The Art of the Book Haul
Book Hauls: a chance at true joy. Book Hauls are always fun but a lot of times I get overwhelmed or self conscious and wander around for 15 minutes before I even know what's going on. Or I get to the counter and have that embarrassing moment where what I've collected is out of my price range and have to make choice between destroying my bank account or face the embarrassment (that's totally self inflicted) by putting a bunch of books back. Or I have a perfect experience, the clerk at the counter gives me the covetted "good choices" nod, and I get to go home with books for myself that I will enjoy. Here's some tips that I use that I hope will help you.
The Hunting Ground
First we need to choose where this Book Haul is going to take place. If you're online or irl, it doesn't matter, but you need to make a choice that will allow you the best book haul possible. There are plus and minuses for each. You'll probably get a better deal online, can use multiple sources at one time, and you don't have to dedicate time to leaving the house and physically searching through shelves. But your brick and mortar give you the instant gratification of taking your books home right away, the physicality of book shopping, and sampling everything you pick up. You can shop independent, used, or at a chain, just make sure it's a place you want to be in. A book haul should be a good time you should be excited to conduct your search, and a lot of times no matter what you find, where you are changes how much fun you have. (But, obviously I will heavily suggest you keep supporting your indie booksellers, even if it's just for one book, than money can continue to circulate in your community an keep one of a kind places in business! Plus those are the booksellers who can help you curate a perfect book haul just for you if you're a regular!)
And don't forget your libraries! The friendliest place to Book Haul! Your wallet and local branch will thank you!
I like Half Price Books, personally, because I can always bring in books that I need to get rid of (old reading material for classes, books I have multiples of, and things I just didn't like), and they always have a changing line up of things. It's a bit out of the way for me but it's always worth it. Plus have you ever spent time in the antique section? When I'm in California I like Moe's in Berkeley!
The Double Budget
Your budget should always be in two parts: Finances and Time. Here's the thing Finances should always be based on time, whether you're budgeting books or groceries. Think about the typical paycheck, the money given to you is based on how much time you work, right? Why should spending money be any different?
Think about how much time you spend on a book. Are you a quick reader? Are you slower? Do you read only when you know you have more than 2 hours at a time to dedicate to reading or do you read mostly on your commutes where you're reading for a half hour at a time?
Personally I read on a curve, I'm slow to start but after the halfway mark I start flying. If I'm familiar with a writer and like them I'm more likely to press myself to move pretty quickly to that midway point when reading becomes really easy for me and I get in "the zone." I'm also very sensitive to the density; big words, changing time lines, politics, and social commentary are all things that when reading I'm intensely attentive too, which slows me down quite a bit. Which means Native Sun (Socio-economics, race, Chicago specific history, thick blocks of description, and the Capital-"L" Law) took me almost six months to read and Saint Anything (Author I'm familiar with, lots of dialogue and triangulation between characters and relationships, straight forward moments of showing and telling a story, quick pace) took me a few days. Both are great books and the time it took didn't effect my genuine enjoyment of either novel, but it did make me aware of how my reading style works. Since I work from home too, a book is always close by between working on projects for clients and myself, so I could pick it up for five minutes at a time or for a couple of hours depending on the day and what my work load is like or if the book is related to my own research (i.e. the fun type of work).
After you identify yourself as a reader through the lens of time (i.e. your average read time for a 250 pg book), identify your time spent between buying books. If you tend to buy books weekly your budget is probably going to be much smaller than someone who is only buying books once every couple of months.
Now put that all together, and figure out how many books you realistically consume between visits to your bookstore. For someone like me (a slower reader, with irregular reading schedule, who is able to buy books every couple of months) my budget is around $60. It gets me just enough books to last me about three or so months before the next time I get to visit my favorite bookstore. So that's what I aim for, not counting money I reserve for Holy Grail finds.
The Holy Grail
You know, that first printing of Breakfast of Champions, the hardback book of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and essays, the leather bounds and anthologies. These are those finds that you just can't leave behind. They'll always pop up. I'm guilty of always looking in antique and collectable sections for books. I really like old illustrated botany texts, books of essays, and particular first editions. So more times than not I'll find something out of my price range and really feel my heart strings tugged by what I've already found and collected in the day's search through book piles and what has just been uncovered.
Here's the thing though, I'll be the devil's advocate here, don't leave those books behind! Who knows when/if you'll ever come across them again. If they're a real Holy Grail book they're going to be something you're going to appreciate for a long time, sometimes that joy is worth anything!
This is why you should not consider a Holy Grail book part of your entire budget. While you can (and probably should) return books to the shelves that you can easily find another time, to make the price more manageable you should set up a different pricing and allowance system for the Holy Grail books. (I have a treat yourself fund that I calculate from my checking account, and take money from there, providing myself with one nice thing for myself once a month.)
Here are some Holy Grail Regulation tips for those of you who, like me, can't say no
- If you're like me, recognize where you usually uncover your Holy Grails and go there first. Get it out of the way, that way you won't feel guilty returning other books you've found to their stacks. (And you can adjust that budget we talked about!!)
- If you haven't already, check the editions print date and search it's title and year online and see what it's going for regularly. More likely than not, the book in person will come out to much less than it's being sold for online, but it's always good to check. It's also good to see if it's not as rare as you thought it was!
- Look at EVERYTHING. This may seem counter intuitive, but a lot of times when I'm in an antique book section, I'll pull out a couple of things, and then after seeing everything the section has to offer in front of me I'll realize only one of the books is really extraordinary. And put the rest back.
Keeping a List
Between Book Hauls you should always be keeping a list of books you want to get to at some point but don't yet have. Delete and edit the list as time goes by and keep updated on how the books in your list are doing as far as reviews go. If your favorite reviewers don't like a book you might want to re-evaluate if you want to be on the lookout for it.
While searching shelves or webstores aimlessly can be fun and bring you new things you've never seen before, it's always good to have some finds that you're almost guaranteed to enjoy because you've researched them and have been excited about them for a while.
Create your list however you want, leave notes for each book, rate them in desirability, whatever makes sense to you. Making the list, for me, just helps me keep organized and also let's me know if I have blind spots in my reading list. Am I reading from mostly male authors? How diverse are the protagonists am I reading? Is a lot of my non-fiction readings America-centric? Things like that are really important, Book Hauls should make you a better reader and open up a new doors for you.
Fielding Suggestions
Sometimes you find yourself with no real aim and you need a hand. If you don't have a list of books you've already been eyeing and updating yourself on or are feeling overwhelmed. Most of the time I resort to asking Facebook with a status if I find myself unarmed and unready to face a single bookshelf. A lot of the time if I look for books people suggest to me I find that they aren't book they think I'd like, they're book they liked.
This is a two faced coin, on the one hand it's another form of exposure to books I wouldn't have looked for or seeked out, on the other hand I can end up with a list of things I have zero interest in. So when you ask for help, ask people who know you or who are really into something in particular you'd like to get into. So that's something you need to be acutely aware of, don't only look at the book but think of the person suggesting it. If this person ingests a lot of high fantasy and suggests a fantasy book you might want to listen, even if it isn't your thing, even make note of it for later. If someone suggests a book to you and you haven't talked to them in five years and know them only by their instagram handle, maybe ignore them.
But you know who your biggest ally is going to be? Your bookseller! No one who is selling books hates books, and if they do, you're in the wrong place and you need to RUN. But I trust you would never end up in one of those places, so ask a bookseller who is hanging around a section you're interested in (chances are they'll know something about the section!) or someone else who works there. When they ask what you're looking for it's like a haircut, you can give them free range but you'll more likely come to better results if you let them know what you're about. Tell them a couple of themes you like, maybe mention a book your read recently or a long-time favorite author. Don't give them a life story but give them a couple of specific markers about your own reading tastes and they'll be able to help you narrow down some choices or maybe give you a specific recommendation! Don't forget to ask if they've read any of the books they've suggested and ask what they're favorite part was about it. A personal recommendation is always great, and it's also great to see someone else enthuse about a book, it's pretty contagious!
Getting the Fuck Outta There
You've hit your budget, you've found your Holy Grail, it's time to hit checkout! At this point you should love everything you have in your hand, you shouldn't be longing for anything else. If you aren't happy with your stack start returning stuff and trading it for something that does get you excited.
So let's pay up, head out, and enjoy what you found. How you choose to proceed through your stack is up to you.
For those keeping up at home
Last Book Haul: April
Location: Half Price Books, Niles, IL
Finds: Swing Time by Zadie Smith (Paperback 2016), Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (Paperback 2015), Strong Hearts by George W. Cable (Bound 1899 edition), All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Hardback 2014), and ER Season 8 (we can't all have great, god-like taste)
Budget: $60
Actual Price: ~ $45.00 (lost the receipt!)