Hounding After Hours

jallenecs said:

Hi, guys! I got my birthday presents early! Two new skirts, a new blouse, and a new pair of shoes (we're not going to mention the buttload of books I ordered without letting my hubs know. We're NOT going to mention it, right? Right?)

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Nice! I won't tell your hubby, my gf gets frustrated by how easily books distract me sometimes.

I won't say nothin'

This is why I don't date - I forget other people exist when I start reading. The whole rest of the world just goes on pause. Writing, too.

Plus, if I don't have anyone else looking at my finances, nobody can tell me not to buy more books.

Morning

If I was living with someone who said that I couldn't buy more books, then I wouldn't be living with them for very long.

Today is a day for tackling the freezer.

Oh hey! Look what I found in the smilies!

Have fun with the freezer.

nice smilies.

Good morning Hounds.

aliwood said:

If I was living with someone who said that I couldn't buy more books, then I wouldn't be living with them for very long.

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Same here. Though I do have an issue with storage, and cashflow over the last few years was the other reason why I've used the library more and more.

My leave is now over - back to work on Sunday. Off to writers' group in London in just over an hour, but it's not me in the hotseat this month!

Borge smilie! Nice!

Bri, the gf tends to just give me a slightly frustrated but fondly exasperated look. She gets me books as gifts sometimes so it doesn't truly bother her, she just wants some attention too.

Is it just me or does Ted have hot and cold running nipples?











Now there's a sentence I never imagined I'd ever say....

Regarding book buying...
I am extremely frugal and have wicked bad buyers remorse issues with everything practically. So I use the library constantly and then think very hard about whether I need to own the book I've read before I go and buy it. Often times I will save a picture of the cover of the book just to pretend that I own it. . Then, somedays when I am feeling particluarly deserving, I'll hunt it down and buy it.

Yes, I am aware I have issues.

Right now I have a problem. Curious what the hounds think. So, there are about twenty books I desperately want to own. and I want to own all of them RIGHT NOW. But the cost would be around $200. I can't seem to find any of them at the discount bookstore. Also, I'm torn between buying them for kindle or buying the paper version. I think I feel more secure--like I really own them---if I have the paper copy. Do you guys ever feel that way?

I am considering just buying one book from each of the series I love (the 20 books are from about 4 series). That way I own a little piece of the collection, but it will only cost me about 40 bucks. Problem is that I have to choose which book in each series is the BEST, you know?

I have no idea what I'm asking you guys. I guess just lamenting.

Soapy!!!!

I'd grab a few here and there and just add to them.

And yes, my nipples are wonderful.

Hubs doesn't object to my buying books. he objects to me laying out a lot of money all at once on books. I dribble them in, ten bucks here, five pounds there, that's fine. But 100 dollars at one go? Too much of a shock to his tender sensibilities.

I need a better reading chair. My recliner is busted.

My major weakness is cookbooks. I will go to bookstores and buy all kinds of cookbooks.

Right now I'm trying to get some money saved up so I can get some other goodies, as there is a very long list of books I'd like to read.

soapdish said:

I think I feel more secure--like I really own them---if I have the paper copy. Do you guys ever feel that way?

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Yes, which is why, despite pruning my book collection down when I went electronic a few years ago, I still have real copies of Wind in the Willows, Lord of the Rings and Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, and a paper dictionary. They're jut too important to my psyche to lose.

I'm with Ted, buy odd ones from each series and then see if you can fill in the gaps. Maybe ask on here somewhere, or your local Freecycle group, someone may have one they don't need.

It's time to wash Belladonna(yes I did name my hair after deadly nightshade), this will be an adventure. I'll tell you later if I would rather go back to my little fro.

Books are awesome.

aliwood said:

Yes, which is why, despite pruning my book collection down when I went electronic a few years ago, I still have real copies of Wind in the Willows, Lord of the Rings and Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, and a paper dictionary. They're jut too important to my psyche to lose.

I'm with Ted, buy odd ones from each series and then see if you can fill in the gaps. Maybe ask on here somewhere, or your local Freecycle group, someone may have one they don't need.

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I love paper books. But I can't store them, not when there are six people in my house,and five of them are hardcore readers. We have at least one bookshelf in every room of the house (including the bathroom and the kitchen); I have three just in my bedroom, and they're all seriously overflowing. I have boxes of books stashed under all the beds in the house, under the sewing table, on top of my piano, in the barn loft out back, etc.

I HAD to go to electronic books as soon as the prices became low enough to be viable for me (and I ended up buying like six ebook readers, to share out with the family), because otherwise the house would be one big bookroom, and I'd be sleeping in a tent in the front yard.

With that said, I do have books that I will buy both an e-copy and a hard copy. The e-copy to read, the hard copy because I want to preserve it.

Confession time: every time a new Dresden Files comes out, I buy FOUR copies: one hardback, one paperback, one e-copy and the audiobook. The hardback is for preserving, the paperback is for loaning out (infection vector), the e-copy is for reading, and the audio is for my husband to listen to when he's on the road.

As for going to the library: it's a forty minute drive, one way, for me to go to the library, which, with the cost of gas nowadays, means it actually would cost me less to buy a book online than to go to the library. And even if I made the trip, their selection is crap.

jallenecs said:

Hubs doesn't object to my buying books. he objects to me laying out a lot of money all at once on books. I dribble them in, ten bucks here, five pounds there, that's fine. But 100 dollars at one go? Too much of a shock to his tender sensibilities.

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Yeah. This is my situation too.

TedTheewen said:

I need a better reading chair. My recliner is busted.

My major weakness is cookbooks. I will go to bookstores and buy all kinds of cookbooks.

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Yeah, you know, I love a good cookbook with pictures. I'm very visual. Though, I don't actually use the cookbook recipes. I just look at the pictures. So I'm better off just looking at pictures of yummy food on the internet. Saves shelf space. Plus, there are so many recipes online now. If I do need to look up how to cook something, I'm usually working with whatever ingredients are in my kitchen, so I just enter all the big main ones in the search engine and see what comes back.

aliwood said:

I'm with Ted, buy odd ones from each series and then see if you can fill in the gaps. Maybe ask on here somewhere, or your local Freecycle group, someone may have one they don't need.

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Yeah, I think this is what I will (will have to) do. I'll probably feel just a little better owning one of every series, like I have a start to it, at least.

jallenecs said:

Confession time: every time a new Dresden Files comes out, I buy FOUR copies: one hardback, one paperback, one e-copy and the audiobook. The hardback is for preserving, the paperback is for loaning out (infection vector), the e-copy is for reading, and the audio is for my husband to listen to when he's on the road.

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Awesome! I love that. I never loan my books. I'm so bad about that. Well, truthfully, I don't know anyone in my loanable life who would want to read (or I would feel comfortable recommending) most of my books. But I'm also horribly private about my books with the people in my real life. They are very special to me, personal (the books, not the people LOL). I don't like to talk to people about them, hear their takes on them, blah blah. I don't want to know if they thought they were good or bad. I don't want them to think that we are "the same" because we both like the same book. Or that by reading something that I adore, they somehow have come closer to knowing or understanding me.

Though online, and with the people I've met online, I have none of these hangups.

As for going to the library: it's a forty minute drive, one way, for me to go to the library, which, with the cost of gas nowadays, means it actually would cost me less to buy a book online than to go to the library. And even if I made the trip, their selection is crap.

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Our library has a very robust ebook selection. I'd say 80 percent of what I "check out" is Kindle books or audiobooks. I never even have to go to the library.

I am compulsive about loaning out books; I am like a heroin dealer, pushing my drugs on unsuspecting readers.

If it were not for a bizarre loan situation, I would not have heard of Dresden.

Junely, I have lost some of my favorite books doing that. But then again, I infect people with good stuff.

I had a small library of good books that were stolen a long time ago. I'm still upset. It kills me. My poetry books alone were awesome.

Pinterest has taken a lot of need away so I don't need to buy cookbooks all the time. Plus, I have a used bookstore near me. And, I really wanna hit the college used bookstore near Madison sometime. I'll go nuts, I'm sure.

I have finished taming Belladonna! She has been washed, combed, and is now dry enough to be allowed to dry while left down! She's still damp, but we'll pretend she's 100% dry. Ok?

Anyone ever got a book of prompts? I'm thinking of getting an ebook of Horror prompts to use as practice for my horror writing. Maybe make it a thing on my blog. Fill a prompt a week.

I haven't seen one of those before.

I'm guessing Belladonna is a dog?

TedTheewen said:

I haven't seen one of those before.

I'm guessing Belladonna is a dog?

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Nope, Belladonna is my hair. It has a personality, so I gave it a name. A fitting one I think, since I named it after the deadly nightshade plant.

TedTheewen said:

Junely, I have lost some of my favorite books doing that. But then again, I infect people with good stuff.

I had a small library of good books that were stolen a long time ago. I'm still upset. It kills me. My poetry books alone were awesome.

Pinterest has taken a lot of need away so I don't need to buy cookbooks all the time. Plus, I have a used bookstore near me. And, I really wanna hit the college used bookstore near Madison sometime. I'll go nuts, I'm sure.

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Oh, I feel you. A couple years ago, I had to completely replace my paperback set of Dresden Files. My son was in Air Force, in the hospital, and was desperate for something to read. So I mailed all my paperback Dresdens to him. He read them, then SOLD THEM TO HIS BUDDIES (who were also desperate for entertainment). The ones he didn't sell he donated to the hospital library.

Lillith1991 said:

Nope, Belladonna is my hair. It has a personality, so I gave it a name. A fitting one I think, since I named it after the deadly nightshade plant.

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I saw you mentioned that in a previous post. I don't read carefully in the morning.

Wild hair is awesome!

In my boxes of books were, among many, my Hunter S. Thompson collection. I'm still pissed about that. Several were in hardcover.

Good morning Hounds.

jallenecs said:

I love paper books. But I can't store them, not when there are six people in my house,and five of them are hardcore readers. We have at least one bookshelf in every room of the house (including the bathroom and the kitchen); I have three just in my bedroom, and they're all seriously overflowing. I have boxes of books stashed under all the beds in the house, under the sewing table, on top of my piano, in the barn loft out back, etc.

I HAD to go to electronic books as soon as the prices became low enough to be viable for me (and I ended up buying like six ebook readers, to share out with the family), because otherwise the house would be one big bookroom, and I'd be sleeping in a tent in the front yard.

With that said, I do have books that I will buy both an e-copy and a hard copy. The e-copy to read, the hard copy because I want to preserve it.

Confession time: every time a new Dresden Files comes out, I buy FOUR copies: one hardback, one paperback, one e-copy and the audiobook. The hardback is for preserving, the paperback is for loaning out (infection vector), the e-copy is for reading, and the audio is for my husband to listen to when he's on the road.

As for going to the library: it's a forty minute drive, one way, for me to go to the library, which, with the cost of gas nowadays, means it actually would cost me less to buy a book online than to go to the library. And even if I made the trip, their selection is crap.

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I'm not quite in that situation, but getting there, and there's only me in this flat. There are authors I will preferably buy in print (and in some cases will spring for a hardback if I'm feeling flush enough), even though I've had a Kindle for two years now.

My local library is okay without being great, but I can use Hampshire's online catalogue if I want to reserve something, assuming that Hampshire have at least one copy of it - it costs me £0.50 to do that.

Unfortunately the market for used books has fallen through the floor, apart from anything particularly collectible (and because I've known an increasing number of published novelists over the years, I do have some signed first editions from them), so the charity shop will probably benefit when I next have a clear-out.

And I do have a small pile of unread books, rather like the pile of unwatched DVDs and Blu-rays.

It's Sunday. while listening to the Coode Street Podcast. A day at home but still with housework to do. Back to dayjob tomorrow.

Lillith1991 said:

Anyone ever got a book of prompts?

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I have several, if you pm me your email addy you can borrow one if you want. they're general rather than horror specific, but I bet you could turn any situation into a horror story if you tried.

'It was late. Bob was still sitting at his desk, the only light on in the office when he heard a strange rattling from the desk drawer. Curious, he pulled it open. That's when the paperclips attacked!'

Good morning hounds

On the library thing, my library is slowly getting ebooks, they don't work on my system (Linux) but at least they're trying. I think with all the service cuts they are having to contend with, this may be the way for them to go. At this rate I could see a national ebook library service.

I do buy a lot of audiobooks. Listening works much better for me sometimes.

Ted, I have to give your burglar credit. I've never heard of someone pinching books before. I hope they realised what they had and cherished them as much as you clearly did.

Yesterday worked out pretty good for me. I got the freezer under control and started on the backyard. I even had several ideas for my writing.