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This is a Good Book Thursday: The Too Many Books Edition

Long ago, I started getting e-books only. I’d moved and dumped several hundred books, and it was just too depressing. So from then on, only e-books. So how in the hell did I end up with twenty-eight boxes of books in this move? I’m going through them now, slowly, and I want to keep most of them. Because.

They’re like Lebowski’s rug, they really pull the room together.

What did you read this week since you weren’t unpacking twenty-eight freaking boxes of books?

109 Responses

  1. It is heartbreaking when you have to get rid of your books. When we moved into our retirement home I had to purge books. Now our small home is filled with my daughter and her family and even a great grandchild. I had to find homes for 99% of my print books to make room for the family. We would have kept the big house if I had known I would lose my books!
    But thank goodness for my Kindle!

  2. Dear Jenny, books are not just for reading, having physical books around is a sensual pleasure! Also, ebooks can be pulled by amazon or the publishers in an instant.
    I also had to get rid of many of my books – oh so many – when I moved last two years ago. And since we’ll have to move again in ca. 2 years, I should stick to ebooks only.
    However… this idea of an apocalypse library (thanks Lupe etc.) is just tooo attractive. So I’ve amassed about two shelves full of books again since December 2023. Sigh.
    My excuse? If an ebook costs almost as much as the physical book, I just don’t want to spend the same amount on just the license to read the book, but the actual book that cannot be changed by other agents than myself or whoever lives in my quarters. Yes, I can drop it in the bathtub, but the chances are unlikely that this happens (as my roommates would protest me staying too long in this cherished room anyway).

    1. Addendum: I’ve re-read/re-listened Role Model by Rachel Reid and am currently re-reading Game Changer. Yes, the tv adaptation has me in its thrall. Very much so.

      I’ve also started to read Boyfriend without Benefits by Riley Hart, book 3 of a series of which I didn’t like the first two installments. Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t explain my reading urges.

      Also, my tbr pile is bursting at its seams. Even in my Kindle Unlimited folder on the ebook reader I’ve got more tbr titles than some others have in the entirety of their library (Debbie, you mentioned this colleague/acquaintance with less than 20 books in her possession?). Gluttony is a sin, but is is also one when it’s books gluttony?

      1. I think that was Nancy. But I have realized that my BIL has a law degree as does his permanent fiancée (they got engaged 20 years ago) and they have fewer than 20 books between them. I absolutely cannot understand this.

        DH has a mug that says “it isn’t hoarding if it’s plants”. I think everyone in this community needs a mug that says this for books.

        2. I’ve got a “booklover” mug for a good friend who gas mire books ghsn I have. But I couldn’t part with it. It called to me as well.

      2. I don’t mind paying same price on Kindle as a paper book. The author took the same amount of time to write it. And, for me, it’s a plus that less paper was used.

        The only paper books I really value are the signed copies I have of Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie & The Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. And cookbooks – even though I rarely cook.

        1. That’s true, and I would support the author getting the same royalty for both, which I don’t think is always the case.

          However a hard copy book comes with printing and distribution costs that an e-book doesn’t, and an e-book is merely a license whereas a hard copy book I can gift or sell second-hand. And it won’t disappear because the vendor closes down. So I’m willing to pay more for a physical copy, and will tend to acquire them for books I really love.

          1. Well said, Yuri! Exactly the reason why I get the physical books these days.
            If an author can offer to sell directly (as eg Jax Calder started this year), I’m willing to buy there (ebookk and audio, physicals woud be too expensive to ship) and pay more (=taxes) knowing this will not gobbled up by amazon.
            With books I fell in love with I tend to go overboard: if I found them in ebook form, I’ll also get the physical and if available even the audio (if the narrator is ok) and translation.

          2. And e-books are not art. 40-some years ago when my friend Judy was taking a book binding class, she made a very special present for me. She bound together the first three of the “Stupids” picture books by Harry Allard and James Marshall in a single volume with a leather cover, marbled end papers and a raised design on the front cover. When she and I worked (at different times) in the receiving room at B. Dalton store #1, the receiving clerks were known as “the Stupids”, so both she and I have an enduring fondness for that series. I keep the book wrapped in the same piece of flannel in which she delivered it and although it was her first try on 2 of the techniques she used and in some places a little less than perfect, it has so much love contained in its pages that I don’t remember the flaws. I remember someone who spent a lot of time, money and effort so that I’d always have a reminder of the good time we’ve shared.

          3. Your friend truely gifted you something wonderful, aunt snack!! She obviously knew you’d treasure it, too.

    2. It’s not gluttony or hoarding if it is books. It is decor and possibly structural to an older home. And also therapy. I used to try to put limits on my accumulation, both digital and physical and then I realized that there was no reason to on one of the few things that I really enjoyed. I don’t know why I so often feel the urge to limit things that aren’t hurting me?

      Of course, I also have no plans to move.

      And having the consignment space has helped because I love sharing books and trying to build a cozy mini book shop has helped me let go of some. Of course I am also buying more… A collection is an ever changing, shifting beast.

      1. Speaking of structural, my girlfriend wanted to make sure the shelves mounted as a headboard were securely fastened to studs. She was planning to put a lot of thick art books on them and didn’t want to be the subject of the headline “person killed by book collection falling from wall while she was asleep”.

        Meanwhile, my other friend with only the 20 books is a great patron of the library. So, she is a reader, just not a collector (or hoarder).

        1. Hm. I can believe people who own few books are great library patrons.
          But I know my BIL and PF just don’t read. It baffles me.

          1. The drawbacks to relying on a library for the books you love are:

            a. They’re not by your bedside when you’re up at midnight sleepless;

            b. All you remember about them is the color of the cover and that bit of plot you can still remember loving; and

            c. They may or may NOT be in stock when you NEED to reread them.

          2. Jinx, Also, the library may discard them or their license for ebooks may run out. (In the US anyhow, libraries only get a set number of borrows per ebook.) But all of that only pertains to books you love. I’ve made efforts to slim down the eleven or more bookcases (depending on how you count) of books that I own and I really should make more efforts. Right after I inspect, and dump most of, the magazines that I own. I’ve made more progress there.

      2. My parents had more than 20 books, but probably not more than 50 on shelves (as opposed to boxes in the attic) when I was growing up. (The main component was the Complete Works of Mark Twain, which I read and they didn’t, and an inexpensive encyclopedia.) Occasional paperbacks appeared and disappeared. Yet they were great readers of periodicals and always supported my own greater book-reading habit.

        1. I think my father bought the Twain and he may have read it before I was born, but he didn’t reread it. Both parents had of course read some Twain in school earlier.

          1. Do you still have the Twain collection? I have my grandfather’s complete works of Washington Irving. He wrote a lot of books! All in teeny font that is hard for me to read now. He died long before I was born, so I’ll never know what he so admired about that author.

          2. Ruth, I’ve still got the Twain (which is not really everything Twain published). I think at one stage of his life he must have picked up several large book sets as a form of self education. Those were mostly boxed in the attic. The most useful of those was probably a set of classics (mostly from the Anglosphere, but some translations). The oddest may have been Memoirs of the Courts of Europe.

          3. I have my grandfather’s large collection of Penguin paperbacks. I never met him and keep meaning to sit down and read them as a way maybe to connect to him. I wish I knew what he thought of the books – whether he kept everything or these were his favorites.

            I’m reminded of the Bujold quote: “A man’s library gives information about the shape of his mind the way his clothing gives information about the shape of his body. The cross-connections between apparently unrelated subjects may exist only in his thoughts. There is a sad disconnectedness that overcomes a library when its owner is gone. I think I should have liked to meet your husband when he was alive. In this ghostly way, perhaps I can, a little.”

        2. “Great readers of periodicals” reminds me of one of my father’s younger uncles who didn’t finish high school because at 16 he lied about his age to get into the Army in WW I. He read the newspaper every day—all of it—and every word of National Geographic which he subscribed to and saved. He’d be talking to my father and go over and pull an issue off the shelf, not necessarily a recent one, and open it and find something relevant to what they’d been discussing. He read other periodicals but he didn’t save those and I don’t remember them because he died when I was only eight. He didn’t read fiction. (Most of his ten siblings did.)

  3. I’ve got the third Thursday Murder Club book to get to, but recently I read This Is Not a Game by Kelly Mullen which was fantastic (locked room mystery taking place on Mackinac Island).
    Otherwise it’s mostly holiday romances and trying to tackle my bookshelf-sized physical-book TBR. Collecting books and reading books; two different hobbies.

    1. I hope you enjoy the Thursday Murder Club book you are about to read, I loved all of these books, so so good.

  4. Goo Boo Thursday done fell on Wensday AND Thursday this week! I feel compelled to post, but have nothin’ t’ add to yesterday’s Goo Boo Thursday post. I do prefer duplication to missin’ the post entire.

  5. This week I read the latest from theundiagnosable on AO3. ‘Backslide’ (about 28k) is a romance of sorts dealing with some of the more difficult issues in hockey. It is excellent and hard hitting, but if you are looking for something uplifting, fun or happy, this is probably not it. Lots of content warnings. I’ll link below.

    On audio, following mentions in last week’s GBT, I listened to some of the Suzanne Palmer stories which were published in Clarkesworld magazine. I enjoyed two Bot-9 stories, I think I have another one left (great!), and a good one called ‘Dave’s Head’. I made a little playlist (on Spotify) so I will dip in and out of them. Good news is that they are recorded as podcasts so they don’t use up audio book time!

    I also listened to an old Josh Lanyon “The Dickens with Christmas” which is a romance with an undiscovered Charles Dickens Christmas story at its centre. It is a nice light, atmospheric Christmas story, I liked the MC (was less sure about the LI). There aren’t really any mystery elements and it does wrap up rather quickly, but it is a very enjoyable Christmas novella.

    Finally, I also listened to another Josh Lanyon “Mainly by Moonlight”, the first in the Bedknob and Broomsticks series, a romance with magic and some mystery. The MC is magic (and there is a magical world), the LI is chief of policy in SF. I liked the MC and the magic, the LI was less believable, but as it is the start of a series there were things that weren’t tied up or felt like they were being dragged out for the sake of another book. I may listen to the next in the series but not yet.

      1. Sorry, it looks like you have to be AO3 registered to access that story, but the link should work if you are logged in.

      2. Yay! Thank you for finding this I would totally have missed it otherwise! Have just downloaded (and yes, you have to be logged in.)

        1. Christina, I somehow msnaged to click somewhere on AO3 and now get an alert whenever Theundiagnosable posts something.
          Not sure if I’m strong enough for serious stuff. It’s mentioned not to have a HEA or HFN.

          3. There’s a Subscribe button if you want an email when something new is posted. You can subscribe to a creator, a work, or a series. One of my favorite creators is posted a work a day for Christmas, and every morning I open my email and its this little spark of joy 🙂

        2. I’m going to go my lines and read it anyway. After reading Thrown Off the Ice I feel like I could read anything hockey romance related and still love it.

          1. I agree Tammy: as someone who regularly rereads Thrown Off the Ice, I too feel like I could read anything hockey romance related and love it. I’m looking forward to reading this one.

    2. I really enjoyed the Bedknob and Broomsticks series — there is a nice feel to it and the police chief improves upon further acquaintance. BUT there are more books to come in the series and while each book is sort of a standalone, I do want to know where the romance arc goes and the loose ends sort of bug me, and waiting for the next in the series kills me. Josh Lanyon says the next installment is probably for 2026. I’ve decided to wait for a reread until the series is finished.

  6. I’m still working my way through my Adler books, though when I’ve finished the one I’m currently reading I shall read ‘Keep You Close’ by Karren Cleveland. A fried recently purchased this book as a birthday gift for me, and I do love a good mystery.

      1. Harry Dresden just has to be special. We’re still waiting for the results of a special gastrointestinal blood panel to confirm (which only went out yesterday), but an ultrasound didn’t show any other reasons for his symptoms, and he’s definitely got gastrointestinal stuff going on. He won’t eat, which is scary.

  8. I don’t know how I can get rid of my seven shelves of books actually, there may be more than that. I have four bookshelves in my room., Four in the living room, this does not count three bookshelves in a room. My friend rents for me didn’t know I left most of my books in there. I know there’s a lot of film scripts on that room and I don’t remember what else
    And I’m with you, Jennie on one thing these days I am buying more e-books.
    This week I finished Mrs. Endicott’s splendid adventure by Rhys Bowen and I started and I’m halfway through a book called yours for the season by Uzma Jalludin which is proving very interesting. I have a huge huge TBR list on my Kindle. I am flying today to Portage, Michigan and I figure I will be out of town for at least two weeks so I want lots of books on my Kindle, although I also have in my purse Donna Andrew’s Six Geese A slaying
    But I have saved some.wonderful reads. Beverly Jenkins Calling All Blessings and The Retires Assassin’s Guide to Orchid Hunting.
    Blessings all.

    1. Thanks for the link! I’d forgotten that sugar prices have risen, which probably accounts for much of why the butterscotch chips are as expensive as the chocolate chips.

    2. Being a chocoholic, this trend has come to my notice, Patrick. Even the ingredients for making your own have gone up. I want to blame the president, but all of us are responsible for global warming.

  11. I got to the age where reading e-books is easier for my eyes and holding a Kindle is easier on my arthritic hands. That being said I still have thousands of books in my house after having given thousands of books to the library and another donation sites.
    The e-book is just easier for me to read. I do like having my bookcases full though.

  12. I’m about halfway through Rough Pages, the third in Lev AC Rosen’s noir detective series featuring a gay detective in the 1950s. Pretty good so far, but a bit all over the place.

    I read Thrown for a Loop, Sarina Bowen’s newest, first in a new hockey romance series. It’s pretty good, but spent too much time hopping back to the past.

    And Suzanne Brockmann audio books while I work, Murderbot if I can’t get to sleep.

    1. I keep looking out for Lev AV Rosen, but I think that series doesn’t have a UK/Ireland publisher so e books and audio aren’t available and the real books are very expensive US imports 😕

  13. I missed yesterday’s GBT and am so happy to find TWO GBTs this week! Yay!

    In addition to endless Heated Rivalry-related articles and posts, I read NR Walker’s Merry and Bright. I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped. I was probably in the wrong mindset but it wasn’t long before I found myself skimming and wondering whether I should just DNF.

    As part of yet another paper copy book purge — like many Arghers, somehow the pile of books in our house doesn’t seem to go down despite numerous purges — I found a collection of Stefan Zweig stories that I’d read a long time ago. This prompted a reread and a reminder of his great writing (even in translation.) The stories are no fun but they are brilliant studies of human nature. “The Chess Master” in particular was heart breaking, the story of a brilliant chess player whose play is a way of dealing with the psychological damage inflicted by the Gestapo. None of these stories are light Holiday Fare. The book was going to stay on the shelf when I discovered a collection of his stories is available on KU.

    Chachal, your mention of My Friend Flicka has me searching for those books. I know I gave mine away in some past purge but now I MUST reread them. And now that I know they do not exist electronically I need to replace my copies for my zombie apocalypse bookshelf!

  14. I only started Beth Brower’s Emma Lion collection yesterday (in audio) based on a recommendation then, so I can’t really review the whole first book. I can say that the narrator is excellent, and I listened to quite a bit of it, well past where I usually nope out if something isn’t to my taste.

    Sounds like a lukewarm recommendation, but given how picky I’ve been about new-to-me authors lately, it’s really quite a glowing recommendation!

  15. Jenny, I made the same vow to just use Kindle, but my Kindle thwarts me, so I’m sticking to only buying books I am sure I will reread multiple times, and in paperback. The Kindle books are getting ever more expensive, too. My bookshelves can be double-filled for most volumes, thank goodness. I never got into the habit of going to the library for books, and now I am not driving, so that’s out, unless I want to make my son take me. He’s really too busy for that.

    1. Jan, Most public libraries let patrons borrow ebooks from home, both eprint and audio. You could either read them or listen to them on phone or computer on a dedicated app, usually Libby, or in most cases have them sent to your Kindle.

    2. Most libraries have a “Books for the Homebound” program of some sort where volunteers deliver and pick up the physical books. They’re not stringent about how homebound is enough, either.

  16. If I can post to two Goo Boo Thursday posts inna week, why not some more Werkin’ Wensday postage?

    So I went through my blog and saved/printed all my Gardening posts to PDF files and then deleted them. Memory/storage optimization. The January post will have all the useful links from the other posts and some new pictures.

    I’m doing the same thing to all my Home Moanership posts.

  17. I know, Jenny. I have one of the bookcases full of books I keep just to remind me that I went to grad school and used to be able to think.

    I went back to Georgette Heyer this week.

    1. I got rid of the books that remind me of grad school a few years ago and it felt great. But it was hard to part with them for the longest time…

  18. Just a note – if you’re like me, you know that boxes of books can get heavy, so you use the smaller boxes for them. So 28 boxes of books is the equivalent to 3 boxes of sweaters.

    1. Seriously. Handling heavy boxes of books can be dangerous as one gets older. Famous sf editor David Hartwell died from a fall when lugging books upstairs during a move.

  19. I got rid of so many physical books in order to keep the dust situation at a minimum and we still have twenty boxes of books plus others that are proliferating in corners by means I don’t understand…. Plus a bunch in my shed office I never even think about because it’s too dusty for me to go out there… I mostly read digital from the library these days and mostly prefer it.

    I’m reading the High Society Lady Detective mystery series by Sarah Rosette this week—enjoyable! And trying to look at all the book samples I’ve got open in browser tabs so I can get that situation under control. Losing battle.

    2. Rosett has a new book out in one of her other series, Murder on the S.S. Cleopatra. My copy is staring beadily at me from its perch on top of the TBR pile. Unfortunately, I got sucked into an Aaronovitch reread and so …

  20. I was browsing around Audible last week looking for stuff, and via-via-via, I landed on a book-series called NINE LIVES MAGIC by Danielle Garrett. It’s a cosy mystery-series starring a candlemaker-witch and her talking, feline familiar, and since the majority of the series was available as bundles, I decided to give it a go. I was a bit sceptical at first while reading book 1, WITCHY WHISKERS, but the characters and the story grew on me, and it was easy, relaxing reading, so I kept at it. Also read book 2, HEXED HISS-TORY, and 3, CURSED CLAWS, and I actually like the snarky, sarcastic, cynical familiar more for every book. Every book has its own little mystery that will be solved at the end, but there’s also a larger mystery that is so far, halfway through book 4 (PURR-FECT POTIONS), still just as much a mystery to the MC and the cat. Book 1-3 had a bit of a love-triangle-thing going, and that annoyed me a bit since it is not one of my favourite tropes, AND I was starting to wonder if all paranormal cosy mysteries have to have those? Aaanyway, I’m still enjoying these books, so I feel very content for now.

  21. I have books in my living room, books in my bedroom, books in a spare room, and loads of books on my Kindle. I do weed through them occasionally, and I donate my non-keepers to the library’s fundraising book store. But my TBR pile keeps going up even though I read 80-100 books a year. I think I like having the comfort of lots of choices for the next book and the next one after that, etc.

    This week I did a comfort read of Susan Elizabeth Phillips Breathing Room. Love that book. Also I’m re-reading Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan, which is another keeper.

    Loved Violet Thistlewaite Is not a Villain Anymore, by the way.

  22. I finished the old New Yorkers!

    I am dividing my time among The Household and the Making of History, A History of Women in 101 Objects, various new to me Agatha Christie’s, and rereading Trisha Ashleys. I need to get back to the Jane Austen biography, the book about her wardrobe, and the book about her bookshelf.

    And I’m looking for books to give DD and foster daughter and SIL. DH who is one of the men who says they think about Rome every day is getting a bottle of Garum and a book on Roman recipes. DS is getting the latest version of the book on paper airplanes that he loved as a toddler.

    What books are you all giving to people ?

    1. 2-3 friends are getting the first Murderbot novella, one is getting the Monk & Robot 2-in-1 volume, one is getting an amusing history of Australia “Girt” or a book on Old English – haven’t decided (he got Murderbot last year!).

    3. Great idea to gift Garum!!
      My son is getting Max Miller’s Tasting History as he loves history, cooking and both of us follow Miller.
      DH is getting the bio of our ducal family’s head who ‘s a very interesting, refined character with lots to tell – he partly grew up in a concentration camp (I never really thought where our top noble family spent the dark dark times) and came out at age 80.

      2. The bio sounds fascinating. I sadly assume it’s not in English? My nine or ten words of German would not be enough.

  23. I’m confused by the two GBT posts in one week. I reported my reading week yesterday, so today I will just be lurking and reading your comments. But I’d like to say: I don’t feel dismay at the 28-book-boxes fact. I feel envy. So many books to look at. To touch. To read. To shelve. To love.
    It would be such a relaxing time for me. I like shelving and reorganizing my books. I don’t know how many boxes my books would fit in, but I have 4 bookcases in one room and 2 in another. And I don’t relish the idea of a book purge. Once in a while, I do get rid of one or several books – the old favorites that no longer work for me – but a massive purge? No. I’d rather get rid of my sofa and TV – I hardly use either – but not books. My son would have to get rid of my books after I’m gone.

  24. I keep books that I want to read, to reread, or use as reference, or just thought were great. I have shelves and shelves of books that I want to read with or give to a grandchild should I ever have one. I won’t throw out my kids books but at some point I may mail them to them. I have some books that are really family history for various reasons. And of course we also have DH’s books .
    But I would like to purge books that don’t fall into these categories because then I can find the books I care about more easily, and someone else can enjoy them (I give them to the local Friends of the Library book shop), and it’s one thing less for my kids to deal with.
    And I would really like to get rid of the 5 bookshelves (so probably 75 feet) of my father-in-law’s books which my husband won’t read and can’t quite get himself to get rid of. Or at least winnow them down. They have been in our home since he died 23 years ago. But that’s not my call.

  25. I heard a great interview with Anthony Horowitz, the writer behind TV greats like Foyle’s War, as well as the Alex Rider series for children. He wrote a trilogy of murder mysteries (which have also been televised) – Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders and Marble Hall Murders. They have dual time lines and are very enjoyable, with strong heroine in her 50s, book editor Susan Ryeland. They have brought a lot of comfort in the countdown to the end of the school term – super frenzied and non-stop. Highly recommended reads.

    1. Good reminder – I have these on my shelf somewhere and I loved Foyles War. The only thing of his I’ve read was a rather good Christmas mystery short “Camberwell Crackers”.

  26. I reread Hot Toy by Jenny Crusie. Holiday fun!

    Then I was drawn to a scene in Rock Chick Rescue by Kristen Ashley. Thought I would just reread that scene but I reread the whole book. It’s book 2 in the series & led me to Book 3 Rock Chick Redemption, Book 4 Rock Chick Renegade & I am currently in the middle of Book 5 Rock Chick Revenge.

    There are 9 books & I have all of them on my Kindle. Will probably reread the rest of the series & go back & reread Book 1 since I started this reread on Book 2.

    Unless something pulls me away.

  27. I’m posting this here again, after posting it on yesterday’s post. So if you think you’ve seen it before you’re not wrong.

    Attention tentacle friends, I read the most interesting mash-up of a Christmas story by TA Moore called Company Ink, part of the Tinsels and Tentacles series. Definitely not your average Christmas tale. Hall revives a corpse to help him avenge his dead father and the corpse steals his body which throws Hall into the undead category and the two of them work together (?) on his mission of vengeance. Lots of creepy, horror-filled bits. Some shall we say unusual sex. Low on the tinsel part. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Merry Christmas heh heh.

    I also read NR Walker’s Merry and Bright. Had to skim my way through the second half. I appreciated the romance between the asexual bookseller and the autistic vet but the writing was flat which was a real disappointment after the funny MC of The Weight of It All, and overall too cozy for me.

    More of a middle ground was Cozy by Kim Fielding, five Christmas stories that are definitely cuddle up by the fire fare.

  28. Hi all, chiming in on this one to, first, offer regrets that my rec for N.R. Walker’s Merry and Bright wasn’t a win for a couple of you. Alas!

    Second, regarding ebooks, physical books, royalties, and ownership: self-published authors using Amazon KDP get the same percentage royalty for ebooks and physical books. The paperbacks cost more because of setup and production (which I think is totally fair) and are thus usually priced higher. Where an author or publisher prices an ebook the same as a paperback, well … that’s kind of gouging, but on the other hand most authors don’t make much of a profit on their work, and some people are willing to pay full price vs wait for a sale like my cheap self.

    As to ownership vs licensing, Amazon KDP dropped a huge announcement this week. There is now a means for authors and publishers to enable ePub and PDF file downloads of ebooks, vs only offering a license. And this can be *retroactive,* meaning an author can go in and de-select DRM (digital rights management), if they had that selected, to enable the book file downloads. As of 1-20-2026, readers can buy the book files, not just licenses, for any titles that have been enabled – new or existing. If someone has already bought a book license, according to this announcement, their content library should be updated with the option to download the book file where it’s been enabled.

    Since my titles are all available on Smashwords (which sells you a book file) or via publisher (same), I don’t consider the new option to amp up my risk of being pirated. People who’d rather steal a book will always find a way, and the AIs have already harvested everything on the internet for their Intellectual Property Theft Chowder. So I’m planning to enable the new option for all my titles. 🙂

      1. I expect the Big Why is competition. There are now multiple ways for readers to get ebook files vs simply licenses. A lot of readers claim to “boycott” Amazon (and Amazon-only authors) because of the license issue; even though it has remained the biggest seller of ebooks, it undoubtedly wants to entice those readers to return. And based on a quick scan of coverage in the blogosphere, it seems Amazon ebooks used to be sold as files rather than licenses. So they’re really rolling it back to an early policy.

        But the key here for readers is that this is author’s choice. If authors have enabled DRM, file downloads will not be available for their books. We have to go in and manually edit the settings for each title. It’ll be a chore and a half. Not every author will bother checking / changing their settings.

        1. I didn’t realize what not enabling DRM meant for me as a reader. Does this mean that I’ll have downloaded the file for those titles? Or would I need to do something differently to get it?

          1. If you’ve bought a license for any ebook on Amazon, being able to download a PDF or ePub of that book will depend on whether the author has DRM or not. What you’ll have downloaded at purchase is a Kindle-readable file, not a portable ePub or PDF.

            There are various vloggers and Redditors out there alleging they have The One True Way to convert Kindle files into portable files, but I tested a couple of them and they totally don’t work. 🙂

            So if there are books in your Kindle library that you’d really love to save to your home computer as ePub or PDF files, you’ll want to check your content library after January 20 to see if that option is available.

    3. Delighted to hear it. Nearly all my ebooks are EPUB or PDF. If I can’t get them that way, I mostly do without (since I have far less money than I do wishlist!)

    5. I’m still trying to figure out why they did this. I’m a suspicious bastard, and the reason is never just because it’s what authors/readers want.

      I’ll worry about it in January. For now, I’m concentrating on stuff that has a December 31 deadline (tax stuff mostly).

  29. A friend (who stayed over at my book filled apartment) quoted John Waters who said don’t have sex with anyone who doesn’t have any books. She gave me a huge grin after she told me that. 😂

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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