What do you do with books you've read?

[nkf]

I keep most of mine and they are beginning to take over the house. The bookcases are two deep and we are still running out of space.

Shall I just try to toughen up and bin some? I always think I might want to re-read them.

[Quattrocento]

I had a thread on this once.

Purge some - get half a dozen big cardboard boxes and decide that you will fill them - then take to the charity shop of your choice

It's difficult though, to work out which ones to ditch.

Any book that hasn't been read in the last ten years has to be a contender for the purge

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

I toughened up last year and ahve started to rebuy There are some that I will not read again cos they were awful so will maybe chuck them in the book thingy which you set your books free but can't remember the name.

[brimfull]

I am planning a cull some time soon.

[teamcullen]

If its a book I will read again I will keep them. But most I pass on to friends and family. I always think Im commiting a sin if I throw books out.

Have you thorght of doing a car boot sale or passing them into a charity shop.

[YanknCock]

Sell on Amazon. DH and I got rid of loads this way, and made a little bit of money (we are always skint, so it helped).

[nkf]

I take the quick read books to charity shops. Often I buy them from there as well. It's the other stuff. The good books that I loved but bought so long ago that they are getting a bit yellow. Or the recent hard backs.

[nkf]

Something has got to live though.

Hardest of all is children's books. Even the stick bashed about picture books bring back such lovely memories.

[angrypixie]

www.bookcrossing.com/

I release my books into the wild. It's fun, and weirdly addictive.

[pipsqueak]

charity shops or readitswapit.com is good and quite a nice community feel thing to it - basically you swap with others chosing from each others lists and wiht no obligation to swap if you dont fancy any of the other persons books - costs about £1.50 - £2.00 to post the book

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

thank you angry was trying hard to remember what it was called. Will be sorting my books out this winter to do that.

[angrypixie]

I'm so pleased 5gomad it's fun when your book is found and you can follow it's journtey. A very friendly community too.

[angrypixie]

oops journey

[nkf]

Had a quick look at bookcrossing.com. Do you leave the books someplace? How do you track its journey?

[MarshaBrady]

Keep the classics, the ones that look nice and your favourite authors.

Charity shop for the rest.

[NumptyMum]

give it back to the person who lent it to me .

[angrypixie]

nkf you register your book online and it gets its own reference code. You then release the book either in a recognised bookcrossing zone (OBCZ) or more often on a park bench, street corner, coffee shop etc. When/if your book is found the person who finds it goes to the website and enters the code. You get an e-mail from bc to let you know your book is traveling.

It's silly, harmless and lots of fun!

[angrypixie]

I got into bookcrossing when I found a book on a postbox in a street and went online to register the find. It was all very exciting wondering just who had left the book for 'me' to find.

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

Charity shops for ours.

[babyOcho]

no-one ever picked up my books when I did bookcrossing.

I take the trash books that I would never read again to the local charity shop, or give them to the local library.

[nkf]

So somehow it's obvious that the book you've just picked up in a coffee shop is a Book Crossing book? It sounds great fun.

[IOnlyReadtheDailyMailinCafes]

I took part in bookcrossing ages ago and should try it again.

I have had some major culls and also created a reference library in my classroom using many of my books. I still have tree bookcases in the dining room , a shelf in the kitchen , some of dp's storage in his office and will need a bookcase in our bedroom.

Like 5gomad though I cant stop buying new books, I probably have more non fiction which I still read, refer to. The fiction ones all remind me of the time I read them, they are part of my history.

[angrypixie]

Yes NFK you stick a big label on the front.
It is fun.

Sorry to hear that BabyOcho, I'VE had about a 1 in 5 pick up rate from wild releases, much higher from a bookcrossing zone.

[LovingtheSilverFox]

I find that if I try to sort them out I end up keeping most, as I find ones I haven't read for a while! And then find series of books which are incomplete, and to fulfill my issue in that direction, start a huge Amazon buying solurge, to finish off the series!

I have to keep them, I feel to bereft if I start getting rid. I will need a library at some point, as books are now three deep in some areas! And a new DH as this one gets irritated (not a big reader himself unless it involves DIY research!).

[babyOcho]

i might just give bookcrossing another go. it was 2005 the last time i tried it!