To think this a huge sum to spend on books?!

I had no idea books helped you get a date 😜

And as others have said people would spend it on a tv/ holiday (some people would even spend it on fashion!!)

Now that would be a red flag

Is it a few series of graphic novels? Some of the series can have up to 30 books in them and people buy large numbers of them when they see them as they go out of stock easily!

I think it’s a bit weird to spend so much in one go rather than over time unless he has a list of boobs he’s always wanted.

People spend that kind of money on hobbies all the time. The really good thing about spending that amount on books vs a TV or computer is that the books will likely hold more value and can be passed on. TVs, phones, computers will last a few years and that's it.

I’ve never understood the concept of owning fiction books which you’re most likely not going to read again. I do like the look of a big book shelf with books in them as suppose to meaningless objects. I only get my books from the library or sometimes eBay-books are so expensive

This is what I was thinking. I remember spending well over £600 on books in uni.

A lot of my favourite books I've never even held a copy of, because I use a kindle.

If I had the money and the space, I would definitely buy a mini library in one go of all my favourite books and books that I have read multiple times but never owned a physical copy of.

I prefer non fiction books and these do generally tend to be a bit pricer than fiction.

I could easy spend 1k in one go.

I wish I had space.

Please come back and tell us what he has bought I am so envious. Hope it's not one big Amazon order imagine that.
I could easily spend that and probably do over a year. It's just a thing for some.

It depends. Is he a student?

I went to uni in 1981 and my first year economics book, then, was £98.50. Just for one book.

40 years later, I can imagine, some courses, £1k wouldn't touch the sides.

But it doesn't take everyone ages to read that many books, and not everyone's tastes are going to change in the time it takes to read them.

As I said in my previous post, I would get through about £1,000-worth of paperback novels in 18 months. I don't feel like that's 'ages' and certainly not long enough for me to have completely changed my taste in reading. I wouldn't say my taste in books has changed at all in the last 30 years, to be honest.

Are they academic books? Is he a fan of the hard back over paperback?
I'm struggling to justify it as I enjoy poking about in charity shops and getting 2nd hand ones on Amazon via bookshops, but it does seem rather a lot if not either of those. I also am getting the fear of spending it all at once. I think I'd end up down a rabbit hole of fixating on a topic and ending up with over 100 books on it then being bored after 3. I'd have to apportion that amount into months.

I have some surplus books that I could sell by the yard.
Send him and his £1,000 my way.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. If anything, it's a bit on the small side as a book budget IMO.

'A huge sum' is a completely subjective thing. If he a) has £1,000 to spend and b) loves books then it's perfectly reasonable to spend £1,000 on books.

Even a paperback is around the £8-10 mark these days, so for his £1,000 he'd get (at most) about 120 books. I would get through 120 novels alone in about 18 months, so it's not actually a huge number of books to buy. It just seems a lot because he's buying them all in one go. And of course if he's buying things like illustrated hardbacks, coffee table books or special editions, that will mean fewer books for the money, so it doesn't seem excessive.

As he's moving house, it sounds like he's just factored it into his budget for furnishing the place, which again, seems OK to me.

My dad used to spend about £300 a month on books, for years and years.

It's not the price, the price is fine, books can be so expensive. It's the buying them all at once and having a mountain of unread books waiting, that's giving me anxiety.

Good point. Many many people think nothing of spending £20 a week in the pub, or on a few bottles of wine to have at home. Is that not 'normal spending money'?

Some will spend that on a handbag so meh.

Strange to not buy books as you read them.

I think being an academic changes things - I’m not an academic but three post grad qualifications mean I have a bookcase of text books, they’re horrifically expensive. If I lost them tomorrow there wouldn’t be much change from £3k to replace them.

Not for an academic who refers frequently to them.

It will if he buys them from charity/secondhand shops! It’s my hobby and my joy browsing the bookshelves of charity shops. There are worse hobbies, it’s not going to get me into debt.

No different to spending £20 a week on the cinema, or the pub, or any other activity that you consider to be acceptable. About the same as a mid-range gym membership or a Premiership season ticket over the course of a year.

In other words, fairly unremarkable one-off spending for a reasonably comfortable professional.

He’s relishing idea of treating himself to
something he’s always wanted. £1000 is a lot (too many of us) on books, but it won’t actually buy that many.