How Many Books Have you Bought This Year?

John Guillen58 Comments

I’m pretty certain that y’all know by now that I track EVERYTHING when it comes to my reading. I track how many books I read. I track which series I’m reading. I track the amount time I spend reading each year. I track the number of pages I read. I track which books I’ve read from the Amazon list. I have a master list of every print book I own. And I have an Excel spreadsheet that tells me every author I own books by and how many. See, I know everything. But up until last week I never actively tracked the number of books I was buying.

Amazon keeps track of every order I’ve ever made, but this year not every book has been purchased from the online giant. But I was able to put together a list that includes every book I’ve purchased in 2015. I know the total number of books. I know the retailer. And I know the price of each. And I know if they’re new or used at the time of purchase. All good information to have when December comes around and I’m analyzing data for my yearly recap, right?

Here’s what I found. I’ve bought 15 books this year. And I’ve read seven. I’d like for that number to even out a bit more before the year ends. And I’m sure it will. So tell me, do you know how many books you’ve bought this year? Or how much you’ve spent on books in the first seven months of 2015?

58 thoughts on “How Many Books Have you Bought This Year?”

  2. I love seeing how people organise everything book related! I have a spreadsheet too, but I use it to keep track of the titles of each book I have read in a year, though this is only my third year doing this. I’ve never thought about how many I have bought before, just those I have read, but I have counted 20. There may be more, but I can’t remember if I bought them this year or at the end of last year.

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  3. I track the amount of books that I read every year, but I don’t track my purchases. Now that I look at my bookshelves, maybe I should. Not including textbooks, it looks like I’ve bought 68 books this year, and I’m sure I’m missing some. I’ve read 17, and a lot of those books were from second hand stores and library sales, but still… It’s no wonder that I’m running out of room on my bookshelves.

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      • You sound like my fiancee… Haha! I like having my own library, and what’s the point of a library if you’ve read every book in it? I’m bad about buying things impulsively, and books are the only things I can buy like that without feeling guilty.

        Plus, I really like being able to browse my bookshelves and find books that I forgot that i bought a few months ago. I get the excitement of discovering a good book for a second time (only this time I actually read it).

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      • Well she’s got a point. I guess it’s better than you buying…anything else, really. What if you bought stuffed animals? Or shoes? Or action figures? Eh. Books are okay.

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  4. A lot. Most of them are history books. I don’t keep track of the books I buy. I keep track of the books I read though.

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  5. I think I’ve purchased 4 books this year, but I also receive free books as an online reviewer, so in total I’ve acquired 9 books, with 2 that I have yet to read. So definitely by the end of the year I should have read at least 9 books 🙂

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  7. In the years since I bought my Kindle (mid-2011), I have kept better track, plus I only buy a book when I am about to read it, instead of buying up to four impulse buys in a bookshop and then not reading all of them, as I used to do in the past.

    In the last two years I have taken the Goodreads challenge and each year I challenge myself to read at least 30 books in the course of a calendar year. This gives me two ways of tracking the books that I buy and those that I read. So far this year I have bought 14 but read 20. Six of those are library borrows.

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  8. Ok, I lost track of the books I’ve purchased. I used to count but when you buy at least 3 books a week, I think I just don’t feel like counting the bucks I’ve lost. 😛 I started Terry Pratchett’s Discworld this year. I’ve read about 35 so far in that series. Bought more than 40 books of his alone. I also bought and read other books in between that. Some classics and fantasy, sci fi and non fiction stuff. I’m commenting here just so I could tell a soul because I never really want to tell this to my immediate family and acquaintance because the money involved is obscene. I really should stop buying for a while. 😛

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  10. I don’t know how many in total, but I’ve bought at least three ‘Used – Like New’ books from Amazon Marketplace this year with handwriting and underlining all over them. Who writes on books?

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  11. You’re the first person I’ve come across who keeps track of all the books they’ve read/bought. I’ve read sooo many books all my life; it never once crossed my mind to actually write down what I read and when I read it. And this year I’ve bought quite a few books (mostly ebooks) but without checking my kindle I couldn’t say how many. I like that I can get ebooks for less than I’d pay for second-hand books a lot of the time, but also have not much idea on how much I’ve spent. I’m a bit hopeless really…

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  12. I haven’t bought a lot of print books this year. I read from the library. But I’ve bought ebooks for reading material for trips, etc. not sure how many. I don’t have as accurate a recording system.

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  13. Oh, boy. I don’t track my reading stats like you, but I know roughly how many books I’ve bought. About 20 used and 40 full price. 4 of which were from Amazon. (The new ones). I’ve also downloaded about 15 e-books. Of the physical books, I’ve read about 35 of the 60 bought, and have ready all 15 e-books, with the exception that I’m still working on Les Miserables. And that’s only through May since I’m on my book-buying diet until September or October. Yikes! And I wonder why I’ve been able to save so much money this summer!

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  14. About 25 books. They were having a book sale at my local library and I got carried away. In all fairness, I don’t think you can ever purchase too many books.

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  15. I buy Too many books A month. A actually have a quota. I’d say on average I buy like up to 5 books a month then stack them on my bookshelf. In terms of actually reading them, I’ve been getting through them (and also old books I’ve been meaning to read for Years). So out of all the books I’ve bought this year, I’d read about maybe 3 of them, but I still have the rest of the year! In total I’ve only read like 12. I get busy. And I watch a lot of streaming TV on Netflix (my kryptonite) oh and films (sometimes I rewatch my favorities). I track my reading progress on Goodreads but I should start tracking how many books I purchase. Perhaps I’d curb this book obsession, yes? I try to stay away from bookstores because they are Dangerous. I always end up buying more than I need (especially since I have a tall ass bookshelf full of Stephen King books and by other authors that I need to get through!). I also have a Half Price Books store close to me and I walk in and walk out. Then I also attend book readings and I buy a book to support the author and to get them signed. No more book buying for me! I really need to stop.

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    • Hmm. Five books a month isn’t bad at all. Unless you buy them and don’t read them, then you’re just losing space and getting nothing out of it. I think I’ve bought more books this month than I ever have before. Yikes.

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      • I hear that! Well, so this is what I do with books and why I haven’t transitioned to the paperless version. When I buy books and don’t like them, I give them away. I use Paperbackswap. With this service, I can get a credit to request a book that I want and not pay anything. It’s not totally free though because I do have to pay for shipping. But what’s a little shipping when I receive a credit for Every book that I send out? So I’ve read a bunch of books that I know I’ll Never read again and post them on my bookshelf and wait for them to be requested. It’s a Great way to get rid of books. I used to donate to the library but you’d be surprised – they don’t just take whatever anymore. They’ve gotten picky!

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      • Wow! I’d never heard of this before! My post tomorrow will be about it. It’s a really cool idea. I don’t think I’d use it cause I don’t give away books, but it’s still interesting.

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      • I’m glad I inspired your post today! There’s also another one – bookmooch.com, but that one isn’t as popular or convenient as paperbackswap.

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      • Yeah, I know. Bookmooch is more bootleg and no many people use it. Paperbackswap pretty much allows you to buy postage and print it out and wrap a book and send. Bookmooch only provides you the requester’s address and not much else. Also, they do ship to international countries while Paperbackswap does not. I prefer PB over BM because of the postage convenience.

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      • That’s about right. Why don’t you give books away? You really read everything you buy? Even if you don’t like the book?

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      • If I buy a book, then yes I read it. Very rarely will I stop a book before finishing. I know what I like reading. So there’s no reason to buy something I won’t like.

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      • You are a very smart buyer. I guess I’m more spontaneous. Buy what’s popular. What I might like and even the ones I enjoyed I give away. Mostly because I ain’t got the room!

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      • I definitely do not buy what’s popular. I’m not even caught up in my series to buy books when their released. So I’m definitely not buying any books because everyone else is.

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      • I tend to buy books on bestseller lists, books made into movies, but now I’m focusing on supporting more people of color – asian, latino, african, african american, etc. I will read a novel by the mainstream white male but I’m trying to seek diversity in my reading. I also support women across the board. It’s how I roll. I should stop buying popular books!

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