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Thursday, September 08, 2011

On not buying any more books...for a while


I have resolved not to buy any more books (apart from Bible commentaries when needed) until I have made more progress on my unread/unfinished books pile. When a book catches my eye, I can barely resist buying it, and if it looks especially good, reading it straight away. But then titles bought on earlier occasions end up further and further down the pile. So, no more new books at least until I've finished the ones featured in photo above. 

I've just completed Atheist Delusions by David Bentley Hart. Look out for a review on the blog, probably sometime next week. Also, I'm making good progress on Eifion Evans' biog of William Williams, Bread of Heaven, which I need to finish soon so I can submit a review for Foundations by the middle of September. 

In the next day or so I'll be posting a report of the Aber 2011 evening meetings, which is where I bought the Tim Keller book at the top of the pile.  

5 comments:

Stephen said...

Ha! I have said this many times, but then succumbed. I would be interested to know if you keep to it.

Seriously, though, I have worked out how many books I can read, given my reading rate and useful years left, and worked out how many books I can fit in. That makes me realise that I have a choice - which ones am I going to focus on.

And many of them are on my shelves, unread.

Guy Davies said...

I didn't say anything about freebie review copies, one of which, Housegroups: The leader's survival guide, was just sent me from ET.

Jonathan Hunt said...

I am trying to hold a similar line, and I have now arranged my books to be read next on one shelf, so they reprove me. There are about 50.

Douglas Kofi Adu-Boahen said...

As a young person, I feel comforted that I am not alone in this problem. That said, a serious lack of funds helps keep my unread pile down LOL

Family Blogs said...

Think we all suffer from the condition you describe here Guy. Good idea of Jonathan's to have a separate shelf for 'To-Be-Read' materials!

Will be interested to hear your take on Keller's book. I think its a good tool, but a bit accommodating in places, especially on the subject of divine wrath. Recent releases on Justin Taylor's blog from a 2008 interview with Keller and Martin Bashir seem to back that up somewhat. Fascinating book all the same, and well written.