Who spends over $100 at a bookstore?

I spend at least $100.00 a week on books.
Every Friday, its the same thing.
I get off work, cash my check, and go straight
to either Borders or Barnes & Nobles.
It's funny, because when I quit using opiates
and all of a sudden I had this extra money, I
started spenind every last cent on books.
And now, to be honest, i have a book addiction
that is far more expensive than the drugs ever were.
I always read and had a reading addiction, but I
didnt buy so many books, or read as much.
Now I read anywhere from 2-3 books a week, most
at least 500 pages long. I cant stop! I read 200-500
pages a night, from the time I get off work until about
2-3am. When I have my son, I dont start reading until
about 9 or 10pm, and sometimes I dont even sleep
because I cant stop reading, green tea and books are
my new morphine lol.

This weekend alone, lets see...
Saturday (@10am, waiting for the store to open lol), I bought :
1. $24.00 - I Ching (cant remember the author), a several hundered pages version.
2. $20.00 - Kundalini—The Evolutionary Energy in Man by Gopi Krishna
3. $16.00 - Man's Eternal Journey by Paramahansa Yogananda
4. $3.50 - How To Talk To God by Paramahansa Yogananda

Sunday (Last night) I bought :
1. $8.00 - Journey of Awakening: A Meditator's Guidebook by Ram Dass
2. $7.00 - Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
3. $5.00 - Science of Affirmations by Paramahansa Yogananda
4. $24.00 - Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by (one of Yoganandas disciples)

And I ALMOST bought yet another version of the Bhagavad Gita by
some westerner, with the original Sanskrit, Devanagari, and English
translations, which I believe was going for right around $40.00

So, the sum total of my books this weekend so far : $107.50
And if I can afford it, I am going back to Barnes & Nobles tonight
after work to grab the Gita haha -

 

Oh and I almost forgot 2 from yesterday! :
5. $6.00 - Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
6. $7.00 - Dharmapada - Trans. by Thomas Cleary

I finished both of them in 3 hours.
Siddhartha was good, but Im not as crazy about it
as most people assumed that I would have been.
Kind of, well, boring honestly.
But I guess when Im re-reading Autobiography of a Yogi
for like, the 5th time, not many spiritual story books really
come even close to being as entertaining/insightful.
Still, it was worth the 1 hour & 1/2 that it took to read it. -

 

Yeah, everybody goes on and on about Siddhartha. If you want to read some real good Hesse, check out Steppenwolf and/or Klingsor's Last Summer.

 

You think Steppenwolf should be my next literature adventure?
Yea maybe I will pick it up tonight, they had it at the book
store yesterday.
Im not TOO big on literature/fiction anymore, I mean occaisionslly
I will read some.
The only fiction Im currently working on, and about to finish, is
the original Dune series, but Im taking a break before I continue
on to the 5th one.
Honestly, I just cant stop reading everything by Yogananda,
because he isnt so in your face religiously, he's just open and
honest and very helpful when it comes to lifiting your spirits
and emotions when meditation starts to drag and you feel as
if your not going anywhere with it.
Same with the Gita, whenever I feel down I just open it or
one of Guruji's books and instantly I feel like I am part of something
greater, that I am getting closer to God/enlightenment/whatever. -

 

Well, my limited literary opinion. Steppenwolf is a fucking great read. He actually explores the nature of man, I think. It's more interesting than Siddhartha and will probably take you a little longer to read, and maybe give you something to think about.
When I was in India, I picked up a book at a second hand bookstore called Who Am I? I can't remember the author now but it was a great read without being cliched.
Anyway, I'm jealous of your book-buying.

Enjoy your reading.

 

me not! i buy old books that libraryes sell at very low-price, or on some sales... i mean, i buy new, expensive books in bookstores, but rarely.

 

Relayer, did you buy Steppenwolf? What do you think?

 

I've never spent $100 on books at one time, mostly because I go to used book shops and/or do trades.

I think that of Hesse works, that "Magister Ludi (or Glass Bead Game)" is the pinnacle of his works.

Relayer, have you thought of reading the unabridged "Mahabharata", that is a bit more then a quick read.

 

You'd be lucky if $100 got you one college textbook.

.

 

reading this thread has made me realise how poor I really am

 

Thats because you play jump rope in thailand instead of getting a job like the rest of the robots.

Just remember "for I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days"

 

100 is not much considering todays college text books.

 

Yeah, it's great.

 

Ugh I know. I've spent over $360 and I still don't have all of my textbooks. Seven books were required for one class......7! WTF? I could get copies of those stories online for free.......but no I need the fucking introduction of the book. ARG!!!!!!!!!


Whenever I'm in a bookstore I try to limit myself to two books. Oh and I hardly ever buy hardcover. But it kills me to wait for paperback. I'm so fucked though because I now pass my favorite bookstore on the way to school and back.

 

Has anyone read 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests'? I'm really interested in reading it.

 

i sped as much as i have in my pockets! )

 

second hand paperbacks are the best bang for the buck, especially if you know the authors, but i could easily spend a hundred a paycheck on THOSE. the last time i was working, i think i did too. although i also went to movies and bought leggo blox.

i also remember i bought electronic music on cassette. those were the days.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Annie, you went to City Lights and you didn't invite me?? Augggggggh!!!!! Can you at least reveal what the hard to find books were?

I can't think of any times when I went into a bookstore and spent $100 at random, but yeah, I've spent that much when I knew ahead of time what I wanted.

Dharma Bums is really well known and should be easy to find and most libraries should have it. And there's some kind of Kerouac revival going on with a new edition of On The Road out. I'm not sure what to think of that and I haven't read either book. Maybe someday.

I try to use the library when I can but it's closed a lot of hours when bookstores are open, so sometimes I end up buying books that I could easily borrow.

 

Yes, I ordered it at Barnes and Noble a while back. It was pretty interesting.

 

$100???? That's cheap...try $500 or more..granted they are textbooks and not meant for my enjoyment..but still..but I have spent over $100 in books..that's quite easy..especially when the books I want are $10 a piece..man I love to read...can't wait to get my glasses..