Terms to Focus on My Goal

As I work toward my goal of owning 1000 books, I have to begin defining some terms that will help to keep track of my progress and narrow down my approach. Below are some of the terms that I have redefined for my purpose. They should help me get started and stay focused.

Own

This term is somewhat straight forward but I've added some variations. To own literally means any book that I own, whether it is currently sitting on my bookshelf or in someone else's bookshelf. Exceptions to this definition are any books that I do not enjoy and have not read. I will not be keeping books that I do not enjoy. They can now be considered unowned. If I have not read a book I may physically own it but since I do not know if I will like it, the book is not considered as part of my permanent collection. Therefore, I do not own it yet and will not be considered as "owned."

Another variation for me enters in with the books that are sitting in someone else's bookshelf. To be clear, I grew up sharing almost everything with my sister so a lot of the books that I read growing up were split between the two of us when we moved out of our parents' place. She's seven years older than me so she naturally started working before me and had book money before I did. So she made most of the book purchases. Those books went straight to her when she moved out first. After some conversation, those books are now considered as renting a home with my sister until I am ready to give them a permanent home in my library. Books that I own now include books in my library and books in her library. The same situation goes for books from friends or parents that will be given to me when I am ready to take them off of their hands.

Books that I Enjoy

I struggled most to define the term "books that I enjoy" because books in general bring me joy. That being said I had to accept that not every book sparks joy in every person. In fact, some books make some people get that same ick feeling of drinking a glass of sour milk. Other books are too difficult to get through for years and may even lead us into a reading slump. Any of those books are off of my enjoy list and will no longer be considered as "owned". There is a plan in place for these books that will benefit my goal, the book, and someone else's life (to be shared later as I could easily sidetrack into another topic if I try to explain right now). A book that brings me joy has to have a reason beyond, "I feel bad tossing it out." Now, every book that I enjoy meets other criteria: I genuinely loved/liked reading all or most of the book, it's a special edition, it's a thoughtful gift and it warms my heart, I bought it during a travel, it's part of a series that I enjoy (even if it was the worst book in the series), and/or another obscure reason. The obscure reason I left on there because of one specific book that I went into thinking I would love but after reading, I almost got rid of it. Then I realized I didn't want to get rid of it because I was happy that one of my favorite authors supported it. That's it, no other reason. Obscure but worth it for me.

TBR

Still means to To Be Read but I am reminding myself constantly to focus on reading the books that I already have. This should help me free up space on my bookshelf or add to my progress.

Reading/Consuming

Something that I have found difficult in the past few years is sitting down to read a full book. Sometimes life is simply hectic and carving out reading time feels more like a chore than that it does a destresser. Audiobooks are a huge support in these cases. I was a staunch believer that listening to an audiobook is not considered reading. My judgment is beginning to change since I forced myself to give audiobooks a chance. I 100% believe that listening to audiobooks is at least consumption of a book. Reading and consuming (in my opinion) can be used interchangeably for books that I partially listened to and partially physically read. Not sure how I feel about using the word "read" for books that I only listened to but since I for sure consumed them, they will still be part of my progress.