6 reasons reading a library book is better than reading one of your own

1. There is so much more choice.
   They spend more on books in one year than your house or flat is worth (maybe).
   
2. You will actually read the books, rather than watching them sit on your shelfBorrowing library books comes with a deadline. If you haven't finished a book in three weeks, you're probably never going to read it, so why spend money on something which will sit on your shelf gathering dust?
   
3. You can finally get some space in your house or flat again
   How much space do your books take up? Not just the bookshelf but the pile of books next to your bedside, the dining table, and those waiting to be tidied away or go to the charity shop. I got rid of my bookcase and my lounge looked so much bigger! It was amazing, I was able to rearrange the furniture and I was able to enjoy all the space.
   
4. You'll read books you wouldn't otherwise
   Who wants to spend money on a book they might not like? We play it safe when we're buying books for ourself, yet when you wander around a library any book can jump out at you, and the range is so vast. I read a library book about the police, a science lab and classical music. I'd never have imagined reading that before.
   
5. You can share the experience with more people
   Like a book? You can still share good books with your friends. Just go to the library with them, or tell them to take it out too. And if they're not very good at returning books, it's not your problem, you've got nothing to fear by recommending they borrow the library's book.
   
6. It's better for the environment
   Reduce, re-use, recycle. You're reducing the number of trees which need to be cut down and made into books, the books are regularly being re-used as others take them out of the library. 

TV tokens

When I was a child there was a period of time when our family had "TV tokens". Each week we would get an allowance of how much TV we could watch, and we would cash in our tokens putting them into a jar when we watched TV.

As a family we used it to help us spend more time together rather than watching TV. At the moment I'm trying to work out how to read more, and remembering our use of TV tokens gave me an idea: my own TV tokens.

Rather than receiving a given allocation of TV tokens each week, I will get one TV token for each chapter of a book I read. (I might decide to tweak the ratio if the chapters get particularly long)

So far I've ready three chapters of the Irresistible revolution by Shane Claiborne and "spent" two of my tokens to watch one episode of Bad Habits, Holy Orders (that's a topic for another post).

Will it work? Will I keep reading? I don't know yet, but so far it's helping me to weigh my priorities. I can visually see my tokens collect and give myself an excuse why I can't watch TV and should read instead: "I don't have any TV tokens!"