This idea started at Pickle Me This, then I saw it on Reading in Bed and Bookish Beck. If I’m missing someone, let me know in the comments!
Reading in Winter (who has read an impressive number of books this year!) has also participated.
I’d love to hear where your books come from, too. Join in! You can either list the last 30 books you read, or calculate your stats for the whole year. Or both.
My last 30 books:
- A Beckoning War by Matthew Murphy – received from publisher
- A Halifax Christmas Carol by Steven Laffoley – library
- Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro – publisher
- The Prisoner and the Chaplain by Michelle Berry – publisher
- A Lady and her Husband by Amber Reeves – bought at full price
- The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn – library
- I Am a Truck by Michelle Winters – bought at full price
- Baloney by Maxime Raymond Bock – library
- Peninsula Sinking by David Huebert – bought at full price
- All the Beloved Ghosts by Alison MacLeod – library
- Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill – library
- Brother by David Chariandy – library
- Minds of Winter by Ed O’Loughlin – bought at discount from publisher
- Next Year For Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson – library
- Transit by Rachel Cusk – library
- Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson – publisher
- Dazzle Patterns by Alison Watt – publisher
- The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil by Lesley Choyce – library
- Say Nothing, Saw Wood by Joel Thomas Hynes – Goodreads giveaway
- We’ll All Be Burnt In Our Beds Some Night by Joel Thomas Hynes – library
- In the Cage by Kevin Hardcastle – publisher
- Rose & Poe by Jack Todd – publisher
- So Much Love by Rebecca Rosenblum – library
- The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood – bought at used book store
- All is Beauty Now by sarah Faber – Goodreads giveaway
- Hum if You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais – library
- The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou – bought at used book store
- The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou – library
- Whylah Falls by George Elliott Clarke – bought at used book store
- The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough – library
Overall so far in 2017 (96):
- Bought at full price: 10
- Bought used at a significant discount: 10
- Borrowed from the Library: 50
- Received from publishers: 12
- Giveaways: 5
- Gifts: 3
- Other: 6
It’s no surprise to me that a little over half of the books I read come from the library. Even though I have enough books of my own to last for years. But libraries are irresistible!
So, where do your books come from?
Our library all lit up for the holidays.
I haven’t been around much in the last week or so… I have already been sucked into the holiday season with not much time left to spare. So this will be my last post of the year, and my Best of 2017 posts will have to wait until January. Wishing you all a Happy Holiday, or a wonderful next couple of weeks, and a big thank you for all the reading, visiting, and commenting you do! 🙂
Consumed by Ink 
A very happy holiday to you, too, Naomi. Hope you manage some reading time!
I hope so, too! So far, it’s not looking good. But I imagine I’ll get more in after the 25th. 🙂
Fingers crossed!
Good for you, using your library (which looks very sweet with the lights). Happy holidays!
It’s impossible to resist, it’s so pretty. 🙂
Happy holidays, Naomi!
Thank you! I hope you get in lots of rest and relaxation. 🙂
You are a library power user!!
Hooray!
My list would take 30 seconds.
All 30 books = “purchased at Chapters, probably” lol
Haha! Well, that does make it easy. I’d love to see your shelves of shiny new books. Do you keep them all?
Happy holidays! Great library use. I broke mine down on Bookish Beck’s post and it came down to mainly gifts and second-hand shops!
Second-hand shops are the best! Most of the books I own are from second-hand shops and book sales.
You are my reading guru … lol. I love that you used the library so much and publishers! I’ve actually started using NetGalley again and got a few books off my reading list already (including 3 or 4 Canadian reads!). I find if I actually try to keep track of what I’d really love to get from future releases, if I keep an eye out I can get an ARC of it, or get ahead on the library hold list. I’ve been trying to be better at requesting ILLs and other books from the library instead of buying. It’ll be a struggle but worth it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Keeping ahead of what’s coming out is something I’m not very good at. But I *am* good at hitting that ‘hold’ button on anything that sounds good! 🙂
Nearly all mine come from charity bookshops. But next year I plan to follow your fine example and use the library much more. Happy Christmas Naomi!
Charity book shops are also wonderful – most of the books I own are from used book stores or book sales. I just never get to them because I’m too busy reading library books! Sigh.
Either free books from indie authors, some publishing companies or charity shop runs 😀 Great post.
Welcome! And thanks for chiming in! 🙂
I request most of my books from the main library and then pick them up at the neighbourhood library. However, with my husband sick this fall, I found my system didn’t work too well…I relied on borrowing from friends. I buy some books because I have a son and a granddaughter in the writing business and I know that is not the easiest way to earn a living. We need to support our writers!
Happy Christmas and or holiday to all…..especially to you Naomi….I will look forward to your January blog.
Thank you Jessie! And thanks for commenting. You’re right… we need to support our writers one way or another! Happy Christmas!
Fun tag! I suspect mine are mostly NetGalley but I must do a count. Have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year when it comes. Lang may yer lum reek, as we say here in Scotland!
Thanks, FF! You too!
I won’t do this on my blog, though I have answered it on someone else’s post somewhere. Most of my books come form publishers and purchase, with the odd gift. Almost none come from the library, and certainly none in the last few years. Libraries are irresistible, which is why I resist them. I have so much to read – from publishers, gifts and my TBR that I just daren’t go near a library so I don’t. (Terrible thing to say for a library professional!)
Haha! That’s certainly a good way to go about it. I don’t know if I could do it… I guess working at one doesn’t help. But it’s worth it!
What an interesting exercise – I couldn’t resist. I have read 76 books so far and my stats are:
29 – library
27 – second hand
13 – full price
5- discounted but purchased new
2 – prizes
I am quite pleased as I have been trying to read from my shelves this year. I wish I had put a dent in my tbr pile but I’m pretty confident I have purchased more books than I have read 😐
That’s a good mix of bought and borrowed.
And, yes, it seems that no matter how well I do at reading my own books, I will never get ahead! Ah well, I’m coming to accept it. 🙂
I did this too https://www.exurbanis.com/archives/12124 and found that library books formed 60% of my recent reading. I don’t even have to go anywhere near my library for that to happen- the online catalogue and reservation system is just TOO convenient!
That’s exactly the problem. They’ve made it TOO convenient to put books on hold. Maybe if we went back to having to phone or go in… 😉
Did you have fun making your calculations? This year would probably not be very representative of my habits overall, as I have been devoted to refusing offered copies and devoted to reading more backlisted books from my own shelves instead. Even so, I suspect my library use is still very high, because some of my reading projects depended almost entirely on selections which weren’t on my shelves (like my Louise Erdrich reading). I think looking at the data for one’s books and reading habits is really useful; it’s such a quick way to see if one wants to make any shifts in decision-making (which is why I ended up reading almost exclusively my own picks this year and older books overall – the data dragged me into it!). Not to say that one needs to be thinking along those lines – that’s just how it works for me! Enjoy your holidays and I hope they are just lovely!
I *did* have fun! I love looking at reading stats (my own or others) – I find it all so interesting. This was one I had never calculated before, and although I suspected a high library percentage, it was still fun to figure it out more accurately. Now I’ll be tempted to do it every year to see if it changes!
I have to say you have a very balanced way of obtaining your books, so you should feel good about that. You’re literally the perfect reader and book buyer! Also, your library is gorgeous all lit up like that!
Our library is gorgeous, isn’t it? 🙂
I love your library’s lights!
I did a quick calculation of my latest 30 reads (a few weeks ago) and it was something like 26 from the library, 2 bought new, and 2 bought used. That’s pretty representative of my reading! 🙂 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Another devoted library user!
Happy 2018! 🙂
Any book I review on my blog has either been borrowed from the library or purchased.
Thanks for chiming in, Don!
Happy New Year! 🙂
That’s so great that you make good use of your library. Checking out a book keeps it in circulation. If it sits on the shelf too long, it gets removed. Plus, authors appreciate it (I’ve only met one who did not).
Now I have to ask… did the author say why he/she didn’t appreciate it?
She was saying that she wouldn’t get paid at all for the library copy. But…the library has to buy a copy, right? So, maybe she gets paid once? I was surprised she was so mad initially (she softened up later) because she’s a small-press author, someone should have known going into things that she wouldn’t make any significant money as a writer. If she wanted to make more money, she would have had to go with a “big” small press or a NYC press.
One big advantage of libraries buying the author’s book is the exposure to new readers the author might get because of it.
I agree; there are lots of reasons libraries are the way to go. I wonder if this author I mentioned doesn’t have a lot of money and struggles. It’s also unfair that some authors get to sit around writing all day because he landed the right book deal. I’ve heard that there are many artistic grants in Canada that people make use of to produce art and books! Sheila Heti comes to mind. Have you heard of her? She’s in Toronto. I loved her when her first book came out…since then she’s gone a bit Lena Dunham, of whom I am not a fan.
I haven’t read anything by Sheila Heti, or know much about her writing career. But we do have grants for artists here, and a lot of literary awards. Even the small ones can help make a difference. I just assumed everyone else had them, too, but maybe not!
Nope. We constantly have to defend public radio and TV, which costs almost nothing of the American budget.
Too bad.
Hey Naomi, it’s been a great 2017 sharing book reviews! All the best in 2018! 😊
Yes, it has! Looking forward to more in 2018! Happy New Year! 🙂
I’ve been using the library a lot this year too! Last year, I was doing too many ARCs and missed getting to the library, so I’ve had a lot of fun getting back into regular library visits 🙂
Glad to hear it! It’s hard to find that perfect balance between new books and old, isn’t it?
What a fantastic idea! I mostly get review copies of the books that I would like to read, though my beloved ones do contribute a lot, and I am a firm believer on using public libraries as a way of making a political and cultural statement.
Sounds like a good mix!
Happy New Year, Elena! 🙂
Happy New Year to you too, Naomi!
2017 wasn’t such a good year for me, in terms of reading, so I hadn’t even looked back to make stats. Thank you for the opportunity 🙂
Just like you most of my reads were from the library (15). Three were brand-new purchases and three more were second-hand. Two reads were books relative lent me. One book was from the publisher and one from Netgalley.
Did you not enjoy the books you read, or did you just not read as many as usual? Hopefully 2018 will feel more successful! 🙂
I enjoyed the books I read but I read very few books… unless you count baby books 😀
I’m hoping to go back to my usual (reading) self this year!
I still haven’t gotten around to my 2017 posts. I’ll do one in the next few weeks hopefully. I don’t know about the last 30 books I got but I do know that of the books I read in 2017: 16 (27%) were library books, 15 (23%) I’d previously purchased/received, and 18 (30%) were from publishers of some sort. Not too bad of a mix although I need that publisher number to go down so I can clear of my TBR shelves!
A good mix! But I hear you about that tbr… the library is my tbr’s biggest competition.
Mine too so far this year!