I dropped the buck-thirty on John Julius Norwich’s three part series, Byzantium.
An ex-boss had loaned me A Short History of Byzantium, which is sort of the condensed version. He told me it was a dry history, so of course I lapped it up like a kitten at a saucer of milk.
I’ve been fighting off the urge to buy the full-length trilogy for the better part of two years now. Last Sunday, I finally broke down and bought it.
I wouldn’t mind spending the money so much if I didn’t already have a small library of unread books. I guess St. Augustine’s City of God, Eusebius’s History of the Church, Backgrounds of Early Christianity The Early Church Fathers and The Zen Teachings of Jesus are going to have to wait.
Am I the only one who does this, or do other people go on book buying binges when they already have more books than any normal human being could read in an average lifetime?
I used to, for college. Two-hundred bucks per semester. I guess that’s different, though, huh? When I do buy non-required books, they tend to be those 1,000 page monsters and it takes me three weeks to finish them.
And hey, don’t worry about the $130. There’s worse things you could be spending your money on. Reading is always good.
My record for book spending is 200 dollars… I worked at a bookstore that summer, and it was my last day of work. I exercised my employee discound and monumentally pissed off my jerk of a boss. It was great.
Agisofia, you’re not alone on the book-buying binge thing, nor are you alone in your choice of reading material! While I’ve never read the books you mentioned in the OP, I enjoy a good “dry history,” especially religious history. Early Christianity is one of my favorite topics (and I’m a pagan. No kidding.)
Enjoy! And let me know if those books are good, okay? I’ll put 'em on my list!
I do it, too. Especially after a long break, or if I’ve been living away from a good book center.
Eusebius and the Early Christian Fathers are good – I’ve read and re-read them. Be aware that there is a LOT of critical writin abut them, and that it’s wort digging up. I started City of God, but never finished it. I’m not familiar with your other choices.
hi my name is rocking chair… i have a $50. to .$100. a week habit.
the 10 months that i worked at a book store are mostly a blur, but from the evidence under my bed i spent more than i got paid.
i have a short history of byz. waiting in the wings for me. how was it?
i’m thinking island vacation in michigan or maine next year if i haven’t cleared out the books under the bed. five to seven whole days with just books. i hope the suitcase is big enough.
A hundred and thirty dollars? A pittance. I’m the Robert Downey Jr of book buying addiction.
Looking at my checkbook, I see I’ve bought over seven hundred dollars worth of books within the last two weeks. This is somewhat higher than usual (I was on vacation) but not atypical.
My theory is that either I’ll live forever, in which case I’ll eventually read every book I own, or I won’t live forever, in which case I’ll be dead and how I spent my money will no longer be a concern.
As for Norwich, I highly recommend his work. In addition to his Byzantium trilogy, I loved his history of Venice. A major regret is that I once saw a copy of his history of the Norman invasion of Sicily and didn’t buy it when I had the chance.
I buy books incessently. Well, not quite, but pretty darn close. I spent $140 one afternoon last month. Stacks of unread books? Of course. How else can I have them on hand when I am suddenly inspired to follow through with the list of books I really ought to or that I intend to read someday? So, yes. I have a very large, ever increasing colletion of books. And I like them to match (when they’re in some way a “set”).
Ha! I have the Mother of all College-textbook-buying-stories! I used to be an engineering student at a little Midwestern school, and the only bookstore in town was the one run by the college. Engineering textbooks are constantly being rewritten, and of course we always had to have the newest edition of everything. I usually spent about $300 a quarter on books alone! I think the most expensive one was my huge Physics text, which I still have. It weighs about six pounds and cost $90 used.
Anyway, I like to buy books, but I rarely sit down and read anymore. I usually buy a bunch of books only when I am in a cheap bookstore and see some titles I like. I think the most I’ve ever spent was about $50, and I got ten books for that.
For some reason, I haven’t done any “heavy” reading for years. I used to do it quite often. Hmmm. Maybe I’m getting dumber.
“When I was growing up, whenever I had a little money, I would buy books. Then, if there was any left over, I would buy food or clothes.” --Erasmus, I believe.
“I want my children to grow up thinking that interior decorating consists entirely in having enough bookshelves” --Anna Quinlen.
Don’t regret it; books are probably the single best way a person can spend money.
Of course, I’d have to add really well-made kitchen tools into the list.
I just spent $140 yesterday on new books–one, I needed for class, Garde Manger, The Art of The Cold Kitchen published by the Culinary Institute of America. Then, just one shelf over, I see a brand-spankin’-new Food History book that said, “you must have me now.” Walking to the register, I knew that my trip would not be complete unless I picked up a few new cookbooks (and at least one non-food book) out of the clearance rack. This ritual happens every six weeks, so needless to say, on the way home, I picked up a new bookcase.
I have 5 bookcases and 700 books (half fiction half non-fiction).
But mostly I buy them on the cheap, at 1/2 Price Books or on sale. The most expensive book that I ever bought is $100. I don’t think I’ll ever do that again, that was a reference book I thought I needed. College text books are the worse, about $40-60 each and no discount! I always bought them used and sold them back.
Barnes and Noble used to send out catalogs which you could buy books at up to 70% off, I’d buy once every 3 months or so, at about $100 per order, but I’d get 12 books or so. Now I guess Internet sales do more for them because I haven’t got a catalog for a year.
Amazon puts out a lot of discount coupons and things, but generally their prices are the same as B&N. But they do stupid things like sell the Harry Potter book effectively at a loss.
My most recent kick is buying books from England. There are a lot of good books there which they don’t bring over here or publish over here. I like the real English dectective ones. Shipping is REALLY expensive, so what I’ve done twice is buy about 50 books each time. The maximum one bookstore charges is $60 for shipping, so if you buy a lot it’s worth it.
And with the Internet buying used (collector) books is really cheap and easy. You used to have to use a book searching service and it’d cost a lot. Not anymore.
I’m a real bookworm and despite being married with kids I’m an anti-social guy deep inside.
To those who wonder how someone can read so many books. I read when I’m eating alone, in the john, waiting in the car, waiting in the mall, waiting for the shower to heat up, before bed. I’ve recently mastered the art of reading 2 books at the same time, just in case I’m caught without one.
I’m not really sure what my most expensive book is, but the amount of money I’ve spent on baseball related books, or ones on Roman or English history would make one cringe.
I have some books on the Romanovs, too, but probably not as much as Guinastasia. (BTW, are you Russian? And is the user name based on Anastasia?)
I’ve never spent that much on books… actually I’ve never had that much money for myself at once yet. (I’m just in high school its not like I’m rolling in dough) but whenever I go to the mall I always stop in the bookstore and more then half the time I end up buying a book. (I have one bookshelf full to overflowing… I really need to get another) I have quite a variety of stuff on my bookshelf too though it seems it is mostly fiction or SF lately.
