Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
- Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena

I have never been a big book acquirer.  The books I like to own are generally those I think I will not be able to find again, those out of print/odd finds I get in a dollar bin, and those I use for reference.  I personally can’t understand owning a copy of a novel that is in every bookstore or library in the country.  I am all for other people doing it, I just have never had that sort of attachment.

Despite this, and mainly due to Bookmooch and a friend who works for a publishing house, I have acquired A LOT of books recently.  My Bookmooch list is mainly things I have not been able to find in a library, and most of the books, due to my bizarre interests, hardly ever have a supplier.  So when someone has a book I want, whether I am going to read it immediately or not, I grab it.  Leading to too many awesome unread books.

And thus I am going to start on a fool’s errand, one I have tried many times.

The Read What You Have Challenge!

Basically as soon as I read something, I get rid of it generally, and as I currently own ZERO bookshelves, it would be a good thing to get rid of a few.  So other than

• books I might read for a book club
• audiobooks I dnld
• books I require to meet an immediate need

I am reading what I own.  That last one is a copout, at least for me it is.  I feel about reading non-fiction books the same way Johnny Five does.  I need a lot of it and I consume it addictively.  So I might bend my own rules.  I am going to try not to.

On the other hand the Readers’ Advisor in me is sort of against this.  I definitely believe in reading the right book for the right mood.  And sometimes that book is in the library.  But I have a coterie of awesome books around the house, so I don’t think it’ll be that hard to find some good stuff that excites me.

Anyone tried this before?  Success?

Hey if you met me/heard me talk/want to talk about metadata/want to know what to do in your case, follow my twitter feed @jennybento, or email me at jenny bento at gmail.

Things I have not done in more than a month:

1. Drunk more than 2 beers in a row.
2. Read a non-electronic book.
3. Listened to my music library.
4. Read a magazine.
5. Been home alone.
6. Been naked for more than 10 mins.
7. Cooked anything.
8. Eaten salmon
9. Had the Internet at home.
10. Read an audiobook.

Since these are my favorite things ever, this is sad. Soon these will be rectified, but in the meantime, in the words of Morrissey, if I seem a little strange, well that’s because I am.

I will be going to SXSW again this year and doing one new thing (presenting/moderating) and one old thing (library meetup).

NEW THING:
I will be moderating and contributing to a panel entitled Kicking Ass with Controlled Metadata.  Also on the panel are Tom Conrad of Pandora.com and Tim Spalding of LibraryThing.  I think it will be awesome to hear people telling everyone from Web 2.0 that good expert-created metadata can be more useful and moneymaking that crowdsourcing tagging.  But that is my hobbyhorse, ain’t it? Follow the link for deets on attending.

OLD THING:
Library Worker Hoedown Lunch 2009– I have been running this for three years now, which is shockingly long to me.  I’ve met some of the coolest people at this thing.  And, best of all, non-librarian techies come and tell us all the dirt on how much they hate their tech hating librarians. :)  A lot of people from all kinds of gigs come and we’ve been getting a lot of law people, directors, IT peeps.  It’s a good time and especially good for new people who come to the conference alone and know no one.  It’s Sat. Mar. 14 at 12:30 at Iron Cactus on 6th and Trinity.

I will also be having an “important” birthday the day after these two things.  Doing two awesome library metadata things and then drinking to excess with excellent Mexican food is my ideal way to celebrate the one-two punch of Pi Day & the Ides of March.

So if you are coming to Austin (or already there!) let me know! We’ll have tacos.