaps even then... would probably be cheaper to hunt down and buy another copy, than have the damaged one professionally put back together.

Inkjet printers can produce amazing quality on the right paper, but unless you already have one, I would compose a photo/image, and take it to a place that prints large format photos.

It would certainly be cheaper, but I would feel bad to just leave this book to fate. The pages are in great shape, everything's nice and crisp, it's only the binding that's messed up. It deserves new life!

[Fel]

unless it's a first edition, and perhaps even then... would probably be cheaper to hunt down and buy another copy, than have the damaged one professionally put back together.

Inkjet printers can produce amazing quality on the right paper, but unless you already have one, I would compose a photo/image, and take it to a place that prints large format photos.

Why bother fixing it professionally? Binding glue usually works for a broken seam like that.

Hell, go to the public library and they'll probably do it for you fairly cheaply.