The Fango Paradox

[Fango]

I bought 2 books I've come to dislike and they're just sitting there soiling my mini-library. I can't just donate them (or sell them cheaply to a second-hand store) because it would feel like a waste to hand-out books I bought but haven't read. So every week I try to plough through the pages but it just bores me more and more.... what a damn pickle! and to make matter worse, now I have this feeling that I can't read other books until I finished the ones I have.. I mean, where the hell did that came from? maybe it's something that was etched to me in childhood, you know.. "you won't get dessert until you finish your salad!" or something like that...

Should I go to a shrink or would you guys take care of me?

[Logos]

I can't say I've purchased any books in recent memory that I literally couldn't read, what a drag for you though. I would say, to get over your obsessive compulsive need to read them anyway, maybe keep them in the bathroom? for when you're `captive' there anyway with nothing else to do?

[Beaumains]

I've had similar situations to that of your own, Fango. What I did was leave the books on the shelf (without attempting to read them) and, though it may seem wasteful, I bought a copy of a book I knew that I would like (one of those inner feeling kind of things) and by reading it, I forgot all about the bummer purchases. That doesn't get you any money back, but it worked for me. I'd try to purge the feeling that you need to read those books before you read anything else. There isn't really any need to torment yourself with bad writing. What are these two books anyway?

[Jack_Aubrey]

I keep those kind of books around for when I'm finished with other books I've bought. Then when I have no money left for new books I'll read all the ones I either skipped over or didn't like.

[Fango]

Good advise, though I don't think I'll ever get to a state where I'll have no-money-for-books!

Beaumains, glad you could relate... and thanks for sharing, and knocking some sense into me. I agree it's an inept obsessive-compulsive need... I'll definitely get over it now, and I'll keep the books on the shelf... they are "Master and Commander" and "The Far Side of the World" by Patrick O'brian. They're very elegently written to be honest, my problem is that my passion for marine tales has died out by the time I came to read them, and plus I accidently seen the movie so now I know the plot, hence I can't get myself to read them.

Anyway, I think I'll be going to the store now... *makes a little jump and claps his feet*


P.S I already have a "bathroom book".. I even try to read when I pee, but I can never get more than a line!

[PeterL]

I usually let books pile up for a few years, then go through and sell or donate the ones that I don't want to reread, and the unread books go out with the rest. Yes, it is money lost, but it leaves space for more new books. My collection of books that I wouldn't let go grows with each cycle of buying and selling, so someday I will have to go through and sell some of the ones that I would rather keep.