✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.

This week’s topic is:

Do you buy books with intention?

Suggested by: Jillian @ 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?

Do you buy books randomly or do you think about what to buy?

I feel slightly called out right now because I may have just come off a bit of a digital book shopping spree the other day… You see, I don’t stand a chance when I see those 99p deals, and well, I saw lots on Wednesday. 🫣 Yes, I’m very well aware that the “99p” one-clicks add up, but alas, I am truly weak when it comes to book deals!

I don’t often set out with the intent to buy books, but as I’m sure many book lovers can relate to, I always somehow end up coming home with a book or two… or more… we don’t judge in this house! 🛍️ Usually, it’s books I’ve had on my radar or ones I’ve heard people talk about. I have a wishlist populated by popular and/or new releases from the past year+ that I’ve seen others rave about and made me feel FOMO. The books I give most thought and planning into buying are book box subscriptions (yes, this counts) and special editions of favourites, but this year I’ve stopped all my subs, and SEs aren’t a regular indulgence.

For the most part, I’m lucky in that I don’t have many adult responsibilities that prevent me from spending my money buying books whenever I want.

How do you decide which books to buy vs which books to borrow or just save for later?

Despite having the flexibility to splurge and treat myself often, I will be more mindful and think twice if, let’s say, a new ebook is over £11-£12 (roughly $14-$16). Although it will be disappointing (lol), I try to wait a few weeks or months to see if there are price drops or special deals/sales because it hurts when ebooks are more expensive than a paperback (especially since Amazon no longer lets me download the thing I bought)! However, considering I do not have access to a library, and I know some titles will never appear in the physical store here, I don’t have much choice but to buy the book if I want to read it.

More often than not, the pricing is what helps me decide when to buy a book or when to wait. As I have to buy every book I read if it’s not an eARC or gifted copy, I tend to wait for the 99p sales, daily deals or other price drops. While it might not happen frequently and often a year or two post-publication if it’s a popular title, it usually works out for me if I’m not on a time crunch to read the book. We have the towering TBR mountain to hold me over until then! 🤭

For books at the top of your TBR, is your go-to buying a book, or do you check your library first?

As I mentioned in my previous answer, I have no library access (very sad), so that’s not even an option for me!

What book formats do you own most of—physical books, ebooks, or audiobooks?

Without question: ebooks. I don’t even have a tally of how many ebooks I own because I’m honestly a bit too scared to look! 😂 I’ve been buying Kindle books since 2012, but it was really only in the last 4-5 years that I started buying multiple books at a time, and only in the past 2-3 years where I’ve allowed my indulgence to rule me, haha. That said, I have a decent physical book collection that numbers well into the hundreds because I aim to have an immaculate private library room one day!

Tangent: Something I’ve been daydreaming about very often lately is opening a library cafe either in Jakarta or Bali, and although I was joking about it with my dad the other day, he was very encouraging and told me to just do it. Too bad all my money is being spent on actually collecting the books, haha! 🤭

Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers who joined the discussion this week! 👇🏽

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Annemieke @ A Dance with Books
Lin @ Lin’s Perspective
Alli @ Alli the Book Giraffe
Elle @ Unwrapping Words
Leyre @ Read You Leyre
Emma @ Pages of Emma
Rachael @ The Green Tea Librarian
Tiffany @ Romantasy Life
Yolanda @ Past Midnight
Raji @ Worlds Unlike Our Own
Laurie @ Laurie Is Reading
Abyssal Librarian
Shoto @ Magic & Maybes
Leslie @ Books Are the New Black
LaRonda @ Flying Paperbacks
Kristina @ Books and Dachshunds
Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly

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If I’ve missed your post this week, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments, and I’ll add you to this week’s list of community posts ASAP!

What about you? Do you buy books with intention, or are you a bit chaotic like me? How do you decide which books to buy, check out at the library (if you have one), or save for later? Do the 99p deals or FOMO get you too?

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