I’ve been posting updates on this challenge every month, but one thing I haven’t done that Angel did in her mid-year check-in is figure out how much money I’ve been saving by utilizing my library. I thought that was a fantastic idea, so I decided to go ahead and calculate my savings!
I used $14.99 for all Audiobooks, since that’s what I would have been paying if I’d used my Audible subscription for them. For everything else, I just used list price (I was going to either use Amazon or my local indie, but they weren’t all currently available, so list price seemed easiest).
MY SAVINGS: $644.49
Oh, and these aren’t included in the challenge, but as long as I’m calculating savings, I should include the audiobooks that my son has listened to from the library. He’s listened to 45 books so far this year, and all but three of them were from the library.
MY SAVINGS FROM NOAH’S BOOKS: $614.59
MY TOTAL SAVINGS: $1259.08
(Um, wow.)
Progress: 42/48 Library Books Read
Books for this challenge:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twilight by Joss Whedon, Brad Meltzer, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Retreat by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon, Scott Allie & Georges Jeanty
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien (audio)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (audio)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate by Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Time of Your Life by Joss Whedon, Jeph Loeb, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Winter by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
Rebound by Kwame Alexander
The Color of Lies by CJ Lyons (audio)
A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean! by Kir Fox
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Cress by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Fairest by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty (reread)
The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō & Yuko Uramoto
We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan & Brian Conaghan
The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton
The Language Inside by Holly Thompson
Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace (audio & ebook)
Slayer by Kiersten White
Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout (audio)
Release by Patrick Ness (audio)
The Whispers by Greg Howard
Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd (audio)
Solo by Kwame Alexander & Mary Rand Hess
Educated by Tara Westover (audio)
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab (audio)
Finale by Stephanie Garber (audio)
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (audio)
George by Alex Gino (audio)
After Zero by Christina Collins (audio)
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (audio)
Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa (audio)
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan (audio)
Birthday by Meredith Russo
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures
Progress: 6 (~1 Connect 5 per month)
I also decided to post a “bonus” Connect Five to make up for the fact that I didn’t post one in February (since it was so early in the year, I didn’t have a lot to work with yet).
My “Bonus” Theme: Eastern/Southeastern Asian Stories
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword – This fantasy novel is set in an Asian-inspired world with a unique cross of martial arts and figure skating at its center.
I Love You So Mochi – In this book, Kimi heads to Japan to visit her estranged grandparents and finds her Japanese roots (not to mention a cute Japanese boy).
The Astonishing Color of After – Ironically, this book also involves a character who visits her estranged grandparents, but this time in Taiwan. I would call this one a contemporary fantasy, as there are lots of fantastical elements (Leigh believes her mother’s spirit is visiting her in the form of a bird, for one thing).
My Fate According to the Butterfly – This book is set in the Phillippines and explores the drug wars going on there as well as cultural traditions.
Soul of the Sword – Another fantasy novel, this one inspired by Japanese mythology and set in ancient Japan. The main character is half kitsune (a mythical fox).
(NOTE: I haven’t reviewed The Astonishing Color of After on the blog, but it’s a 2019 read!)
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Book Date
Eastern/Southern Asian books are a great connect. And my word that’s a huge savings in library borrowing, yay for the library.
Yes!! I have to show this to my husband and say, “See how much money I’ve been saving us, honey?” LOL!
Oh, come to think of it, my son listens to TONS of books from the library too. If I added in his books, it would probably be almost double. I should go add that!
Look at you saving lots of money by using the library! You know I’m a huge fan of the public library, and I’ve been trying to read more from there too.
-Lauren
My library is wonderful! It even has a drive-thru for hold pick-ups!
Hooray for libraries! Working at a library was my favorite job ever, I was sad when I had to get a different job (needed more hours). That’s a huge savings. I tend to forget about audiobook loans at the library, even though that’s where I first get into listening to them.
I’ve often considered getting a job in a library or bookstore if I was going to go back to work. It seems ideal!
It really was! If I hadn’t needed more income (and therefore more hours) than they were able to provide, I might have kept working at that library forever.
Totally get it. Glad you got to experience it for a while at least!
I should join in with this because I’ve just started using my library!
It’s totally changed my reading. I try more things and because i’m not relying on arc’s anymore it’s stress free. I’m also getting to older books that may have passed me by the first time around.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
You should definitely join the challenge!! I love my library!
It’s amazing how much money we save by going to the library! I still need to read I Love You So Mochi! I’ve heard such great things about it 🙂
I know! I never really thought about it in terms of the actual amount until I did this post. That’s a lot of money!!
I listen to so many audiobooks from my library. I know I am saving a ton of money.
I couldn’t believe it when I actually added it all up!
Great savings from your library. Glad to see you using your library.
Have a great month.
Thanks for hosting this and reminding me to take a look at my savings!!
Your welcome!
🙂
I didn’t know about connect 5 so that was neat to learn about. And YES! For Asian reads. I didn’t really enjoyed The Astonishing Color of After unfortunately but I enjoyed the others you mentioned!! ❤️
I think Connect 5 is a fun challenge that helps me think about the types of books I’m reading. If you’re interested, I don’t think it’s ever too late to join! (And you’ll have the advantage of a half a year of reading already down to help you make your connections.)
WOW! That is a lot of money saved! One of the things that my library recently started doing is they started estimating how much money you saved on each visit to the library. This is only for the physical books that I check out, and even so I’ve had singular visits where I’ve saved over $100!
I’ve also heard such great things about so many of the books you mentioned in your Connect 5! I really need to check out I Love You So Mochi!
What a smart way for the library to remind people of their value!
I can’t even imagine how much $$ I’d spend without libraries. Or rather, how limited my reading would be. *shudders* 66 of the books I’ve read this year came from the public library (and 51 were from my classroom library).
I hadn’t really thought about the money I was saving before this post, I’ll confess. When I look at the numbers—it’s astounding!
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