This latest book traffic report covers the months of September, October and November, that time of the year that bursts with fall book launches, author readings, festivals and literary prize shortlists and winner announcements. How did this household fare in terms of forging a spare bit of space for something other than books – was it even possible? – as we continued to take a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this place?

At the end of September, the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 29

• All incoming books were paper.
• 21 of the books were fiction, 5 were poetry collections or works, 3 were non-fiction.
• 4 of the books were purchased online from Amazon.
• 1 book was purchased online, directly from an independent bookseller in the UK.
• 4 books were purchased from independent booksellers – Ben McNally and Type Books – at book launches and readings.
• 2 books were received as gifts.
• In a first even for this admittedly book-focused household, one book was purchased three times. We obtained a special limited first edition of The Children Act by Ian McEwan from the London Review Bookshop, purchased a second book as a reading copy, then purchased the book a third time to give it as a gift.

Outgoing: 33

• 32 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• The outgoing books were a fairly equal mix of fiction, non-fiction / reference and poetry.
• 1 book was the aforementioned The Children Act by Ian McEwan, given as a gift to a friend.

… and at the end of October, the two columns read as follows:

Incoming: 8

• All incoming books were paper. (We don’t really seem to be big acquirers of digital books, do we?)
• 6 of the books were fiction, 2 were poetry collections.
• 2 books were purchased online from Amazon.
• 3 books were advance reading copies from publishers.
• 1 book was purchased from an independent bookseller at a literary event.

Outgoing: 12

• All 12 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• Again, the outgoing books were a fairly equal mix of fiction, non-fiction / reference and poetry.

… and at the end of November, the two columns read as follows:

Incoming: 10

• All incoming books were paper.
• 7 of the books were fiction, 1 was a poetry collections, 2 were non-fiction.
• 2 books were purchased from independent booksellers or directly from publishers at literary events.
• 2 books were purchased from independent bookseller Book City.
• 3 books were purchased online from Amazon.
• 3 books were purchased online, directly from an independent bookseller in the UK.

Outgoing: 20

• 17 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• 3 books were given to friends.
• 16 outgoing books were fiction, 4 were non-fiction.

2014 to date: 121 books incoming, 203 books outgoing

Again, our outgoing numbers continue to confirm that we have an abiding affection for our local Little Free Library boxes. How would we have made it through this exercise without them? Certainly, they’ll continue to be a resource, an outlet and a good habit for us long after we stop tabulating our bookish activities in this fashion.

In fact, Little Free Library boxes were a comfort to us during this period. This fall, my in-laws moved from the family home to a seniors’ apartment. It is a change with many more positives and than negatives, but the considerable downsizing of all the things, such as the books, has had its bittersweet moments.

Because my dear mother-in-law lost her vision several years ago, her beloved books were already gathering dust. (Thankfully, she has since become a regular and very avid user of CNIB resources and services and therefore continues to be an active and engaged reader.) While it felt odd to carry away many books we’d originally given her as gifts, it was heartening to feel the books continued to be gifts to new recipients as we took them to the several Little Free Library boxes with which we’re blessed here in east end Toronto.

I’ll save for the end of the year a final, detailed breakout of books read and unread, types of books, etc. For now, I’ll observe that our sprint through the fall season was less bookishly profligate than I would’ve thought. I must say, though, that my favourite way to purchase books is at literary events, where you can celebrate and mingle with other booklovers, and you can transform those purchases into special treasures with inscriptions and memories of connections made and words exchanged with the authors.

We have just one more month left in our year of flying books …!

See also:

BOOKS / When your neighbour’s yard is a library
by John Lorinc
Special to The Globe and Mail
December 12, 2014

Photograph of Little Free Library box from BookRiot

As this household continues to brim with books, we’re also continuing to take a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this place. This report reflects the months of June and July, more than halfway through the year.

At the end of June, the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 10

• All incoming books were paper.
• 7 of the books were fiction, 2 were poetry collections, 1 was non-fiction and purchased as a gift (so it quickly became an outgoing book).
• 6 of the incoming books were purchased in bookstores (Book City and Ben McNally’s).
• 1 book was purchased online, via Amazon.

Outgoing: 8

• 7 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• 1 book was given as a gift.

At the end of July, the whiteboard tally was as follows:

Incoming: 9

• 1 of the incoming books was purchased in a bookstore (Book City).
• 5 received books were complimentary copies from publishers or authors.
• 1 book was purchased online from Amazon.
• 1 book received was a gift and 1 was work-related.

Outgoing: 11

• 9 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• 2 books were given to friends.

2014 to date: 70 books incoming, 90 books outgoing

So far this year, the ratio of read to unread book incoming or outgoing is pretty much 1 to 1. More outgoing books are leaving here read rather than unread, which makes me feel like we’re sending mostly loved or at least acknowledged books back out into the world, versus having more books pass through our home to which we haven’t given any attention. (Well, that makes me feel somewhat less guilty … does that make sense?)

So far this year, 36 fiction, 15 non-fiction and 19 poetry books have arrived, and 45 fiction, 30 non-fiction and 15 poetry books have departed. One observation: many of the departing non-fiction books are admittedly out-of-date technology or topical content that perhaps doesn’t have great historical value (but who are we to judge … perhaps some Little Library acquirers of those books will feel differently …?)

Our outgoing numbers continue to confirm that we have an abiding affection for our local Little Free Library boxes. If those didn’t exist, I wonder if we’d be carting more boxes of books to garage/yard sales and the like. Somehow, Little Free Library boxes seem more thoughtful, don’t they?

The whiteboard is erased and ready for another month of flying books …

In this household brimming with books, we’re continuing to take a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this place. This report reflects the months of April and May, and brings us to almost the halfway point in the year.

At the end of April (National Poetry Month, by the way), the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 13

• All incoming books were paper.
• 9 of the incoming books were poetry collections.
• 6 books were work-related.
• 1 book was purchased directly from a publisher at a book event.
• 7 received books were complimentary copies from publishers or authors.

Outgoing: 17

• 13 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• 3 books were given to friends.
• 1 book was returned to the library.

At the end of May, the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 4

• 3 of the incoming books were purchased in bookstores (Book City and Ben McNally’s).
• 1 book was purchased online from Amazon.

Outgoing: 7

• 5 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• 2 books were given to friends

2014 to date: 51 books incoming, 71 books outgoing

So far this year, a total of 19 incoming books are read and 33 are unread, and a total of 46 outgoing books have been read … and 28 books that have lived in this house unread are now back out in the world, presumably to join a household where they will be read.

So far this year, 27 fiction, 11 non-fiction and 13 poetry books have arrived, and 37 fiction, 29 non-fiction and 8 poetry books have departed.

Our outgoing numbers continue to illustrate that we have an abiding affection for our local Little Free Library boxes.

A pile of books. Photograph: Lorna Roach (via The Guardian)
(http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/mar/19/how-not-to-title-a-novel)

In this household brimming with books, we’re continuing to take a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this place. Three months in, things are getting very interesting. I’ve decided to categorize the incoming and outgoing books in some additional ways.

At the end of March, the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 17

• 17 paper books / 0 digital books
• 9 purchased / 7 received / 1 borrowed from the library
• Of the 9 books purchased, 6 were purchased online and three were purchased in stores or in-person transactions (Book City, Ben McNally’s and directly from an author at a reading).
• All 7 received books were complementary copies from publishers or authors.

I’ve observed from the outset that I’d like to see more of our purchases taking place in physical bookstores, where possible. I confess I’m a bit surprised that our online purchases are still as high as they are, but I’ll point out that two of those purchases were for rare books obtained from non-Amazon vendors’ web sites.

Outgoing: 16

• 15 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.
• One tattered, outdated technical reference book was consigned to the recycling bin.

2014 to date: 34 books incoming, 47 books outgoing

I’ve added some new categories by which I’m going to track incoming and outgoing books. First, I’m going to note whether a book is read (by my husband or me) or not yet read at the time I tally things up each month. Obviously, a new incoming book is likely to be unread initially, but I’m interested to see how many of those books are read by the end of the year. Also, how many books are we sending back out into the world that no one in this household got around to reading?

So far this year, a total of 14 incoming books are read and 20 are unread, and a total of 35 outgoing books have been read … and 12 books that have lived in this house unread are now back out in the world, presumably to join a household where they will be read.

I’ve also categorized incoming and outgoing books as fiction, non-fiction (including reference) and poetry.

So far this year, 23 fiction, 7 non-fiction and 4 poetry books have arrived, and 21 fiction, 24 non-fiction and 2 poetry books have departed.

Our outgoing numbers continue to illustrate that we have an abiding affection for our local Little Free Library boxes.

Let’s see how the books fly back and forth this upcoming month!

Flying books image from http://spl225.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/flying20books.jpg

As I’ve mentioned, we here in this household overflowing with books have launched a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this place. We’re now two months into the exercise and we’re not only learning some interesting things about our book acquisition and sharing behaviours, but I think this added awareness might be influencing us, at least a bit.

At the end of February, the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 9

• 9 paper books / 0 digital books
• 2 purchased / 7 received or received as gifts
• Of the 2 books purchased, one was purchased online and one was special ordered via and purchased in a bookstore (Book City)
• 5 of the 7 received books were complementary copies from publishers or authors
• 1 book that had been loaned to a friend was returned.

I observed last month that I’d like to see more of our purchases taking place in physical bookstores, where possible. So, we paid more attention to that this month, and I’d like to continue to do that in future.

Outgoing: 16

• All 16 outgoing books were contributed to three local Little Free Library boxes.

2014 to date: 17 books incoming, 31 books outgoing

Not sure if there is much to conclude this early on, but I do want to keep up the Little Free Library habit (maybe it’s time for us to get a box of our own, either at home or hmm, maybe up at the cottage …?) and I also want to be mindful of purchasing at and supporting our bookstores. I admit the outgoing book figure surprises me a bit, but then my husband commented that he’s surprised at how many books are still coming in …!

I mentioned before that I am keeping track of the titles coming in and going out, but am not specifically listing them in my reports here. (No one gave an opinion either way about me mentioning titles.) With outgoing books in particular, I’ve wondered if mentioning the titles might make it look like we’re rejecting or kicking perfectly fine books out of our house. Again, I note that some of the books we’ve taken to Little Free Library boxes are reading and/or paperback copies of books we’ve since purchased in hardcover and/or in first editions. In some cases, the books were on specific subject matter and have grown out of date or usefulness. In some cases, admittedly, there are books we’ve relinquished that we don’t expect to revisit, to put it carefully. As I said previously, that doesn’t mean that someone else might not happily welcome them and add them to the “incoming” column in their households. (In fact, when I check our neighbourhood Little Free Library boxes to which we’ve donated, I’m also kind of happy to see that our books have departed.)

Book stack image from ypulse.com

We here in this book-crammed household have launched a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this place. We’re one month into the exercise and learning some interesting things about our book acquisition and sharing behaviours.

At the end of January, the two columns on my home office whiteboard tallied up as follows:

Incoming: 8

• 6 paper books / 2 digital books
• 4 purchased / 4 received or received as gifts
• Of the 4 books purchased, all were purchased online. (Hmm …)
• 3 of the 4 received books were complementary copies from publishers or authors.

In light of the recently announced closing of another beloved bookstore here in Toronto, I’d like to see more of our purchases taking place in physical bookstores, where possible. Just so happens that on the very last day of January, my husband came home and mentioned that he stopped in a bookstore on the way home from work, looked for but didn’t find a desired book … and took the bookstore up on their offer to order it for him, rather than coming home and plunking down in front of Amazon.ca to purchase it.

Outgoing: 15

• 4 books contributed to office library
• 10 books contributed to local Little Free Library boxes
• 1 book left in a public place as a “small act of poetry”

Getting an assist with the outgoing book traffic …

Twitter book friend Regina Marler commented on our outgoing book traffic:

The exercise so far has made us very conscious of the books we’re contributing and sharing as much as what we’re acquiring and consuming. It’ll be interesting to see how this changes as we continue monitoring our book traffic. I do find myself deliberately taking extra books when I go out to run errands or go somewhere on public transit, so I can drop books off in local Little Free Library boxes.

I am keeping track of the titles coming in and going out, but wasn’t sure if I should specifically list them in my reports here. (Do you think I should mention them?) With outgoing books in particular, I wonder if mentioning the titles might make it look like we’re rejecting or kicking perfectly fine books out of our house. I note that some of the books we’ve taken to Little Free Library boxes are reading and/or paperback copies of books we’ve since purchased in hardcover and/or in first editions. In some cases, the books were on specific subject matter and have grown out of date or usefulness. In some cases, admittedly, there are books we’ve relinquished that we don’t expect to revisit, to put it carefully. That doesn’t mean that someone else might not happily welcome them and add them to the “incoming” column in their households.

When everyone started taking #shelfie pictures recently, I thought it might be fun to take some pictures of where books come to rest, pile up and make their home in this household. For example, here is where we keep a selection of current and “next up” reading atop a cabinet in which we keep first edition books:

Here is the poetry shelf, above my home office desk:

Here is one of several random places where books just seem to accumulate …

In addition to these spots, we do have a room devoted to books, with floor-to-ceiling shelves and two comfy reading chairs – you could call it a small library. I did take pictures of that room, too … and that’s when my husband told me I could not post those pictures. Not only were the shelves untidily crammed with books, it appears it’s impossible to do anything other than pole vault into the room to land in one of the reading chairs … because the floor is entirely covered in stacks and stacks and stacks of books. Along with it looking like we don’t know how to take care of our treasures, as he put it, “We look like hoarders.” And he was right.

That observation has inspired me to launch a year-long look at how books make their way into (and out of) this household. We both have an admitted weakness for bookstores, which we can rarely pass without entering, and from which we can never emerge empty-handed, regardless of how disciplined we might strive to be from a household budget standpoint. However, on the other side of the bookish balance sheet, we regularly give, lend and donate books. Why does the net result seem to be that we’re swimming in books, as delightful as that is in many respects?

On a month-to-month basis over 2014, we’re going to do our best to record:

• Books purchased
• Books purchased and given as gifts
• Books received as gifts
• Books provided (by writers, publishers, clients, employers, etc.)
• Books given (to Little Free Library boxes, small acts of poetry, fundraising/donations, workplaces/colleagues, etc.)
• Books borrowed (from libraries, friends, colleagues, etc.)
• Books loaned
• Books damaged, otherwise disposed of …

While this taking of stock will probably largely focus on print books – because that is the preferred book format in this household – it will also account for borrowed or purchased digital books.

In light of the news of another bookstore closure (After 37 years in the Annex, BookCity to close, CBC News), I’m also going to strive to keep track of book purchases in bookstores versus online, and new versus not-new (secondhand, antiquarian) purchases.

I’ve drawn “Incoming” and “Outgoing” columns on my home office whiteboard, and so far this month, four have come in (three purchases, one from a publisher) and six have gone out (four to a workplace shared library, two to a local Little Library box).

At this point, we’re just interested in seeing what our book behaviour is, without necessarily constraining or modifying it. I do hope I’ll find that we’re at least equally generous with others as we are with ourselves when it comes to acquiring, enjoying and celebrating books – and if we aren’t, then perhaps some book behaviour modification is in order.

Have you ever kept track or do you currently keep track of your household book traffic?

Updates

• Book traffic report #6 (August 2014)
• Book traffic report #5 (June-July 2014)
• Book traffic report #4 (April-May 2014)
• Book traffic report #3 (March 2014)
• Book traffic report #2 (February 2014)
• Book traffic report #1 (January 2014)