In 2021 I spent $335 on books. I broke down my monthly book spending in a post called Wrapping Up the Year: $335 in Books. It was an eye-opening experience to go month by month to look at my ebook purchases. This was a driving factor in my reading challenge for 2022 A Year Without Books, a goal to read only from my local libraries. So far I have read 32 books. Instead of doing a normal mid-year check-in, I thought it would be interesting to break down the cost of the books I have read this year.

To calculate my mid-year “total,” I went to Amazon and looked up each title’s ebook price. Most titles appeared to be on “sale” around the time I was gathering the prices, these prices might fluctuate later in the year.

Ebook Price List

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling – $14.99 on Amazon
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward – $14.99 on Amazon
Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshmen by Kristen R. Lee – $10.99 on Amazon
Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell – $8.49 on Amazon
Locke & Key vol. 1 by Joe Hill – $9.99 on Amazon
The Quarter Storm by Veronica G. Henry – $4.99 on Amazon
A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer – $7.49 on Amazon
A Vow so Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer – $6.86 on Amazon
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna – $8.99 on Amazon
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – $10.99 on Amazon
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter – $9.99 on Amazon
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw – $2.99 on Amazon
The Stealing by S.A. Sutila – $19.99 on Amazon hard copy only
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin – $9.99 on Amazon
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim – $10.99 on Amazon
Witching These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood – $10.99 on Amazon
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin – $11.99 on Amazon
This Poison Heart by Kalyan Bayron – $6.86 on Amazon
Graceling by Kristen Cashore – $5.99 on Amazon
Ace of Spades by Friday Abike-Lyimide – $12.99 on Amazon
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi – $11.99 on Amazon
Kingdom of Needles and Bone by Mira Grant – $7.34 on Amazon
Jordie and Joey Fell from the Sky by Judi Lauren – $9.99 on Amazon
The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi – $9.99 on Amazon
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin – $11.99 on Amazon
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – $11.99 on Amazon
A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos – $9.89 on Amazon
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart – $9.99 on Amazon
The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna – $10.99 on Amazon
Gallant by V.E. Schwab – $12.99 on Amazon
The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart – $9.99 on Amazon
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty – $8.99 on Amazon

Bringing the grand total to $327.67.

I am definitely getting the most out of my library cards! All of this reading was free! I cannot stress the importance of a library card when it comes to reading for free.

When shopping for ebooks I typically only buy from the Kindle Deal section or wait for an ebook credit from amazon. Looking at the prices of these titles, I would have only purchased the books under $6. I cannot rationalize spending more than that on an ebook—UNLESS it is a new release from a favorite author.