Horror Aficionados discussion

I've found that I buy at least one book a week. Usually it's a small paperback or a used book. I was thinking about this as I am watching my TBR pile slowly increasing.

yes.

Not as often as I used to, which is good because I have far too many unread books on the shelves. Working in a used bookstore has changed my perspective; after a while I realized that everything comes through here eventually, so there's really no rush in most cases.

I probably have spent WAY too much in books over the years...but in my estimation, there are worse things to spend money on. Although, my wife tends to cringe when i want to pre-order the new Ed Lee limited edition from CD or Necro Publications. I weeded through five boxes of pb's I'd had for a while and got rid of books I hadn't read yet for years...and got like 200 bucks in credit at a local used place. Figure if I ever wanted to read any of those I got the credit for it...I just don't have the space in our house...and we still have five bookshelves of books!

there are worse things to spend money on

Oh, absolutely.

I had to make myself stop... I have over 200 books sitting on my bedroom floor waiting to be read because I'm a freakin addict

My book buying has really gotten out of hand lately...I've been going to the used bookstore about once a month, and I usually end up with 5-10 books...then I order new ones online..I'm waiting on 9 books to be shipped...I've got like 15 other new books I haven't read...and I still go to the library...

Wow! I'm jealous...I want to buy 100 books a month haha. But besides the cost, I'm completely running out of room...I hate putting books in a box, so that's not really an option for me...but I think I'm going to have to turn the attic or something into a library soon, haha.

bookmooch is my friend! I have 8 books coming to me at the moment, and it keeps my house from leaking books out the windows! I still get my 2 a month from the dorchester book club and the sites I review for send me between 2 and 15 books a month, the rest I get from swap sites. My pile is still well over 200 books but if I can get past my aquisition addiction then maybe I can make it through them all

WOW! If you guys are looking for books to buy www.jymsbooks.com !

I love bookmooch and swaptree. I get rid of books as soon as I've read them but I still have a 6 foot, 5-shelf huge bookshelf that is double stacked with books...all horror..that I need to read. That doesn't count the other 4 bookshelves I have in the house, plus the 20 or so books I get to review each month.

My husband is a scifi nut and can't pass up any series by a favorite author. And those scifi/fantasy writers are really into long series. Eventually a basement room is going to be turned into a library, but until then my rancher is bursting at the seams.

I try to buy just books that are very special to me and get the rest from the library. I do have a thing for cookbooks, though.

You should see my place! I am a bookaholic of the first order! My collection is nearing 6,000 books and there are about 800 in there I have yet to read.
I have a split-level rancher and one half of the lower level is nothing but book shelves.
I really like books! -grin-

I am a sci-fi nut as well. But I also like horror, mystery, bizarro, art, how-to, etc.
Basically anything with words!

Funny that when I was single and lived in an apartment I had way more books than I do now. When I moved from house to house and had more room, I had less books.

I like to keep books if I can display them. I don't like to just keep them in boxes. Are yours on shelves, Brett?

Yup. Wall to wall and then some. Of course they are double and triple stacked in some places.

Lee, here's a thread that Carl started that might be what you're looking for:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Anyone can start a thread; feel free to do so any time you'd like.

Those are some good finds! I liked Live Girls.

I "KNEW" there was one....I just moved them over there.

I just deleted this one.

Thanks, for keeping an eye on me.

You're welcome.

It's good to know I'm not alone. I buy at least one book a week, but as I'm only averaging reading one to two books a month, the TBR pile is taking over!

My purchasing habits are based on either how low the read shelf is, and if it's a limited publishing run. I've got way too many irons in the fire that require some amount of monetary funding so I try to re-read and sort through the old books in my collection.

Melissa wrote: "My book buying has really gotten out of hand lately...I've been going to the used bookstore about once a month, and I usually end up with 5-10 books...then I order new ones online..I'm waiting on 9..."

I am just like that when I have the cash! Lol,this tax season i blew about 800 on dvds and books on ebay and that was at major savings versus what most of it would have been at the store. The DVDS were mostly about 3-7 plus 2 or 3 for shipping if there was any. I got some of the books for less than a dollar per book.

It wasn't until i looked at my growing stash of items toward the end that I realized just how much there was! I think I ended up buying about 40 regular dvds(stuff like the Tin Drum, Brazil, John Water movies and a lot of horror), all of the kids in the hall(each less than 10 per season), the Subspecies set (for about 30 instead of the 70 or 80 they have it for on the Full Moon website) and about 30 books (roughly .50 cents to 2 dollars a book. Last year I got about 30 books not counting the books between tax seasons.

When I head to the library lately I've been sticking to about 2-5 due to my freelance article writing job schedule limiting reading before that it was a stack of 4 or 5 hardbacks, a couple paperback and either 4 graphic novels or 10 magazines every couple of weeks.

I did average about one long Stephen King length novel a week or two 2-300 page ones plus whatever graphic novels and magazines I could grab. My 4 year old literally sits through 10-20 full length kids books each night we read to him to I guess it's in the family.

Way too often. books are like crack, if I'm not buying hard copies, I'm online buying ebooks or audio books. or looking at books, and reading about books..

I have to admit, I'm really bad about buying books. I have an entire room at our cabin stuffed with books to be read. I don't tend to hang on to books I've read, but pass them on to the library, so I have very few books around waiting for a re-read. And I still keep buying books...

I have to admit to being an "over the top" book buyer. I always dreamed of retiring with a "library" of books (unread ones waiting to be read and well loved ones waiting to be re-read". Well, I went on a buying spree on eBay about 2 years ago with a library in mind and before I knew it, I had spent $12,000.00 in books. I collect books so some of them are signed and many of them are leather bound. I bought a lot of classics that I have been meaning to read but never gotten around to and some amazing books like signed Tenneessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Styron, Arthur Miller... and an 1862 edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin. For a person living in a one bedroom apartment, however we almost didn't have room to live at our home and have since moved to an even smaller place. Many of my books are in storage but we just bought a new home that is huge and I can bring all my books home. I still buy books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. My To Be Read pile is wonderful right now but the damage I did to my credit card must be slowly rectified so I have slowed down a bit. Unlike Les, I do hang on to all my books. I have participated in BookCrossings book release program a bit but for the most part my book collection is a growing child.

Twelve thousand dollars?!

I know... it is almost obscene... My partner was P*** Off. I was on eBay all the time for months... Not very flattering, I know. but true. I have it about one half paid off. Still working on getting the bill down. That is something I will not be doing again.

Well, at least you have books to show for it and didn't blow it on vacations and restaurants.

I think about that but as someone who has never traveled (and always wanted to...) I think those memories would be priceless. I do love my books, however.

Yeah, vacations probably wasn't the best example. I do have some nice memories of our vacations, although they're not extravagant ones. I hate to fly and get homesick after three days (well, two) and that limits where I can go.

Thanks to this group, I have been spending WAY more on books this year!!

But I like to depend on the library for my books. The only problem there is that if the book is popular, I can never finish it in three weeks. I maxed out my 'list' on my library card, which is limited to 100, and I usually have 40 checked out at one time.

I have bought quite a few horror books this year, especially zombies. I try to only buy books I think I would like to keep, otherwise library. I also like Half Price Books if I can find what I want. I have recently started using Bookswap here and like it, how convenient!!
I think the more often you move the less books you might own, since they are so dang heavy to move!!

I only buy 1 new book a month and it's discounted for my local reading group. But years ago I worked within walking distance of a used bookstore and in just over 2 years managed to acquire over 650 or so books. I would spend every lunch hour at the store and always left with something. Unfortunately I couldn't read as fast as I could buy and now have a glut of unread books, many I have no interest in reading. I've been swapping most of them on paperbackswap but have a bad habit of requesting at least 1 or 2 a week so I never get ahead. It's a sickness but it's my only vice so it could be worse We're going to finish the basement where I store (hide) them so I'm going to be screwed soon!

I buy books entirely too often. I have so many to-read books that I think I'm going to have to get rid of some to make room for the newer ones. I buy them faster than I can read them.

Jason wrote: "I buy books entirely too often. I have so many to-read books that I think I'm going to have to get rid of some to make room for the newer ones. I buy them faster than I can read them."

Same here, I've got plenty and half of them I haven't even set my finger on emm..Books are addictive.

Yes they are. Yet, if there was a 12-step program to help me stop, I wouldn't do it. This is one addiction I love. :)

I've been a bad boy. I just bought 23 books from bookcloseouts.com. I couldn't resist their $1.99 fiction sale.

Okay. That tops me, Les...lol!

Les wrote: "I've been a bad boy. I just bought 23 books from bookcloseouts.com. I couldn't resist their $1.99 fiction sale."

! I'd never been to that closeout site before, very cool. and dangerous

Be careful Marisella! It's addicting.

Whoa, this thread is like a support group full of enablers, lol!

Like most others here, I buy way too many books. A friend in my book club goes to the library and asked why I don't try that -- well, maybe it's because I drool on some of them (j/k), but mostly it's just that I might want to keep a book, and I'd rather buy it BEFORE I read it, if that makes any sense. At home, I have half a dozen entire book cases and a few smaller shelves and nooks filled, er, no crammed, with books I want to keep ... and then there are the ones I give away on the book swap here, trade with friends, donate, etc.

Anyway, I buy one a month for my book club, plus whatever else I'm pining after at the time -- even when I fully intend to just get that book-club volume, I can't help but tack on another book (or two or three) that I just "have to have" for a rainy day. That rainy day pile is teetering precariously...

Yeah...I just bought like ten or more books while I was at the World Horror Convention, never mind all the free ones I got, and now I'm off to the bookstore to buy some more....

I usually buy about 20 books a month and read 7 a month so my tbr pile keeps growing and growing!

I can't control myself, it's the one thing I spend a lot of money on.

I just went to the bookcloseouts.com website. WOW
Although under 'Categories' there is no horror section!

or erotica :)

I finally found the Borders in town that has a separate Horror section and carried Ed Lee and Laymon and some others on this list that are harder to find.

Yeah!!

Kristen wrote: "I had to make myself stop... I have over 200 books sitting on my bedroom floor waiting to be read because I'm a freakin addict"

Don't worry until you get to my level! I've got a book collection of close to 3000 and I estimate that about 1000 are waiting to be read *feels headache coming on*
I buy about 5-10 books a week in local charity shops-(minimum)plus any UF ones I get in places like Waterstones! My name is Lynn and I'm a bookaholic!

Going through the charity shop shelves yesterday, and I bagged these goodies:

The Black Druid - Frank Belknap Long (Panther 1975)
The Taste of Fear - Edited by Hugh Lamb (Coronet 1977)
A Wave of Fear - Edited by Hugh Lamb (Coronet 1976)
Weird Tales - Selected and Introduced by Peter Haining (Sphere 1978)
More Weird Tales - Selected and Introduced by Peter Haining (Sphere 1978)
The Blockhouse - Jean-Paul Clebert (Ace Books 1960)

few every 3 or 6 months.

I work at an independent local bookstore and I come across books I want all the time! We sell, new, used and remaindered books so I never know what will come in. When I first started here I went crazy and spent a fortune on books. I've gotten much better so I would have to say at least 2x a week.

Due to finances, my book acquisition rate has dramatically decreased, but I will say that since the discovery of many different book swapping sites and online book clubs, forums in the last decade, I have acquired thousands of books. Most of them are TBR, since I tend to pass on what I've read. However, I regret having passed on certain books over the years. I'm pickier about what I buy now and more inclined to keep the ones I do buy so that I can have a library in my own home rather than boxes filled with books. I read more too when I can see my books sitting there, waiting...

Since I live in a teeny tiny little town, I do not have access to a regular bookstore. I do the majority of my book shopping online through Barnes N' Noble, Amazon.com, Buy.com and little unknown bookstore websites. Right now, due to me taking college courses and having to spend 200$ on USED textbooks, I'm not able to buy as many books as I normally do. I did just purchase "Cannibals of Candyland" the other day although I have not received it yet. I plan on reading it as soon as I get it -- as long as I am caught up on my textbook reading.

I'm also a tad more picky when it comes to the books I purchase these days. When I was younger, like in high school (over 20 years ago -- MAN, that ages me even though I'm just 36), I would buy whatever horror novel that caught my fancy. These days I read reviews, I ask if friends have read the novel, etc. etc. I'm also keeping the vast majority of the novels I purchase these days. In the past, I would read something and either donate it to the local library or sell it at a garage sale. I don't do that anymore. I want to build up a superb library...although I do have to admit I have a hell of a good start on one!

Thank goodness for online bookstores, huh? Everybody has access to the same books and aren't at the mercy of whatever their tiny or large bookstores stock.

I used to buy willy-nilly, too, and that's how I discovered some early favorite authors, like Ketchum and McDowell. But I can be pickier now by getting suggestions from people here at HA.