I have two lists of books that I want to read. I’ve been successful with one and lazy with the other.
- Books I Own – The books I’ve purchased and sit on my shelf.
- Amazon List – I use the Amazon Wish List to keep track of all the books I want to read. That list is now 10 pages long and has 229 books on it. Using this list, I place holds on the books at the library. As I finish books, I delete them from the list.
The Books I Own never get read. They just get boxed and moved from place to place. I want to read them, but I always seem to have at least one of my library holds available for pick up. With the library books, I have 3 weeks to read it. Sometimes I’ll have 3 or 4 books out at a time. To avoid late fees, the books on my shelf will need to wait. The library books always seem to come first. The result is I never get around to the Books I Own.
I think I figured out a way to finally tackle the Books I Own. Donate them to the library and then place the books on hold. 
i’m sure you are a fan of free library books, and you’re in a great city with multiple fabulous well-stocked libraries – but you’re also a perfect candidate for a Kindle.
Yep. Someday I will have a Kindle. Better camera first. I almost have enough Amazon gift cards.
I also have a list on amazon of books to borrow from the library! Great system!
Heh, I do the same thing. I hardly buy any books at all any more though so the ‘books I own’ list is essentially zero. The library is my book store…
A few weeks ago I spent an hour or so at our local and beautiful Barnes and Noble store browsing for some technical books on VS 2008 and ASP.net, etc. After finding just the book I wanted (for 50 dollars) I just went home and ordered it online for 25. How do these places stay open?
I used to love B&N. Not anyone. In order to get a decent price, one must buy into some membership program. In order to locate a book, one must ask an employee for help. Meanwhile, Borders has a 1 price policy and open search kiosks.
Amazon of course wins, because of the efficient used book and heavily discounted new book prices.