Half of all books are unread

[legoplayingmumsunite]

For world book day a survey has shown that the average British house has 138 books and over half of them are unread. I have lots more books than that but the majority are read (although I can't claim to have read every recipe in my sizable collection of cookery books).

So, what percentage of your books are unread?

[annabelcaramel]

None! I'm really surprised by that statistic. But then I read lots, and even if a book is dreadful I'll finish it; it feels very wrong not to for some reason.

[ShadowFall]

I've got stacks of books waiting to be read - I haven't counted, but there's definitely far more than 138 unread books in my house. I find it difficult to resist buying books that look interesting when I accidentally wander into bookshops.

But, the proportion of unread books definitely make up much less than 50% of the total number of books in my house.

[Cheboludo]

Funny, I've been thinking about this recently. I buy far more books than I could ever hope to have the time to read and I assumed all readers did the same. I'm optimistically stockpiling them for retirement or quarantine or something, I guess. I was shocked when a good friend said they hadn't bought anything in the recent kindle sale because they were already reading something - I got my kindle 8 months ago but I've already bought 200 books.
So, having done a very quick calculation, I reckon there's about 2,500 adult books, 500 children's books & 250 cookbooks in our house. I'd say half of the adult books have been read, 450 of the children's books & all of the cookbooks have been browsed but only about 50 are used regularly.

[bibliomania]

Oh well, it keeps the publishers in business. A man's reach must exceed his grasp/ Or what's a heaven for?

I don't buy many books - nearly always get them from the library. I've moved quite a lot so have had to prune my book collection fairly ruthlessly at various points. Most of the books I own are on my shelves because they are old favourites that I'm likely to re-read (although over the last couple of years, I haven't done much re-reading. Too many new books I want to plunge into!) I would say I've read at least 95% of the books I own.

[DuchessofMalfi]

I have loads of books on my kindle and paperbacks that I haven't read yet.

I think there's a huge difference between "unread" and "waiting to be read" though. Unread would indicate, to me, that they were bought a long time ago and probably won't ever be read, but waiting to be read would indicate you intend to read them at some point.

If I were to look at my collection of books in that way, I'd say there were very few unread books, but a huge amount of waiting to be read books. That differentiation makes me feel a lot better about them :)

[Impatientismymiddlename]

We have well over 1000 books and they have all been read except the Katie price autobiography that somebody bought me for Xmas and I can't imagine that it will be read before it makes it's way to the charity shop.

[mimbleandlittlemy]

Duchess is right, as always. Big difference between unread and waiting to be read.

I have a lot of non-fiction I've not read from cover-to-cover but mostly have dipped in and out of. I've read all bar 32 of the fiction - and that's because I always have a nice little pile both by the bed and on kindle so I can choose according to how I'm feeling when I finish the previous book.

[Acinonyx]

Yes it's the non-fiction books read in bits here and there that tend to pile up. We have 4 figures worth and would have more if only we had a bigger house. Books that are clearly never going to be read go into the bi-annual culling process. There are usual maybe 6 or more novels waiting to be read - so less than 1%. I try not to buy more if there are 6 or more waiting.

[quirrelquarrel]

Loads! A good 20-30 in my uni room at least, separated from the read ones. I do read them eventually! But when I get to choose a new book after finishing one, I want to have lots of choice, who knows what mood I'm in.
I make all sorts of promises to myself not to buy new books, and then I fall on something in a 2nd hand shop which I'll never find again, and I end up leaving with a stack.....to add to the stack in my room.

[Everysilverlining]

I have far more books than that, but of those in the house which are fiction I think about 50% are unread - because once they have been read they go to the charity shop if I am unlikely to read them again... it's a question of space. Also an academic husband and genral interest means we have a lot of non-fiction. I suspect almost none of those are compeltely unread.

[MsMischief]

I bet I've got over 100 unread and of these there are probably about 20 that I'll never read. The never read ones fall into two categories. Worthy classics that I want to read but keep passing over for 'next time' and shit that people have given me that I have no interest in (50 shades, romances about poor but bright girls from 18C fishing villages who fall for scoundrels etc)

[gastrognome]

I have plenty of unread books. Some were bought for me but I know I won't like them. Others I am meaning to read. Others I bought on recommendation or a whim but no longer appeal (I may or may not get round to reading them!)
I probably have more unfinished than unread books though. I used to struggle to the end of every book I read but now if I'm not enjoying one I put it to one side. There are too many books out there that I want to read to waste time on something I'm not enjoying...

[BlueChampagne]

Few are left unread thanks to DH's years of commuting. And he works in publishing so keeps getting free books!