Recently, I had to make a very difficult decision. It was particularly challenging and I couldn't afford to mess it up. I'm talking about deciding what books to bring with me to university. These would be the only books I had access to for four months. I have learnt the hard way when it comes to deciding what books to bring to university and I thought I would share how I've been able to make the ultimate packing list.
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| My new uni bookcase |
A Small History of University and Books
I am going into my final year of university, which means this is the third time I have had to pick which books to bring with me. In my first year I brought around 30 books with me. I then went and purchased another 10 books as soon as I moved in. I swiftly came to the conclusion that this was too many books. I decided I would learn from my mistakes as a Fresher and for my second year of university, I only packed 10 books. I obviously purchased other books. When I went home or when my parents came to visit, I would take the ones I had read and return them. I would also bring new books back with me. However, due to the pandemic this year, it's a bit different this time. I had to bring enough books with me to see me through until Christmas. I do not know what Christmas will bring and I'm praying I will be allowed to go home for a few weeks. That meant that I had to bring enough to keep me going for four months. It was a difficult decision. I made the decision to bring 20 books with me. Alongside the books I plan on purchasing and with the rate I am currently reading books at, this should be enough.
How Did I Decide Which Twenty to Bring?
It's a good question and I have a good answer for you. My main piece of advice would to be to bring a wide range of genres. You never know when the urge will hit you to read a certain genre and if you don't have that genre, then you're a bit screwed. I went through my shelves and looked at them by genre. I have mostly fantasy books, but I also have a good mix of sci-fi (which is totally outside of my comfort zone) and more modern literature/classics. I have only one contemporary with me. I also factored in if there were books with sequels that I wanted to read. Out of the books I brought, only two are rereads.
I also decided that I wanted to tackle a lot of series. I have brought a total of four series with me. Two fantasy series and two sci-fi series. It gives me options if I want to read stand alones or if I want to binge read a series. It's always good to have a wide range of things to read as it means you have all the "basic" book needs covered.
What About Purchasing Books?
I've actually written a whole blog post on this, but I have significantly cut back on the amount of books I buy a year. I'll leave a link to it here. But to paraphrase myself, I'm cutting back due to space and money. I think I'm only planning on buying maybe 10 books at a push while I'm here. I've been mostly buying new releases all year, despite the fact that there is a lot of books I want to catch up on that I haven't bought. I did visit a second hand bookstore with my friends and bought a book there, but for the most part due to me being a student, I am cutting back on physical books.
It can be difficult to decide what books to bring for such a long period, but I would advice to take your time and to try and pick a wide genre of books as then you'll have something for every occasion.
Carenza :) x
