Let’s Talk Bookish: Buying Books

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022, with Dini at Dini Panda Reads as co-host from February 2025.

Let’s Talk Bookish April 11th:
Do You Buy Books With Intention? 
(Jillian @ The Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you buy books randomly or do you think about what to buy? How do you decide which books to buy vs which books to borrow or just save for later? For books at the top of your TBR, is your go-to buying a book or do you check your library first? What book formats do you own most of—physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks?

It depends on how I’m buying the book – if I’m browsing, I’m pretty open minded. I might spot a book I’ve been wanting to read, or else something catches my eye and I pick it up. But if I’m setting out to buy a book, I’ll probably give it some thought. Or I’ll dip into one of my wish lists and see what I’ve been fancying and if I still want to read it. If I’m honest, I very rarely buy books now, and when I do I tend to go for indie books. I have so many arcs and a lot of books I’ve got through events like Stuff Your Kindle, but occasionally I will treat myself to physical books. More often than not this is a deliberate choice – because I’m going to an event with the author, and pick up the book there, or it’s a friend releasing a book, or, well, a lot more other reasons I can usually come up with to get around my self-imposed book buying ban.

If I’m honest, I try and avoid adding books to my TBR (outside my Goodreads Want to Read shelf) that I don’t already own. I don’t use my local library (I know, I know) because it can take me a fair while to get to a book, and I’m not comfortable borrowing a book when I don’t really know when I’ll get to it! But if there is a book, say from my Want to Read shelf, my go to is buying it, if I can get hold of a copy. If nothing I own fits a reading challenge, I’ll look around for books to buy, and often I end up going for an audiobook.

As for formats, I definitely own more ebooks than anything else – it’s very easy for these to build up, as they don’t take up any physical space! As mentioned above, various events, offers and deals also ensure I’ll always be able to pick up a random ebook if I so wish. And truly, if you’d told me as a kid I would have access to all these books at any one time, that I’d simply be able to click a button and have a brand new book to read…I truly, really wouldn’t have believed it.