So what happens when you are unemployed and have no money, but you passionately love books and reading? How do you fulfill yourself and your desire for books? If you’re me, you find a lot of different ways to interact books that won’t cost you anything.

First off, because I can neither purchase new books nor pay for a subscription service (such as Kindle Unlimited), my options are fairly limited. My conservative county voted to disband the county library system several years ago and I live in a small rural town with a postage stamp library and no digital services. Thankfully, I kept my library card from where I used to live active and I have a free digital library card from an out-of-state library, so I have access to audio and ebooks through Libby. Wait times can be long for newer titles, but I’ve learned to be patient.

The next avenue for new books is requesting ARCs through Net Galley. While I am not approved for the majority of my “most wanted” titles, I do tend to get approved for several titles each month. I already have some titles releasing as late as June 2025.

Another thing I do is “window shopping.” I go through the upcoming releases and add titles to my “Want to Read” shelf. I search out backlist books by new-to-me authors and add them as well. And I enter a lot of giveaways (though when my depression is bad, losing giveaways can have a negative effect on me).

Finally, I organize my existing books, either by rearranging my physical shelves and virtual shelves, or by creating lots of spreadsheets (I’ll talk more on this in a separate post). And then, because I still really want new books, I distract myself by planning which titles I will buy when I miraculously receive enough money from somewhere to not only feed myself (I fantasize about food shopping too), but also buy books.

Oh, and I read from the 2000-ish books I already own.