That happened to me when I did the challenge . A great concept that looked like it could tackle the issue of having tons of unread books and actually just killed the pleasure of reading which is much worse.
I am always deeply impressed Olly by the sheer volume you can read. If I had your ability I’d be unstoppable. I think I’ll do my own Read What You Own challenge. I’ll go easy on myself and cap it at fifty, aim to get it done by the end of the year.
I’m still getting over the 100 books in three months… or even five months. You’re a reading machine! Glad the challenge has had a positive impact for you. 😊💙
You are killing it with interesting content. I don't watch a lot of Booktube right now, but I love hearing your perspectives. Are you happy with your large collection or did this series make you want to reduce it?
I can certainly say the Read What You Own has definitely helped me control my buying habits. But it is actually a fun challenge. I will definitely do it again but I thinking about converting it to read x number of pages.
I did the read-what-you-own challgenge again, starting from November 2023. It was my second time doing it and I found that not buying books wasn't really a problem for me at all this time around. However, I found the challenge more difficult the second time because I am a mood-reader and towards the end of it I really struggled to find books in my library that I felt like I wanted to read at that particular point in time. On the other hand, I read quite a few books that I had gotten from the Abominable Book Club before the challenge started, that I might not have read without the challenge and I ended up enjoying most of them. So the challenge helped me to go beyong my established reading habits with regard to subgenre or topic, which is great! And I found a few new-to-me authors that I will be reading more of in the future :D I don't know if I'll do it again this year. But, I also found that this challenge (both times) has absolutely helped me gain more control of my book buying habits. I think a lot more about what books I want to buy - and which ones I want to buy as e-books and which ones I want a printed version of. So I feel like the challenge achieved what I wanted it to - mission accomplished :) Thank you for the inspiration to undertake this challenge, Olly!
I’ve done a couple of short (25 book - as it takes me most of the year to read 100 books) Read What You Own Challenges, one last November and one I’ve just finished. I don’t think it’s “cured” me of buying books, but it does give my wallet a break for a few months 😉
Congrats on the challenge, I've collected books all my life - now that I am older I've downsized my collection to about 70 books. I only get ebooks from the library except last year I did buy a stepback book for garbaugust and now I also bought a new stepback book for this Garbaugust that has 3 setback covers on the front of the paperback. The book is Excavation by James Rollins copywrite is 2000. It's a keeper I just hope the book is good.
I got 64 books into my 100 book Read What You Own Challenge before I broke my book-buying ban. But I was stressed! I had to buy more! I was interviewing authors so I wanted to make sure I’d read a good amount of their work, and also compiling lists and needed more samples. Those are my excuses anyway 😂
The concern about reading lists rather than because of what you want to read is VERY real. Marathons sometimes also don’t require as much thought. You don’t have to choose what you want to read because it’s chosen for you. But as you said, that can also make you lose interest in reading, and that’s not fun!
I finished my 100 in May and was thrilled, it was tough and I certainly felt some FOMO, but it was also great to let six months pass and see some genuine reviews. By the time I got around to buying again, a lot that were initially on my list were no longer as interesting. The TBR prompt I pulled for July was for my husband to choose my TBR. And he chose RWYO-100 so I've started over, again! 😂 I do get to include audiobooks and ebooks this time, so fingers crossed I make it through a little quicker.
I just ended my 2nd 100. I allowed myself to get free ebooks during the 2nd 100 to fit challenges. Haven't bought a book (except as a gift) since last October. It was fun and I'm sure I will do it again.
This is very fascinating! I’m thinking over how I could make this challenge work for me. 🤔 I can see where wanting to finish the challenge could shape your reading…and how it might make sense to stock up on certain books beforehand. I will let you know if I decide to do some version of this, Olly!
I could never do a challenge like this! I do not have the strength in me 😂 but I also want to bring down my tbr to zero because I miss the joy of going out and buying a book or even a whole series without thinking about all the unread books on my shelf. So I focus on reading more than buying and keeping track of my progress on a monthly basis. I find this system strangely rewarding because I can see the number shrinking every month. With this system I got my tbr from over 300 down to 40 over the last few years without depriving myself of anything!
I've been trying to read what I own before buying any new books, my physical TBR list was over 210 books, and I wanted to get my TBR down to zero, which for a first attempt seems too strict and a bad idea in and of itself. I only managed to get 37 books read before buying a newly released book that a fellow BookTuber self published. I feel like I set myself up for failure with trying to go from 210+ to zero in my first attempt.
I've always gotten my books from my library and now I read my books on my Kindle app via the Libby app. However, once in a while I will get notifications of ebooks on sale for $2. If it's a book that's been on my radar I would but the $2 ebook. Recently, it just dawned on me that we don't really own ANY ebook. We just own the LICENSE to view the book any time we choose. In other words, it's a permanent rental. In January, I decided my 2024 resolution was to not buy any more ebooks. I have about 150 ebooks I haven't read and about 115 books that I either bought it just to have it because I read it before the Internet existed, or I just finished reading it as an ebook. As part of the same resolution, I decided I was going to read only the books in my Book Cloud. It is now mid July, and of the 10 books I've read so far this year, only 4 are from my permanent rentals. Part of the reason is I belong to 2 book clubs and each announced books I wanted to read. I am currently halfway through a Permanent Rental so the count will go up to 5 when I'm done.
I did my first read what you own challenge last November and finished mid-February on my 100 books. I was fine till the beginning of the year when booktubers posted videos of their favourite books from the previous year and the sales were on. Then it killed me. So from February I have made a list of all the books I’ve bought and marked off when I’ve read them. The numerical difference will give me the number of books I have to read for this year’s challenge. Sadly that number is currently 91 😂. But I’m working on it. Well done on your 200 books 😊
Ok. Just returned from charity shop with another 21 books to add to the list 😂😂😂. At this rate I’ll have to do a mega challenge like Michael K Vaughan !!
I started a 100-book RWYO challenge this month! But I read much slower than you!! I anticipate it will take me a year or more to get through 100 books.
This is what I need to do next. I literally went to the used book store, was going to buy If It Bleeds, but then put it down because I still have too many books that I already own that I need to get through. This year my goal was to get through 41 books my mom gave me last year. I'm almost done with them all, but of course I'm also reading other books besides that.
For me the motivation is to make room for new books. Some of the fiction books I have I purchased in the 90s when I lived in England, and they traveled with me for 30 years without ever being opened. LOL.
I'm 25 books into the 100 challenge. I started it the 1st of January. With this speed I'll get to buy new books in the spring of 2026. It's ok, but I find that I sometimes I'm unlucky with my pick of the read and the read takes longer because I find the book so-so. And I'm probably picking books that have a smaller page count to get through the challenge faster. But as long I'm enjoying it I'll go ahead. And the list of book I wan't to get after this challenge have reached 30 so far 😅
Quack that reading challenge. Congratulations on finishing. Maybe take a year off or commit to reading a longer series you own while still living a normal book-buying life?
Most of my RWYO books have been DNFs- but at least this means I can say I tried it and it wasn't for me, so I can move on. A lot of this I think is my taste having changed...
That happened to me when I did the challenge . A great concept that looked like it could tackle the issue of having tons of unread books and actually just killed the pleasure of reading which is much worse.
Congratulations on surviving this grueling experience! 😅 I can obviously relate.
😂😂
Iconic Thumbnail ALERT 🚨
I am always deeply impressed Olly by the sheer volume you can read. If I had your ability I’d be unstoppable.
I think I’ll do my own Read What You Own challenge. I’ll go easy on myself and cap it at fifty, aim to get it done by the end of the year.
I’m still getting over the 100 books in three months… or even five months. You’re a reading machine! Glad the challenge has had a positive impact for you. 😊💙
Thanks Jolene!
You are killing it with interesting content. I don't watch a lot of Booktube right now, but I love hearing your perspectives.
Are you happy with your large collection or did this series make you want to reduce it?
Thanks
Thanks so much!
I can certainly say the Read What You Own has definitely helped me control my buying habits. But it is actually a fun challenge. I will definitely do it again but I thinking about converting it to read x number of pages.
I did the read-what-you-own challgenge again, starting from November 2023. It was my second time doing it and I found that not buying books wasn't really a problem for me at all this time around. However, I found the challenge more difficult the second time because I am a mood-reader and towards the end of it I really struggled to find books in my library that I felt like I wanted to read at that particular point in time. On the other hand, I read quite a few books that I had gotten from the Abominable Book Club before the challenge started, that I might not have read without the challenge and I ended up enjoying most of them. So the challenge helped me to go beyong my established reading habits with regard to subgenre or topic, which is great! And I found a few new-to-me authors that I will be reading more of in the future :D
I don't know if I'll do it again this year. But, I also found that this challenge (both times) has absolutely helped me gain more control of my book buying habits. I think a lot more about what books I want to buy - and which ones I want to buy as e-books and which ones I want a printed version of. So I feel like the challenge achieved what I wanted it to - mission accomplished :)
Thank you for the inspiration to undertake this challenge, Olly!
If you’re strongly a mood reader I can definitely see it being a challenge. Glad you got through it and found it a positive experience though!
I’ve done a couple of short (25 book - as it takes me most of the year to read 100 books) Read What You Own Challenges, one last November and one I’ve just finished. I don’t think it’s “cured” me of buying books, but it does give my wallet a break for a few months 😉
Awesome! Congrats on finishing again!
Thank you! Cheers!
Congrats on the challenge, I've collected books all my life - now that I am older I've downsized my collection to about 70 books. I only get ebooks from the library except last year I did buy a stepback book for garbaugust and now I also bought a new stepback book for this Garbaugust that has 3 setback covers on the front of the paperback. The book is Excavation by James Rollins copywrite is 2000. It's a keeper I just hope the book is good.
I’ve heard good things about James Rollins! Enjoy!
@@CriminOllyBlog Thanks
Congrats!
I got 64 books into my 100 book Read What You Own Challenge before I broke my book-buying ban. But I was stressed! I had to buy more! I was interviewing authors so I wanted to make sure I’d read a good amount of their work, and also compiling lists and needed more samples.
Those are my excuses anyway 😂
The concern about reading lists rather than because of what you want to read is VERY real. Marathons sometimes also don’t require as much thought. You don’t have to choose what you want to read because it’s chosen for you. But as you said, that can also make you lose interest in reading, and that’s not fun!
I just love buying books!
I finished my 100 in May and was thrilled, it was tough and I certainly felt some FOMO, but it was also great to let six months pass and see some genuine reviews. By the time I got around to buying again, a lot that were initially on my list were no longer as interesting. The TBR prompt I pulled for July was for my husband to choose my TBR. And he chose RWYO-100 so I've started over, again! 😂 I do get to include audiobooks and ebooks this time, so fingers crossed I make it through a little quicker.
Ha ha hope it is indeed quicker second time round
I just ended my 2nd 100. I allowed myself to get free ebooks during the 2nd 100 to fit challenges. Haven't bought a book (except as a gift) since last October. It was fun and I'm sure I will do it again.
This is very fascinating! I’m thinking over how I could make this challenge work for me. 🤔 I can see where wanting to finish the challenge could shape your reading…and how it might make sense to stock up on certain books beforehand. I will let you know if I decide to do some version of this, Olly!
I could never do a challenge like this! I do not have the strength in me 😂 but I also want to bring down my tbr to zero because I miss the joy of going out and buying a book or even a whole series without thinking about all the unread books on my shelf. So I focus on reading more than buying and keeping track of my progress on a monthly basis. I find this system strangely rewarding because I can see the number shrinking every month. With this system I got my tbr from over 300 down to 40 over the last few years without depriving myself of anything!
That's a really impressive reduction! I did try a model like that but it just didn't work for me
I've been trying to read what I own before buying any new books, my physical TBR list was over 210 books, and I wanted to get my TBR down to zero, which for a first attempt seems too strict and a bad idea in and of itself. I only managed to get 37 books read before buying a newly released book that a fellow BookTuber self published. I feel like I set myself up for failure with trying to go from 210+ to zero in my first attempt.
I've always gotten my books from my library and now I read my books on my Kindle app via the Libby app.
However, once in a while I will get notifications of ebooks on sale for $2. If it's a book that's been on my radar I would but the $2 ebook.
Recently, it just dawned on me that we don't really own ANY ebook. We just own the LICENSE to view the book any time we choose. In other words, it's a permanent rental.
In January, I decided my 2024 resolution was to not buy any more ebooks. I have about 150 ebooks I haven't read and about 115 books that I either bought it just to have it because I read it before the Internet existed, or I just finished reading it as an ebook.
As part of the same resolution, I decided I was going to read only the books in my Book Cloud.
It is now mid July, and of the 10 books I've read so far this year, only 4 are from my permanent rentals.
Part of the reason is I belong to 2 book clubs and each announced books I wanted to read.
I am currently halfway through a Permanent Rental so the count will go up to 5 when I'm done.
That's a lot of books! Horror is my favorite genre, but I never buy them. The only books I buy and reread are poetry books.
Well done! 👏🏽👏🏽
Thank you!!
I did my first read what you own challenge last November and finished mid-February on my 100 books. I was fine till the beginning of the year when booktubers posted videos of their favourite books from the previous year and the sales were on. Then it killed me. So from February I have made a list of all the books I’ve bought and marked off when I’ve read them. The numerical difference will give me the number of books I have to read for this year’s challenge. Sadly that number is currently 91 😂. But I’m working on it. Well done on your 200 books 😊
Ok. Just returned from charity shop with another 21 books to add to the list 😂😂😂. At this rate I’ll have to do a mega challenge like Michael K Vaughan !!
@RaynorReadsStuff 😂😂
Almost 3/4 done!
I started a 100-book RWYO challenge this month! But I read much slower than you!! I anticipate it will take me a year or more to get through 100 books.
This is what I need to do next. I literally went to the used book store, was going to buy If It Bleeds, but then put it down because I still have too many books that I already own that I need to get through. This year my goal was to get through 41 books my mom gave me last year. I'm almost done with them all, but of course I'm also reading other books besides that.
For me the motivation is to make room for new books. Some of the fiction books I have I purchased in the 90s when I lived in England, and they traveled with me for 30 years without ever being opened. LOL.
Good luck with it!
Good job!
I;m gonna try this i buy way to many books
I'm 25 books into the 100 challenge. I started it the 1st of January. With this speed I'll get to buy new books in the spring of 2026. It's ok, but I find that I sometimes I'm unlucky with my pick of the read and the read takes longer because I find the book so-so. And I'm probably picking books that have a smaller page count to get through the challenge faster. But as long I'm enjoying it I'll go ahead. And the list of book I wan't to get after this challenge have reached 30 so far 😅
Oh, and I think you have added an "L" in my last name in the end credits 😂
Oh whoops! I'll correct that!
Glad you're enjoying it! You can always DNF if a book really isn't working (and still count it towards the challenge!).
What time of day do you manage to read?
Congratulations 🎉
How many physical books do you own and how many do you display?
I have no idea! There are certainly more in the garage than there are on my shelves.
Don't quote me, but I think one can officially call the collection a library at 1k+ books.
Someone told me it was 10,000. I’ve no idea tho.
@@lukethomas216
I stand corrected: ten thousand is a library; one thousand is a book hoarder.
Great that it meant your habits changed- a real success
Yes! Thank you!
Way to be Ollie. Very impressive. Take a year off. Cheers
I quit the challenge after one book. Will never try again.
💚🖤
There's this thing called The Library...?
I discovered the digital borrowing library here in Ireland, and it's awesome.
I do use the library a fair bit, but a lot of the books I want to read aren’t available
Quack that reading challenge. Congratulations on finishing. Maybe take a year off or commit to reading a longer series you own while still living a normal book-buying life?
The other thing I REALLY need to do is catch up on the books I've been sent for review. That's my plan for the rest of the year
Most of my RWYO books have been DNFs- but at least this means I can say I tried it and it wasn't for me, so I can move on. A lot of this I think is my taste having changed...
That's definitely a positive result