Do you have bookcases filled with books at home?

[CatteryCatss]

I grew up without books at home, but my DM frequently read magazines.

Surprisingly, I turned out to be a big reader in adulthood. I have bookcases either side of the chimney breast filled with books (as well as LEGO sets and a couple of ornaments) I also have a bookcase on my stairs and in the office, which are filled.

Whenever I visit my DM, I’m reminded of my childhood without books and it makes me quite sad!

I am moving house and all my daughter wants to takes the most are her books. I have three children and I would buy them a book each most weeks. I loved it when WHSmith had their 3 for 2 offers. I dread think how many books we have but it's no dread really, we love them. I have five books from when I was a child. One was 49p. I'm not sure you can get a book for a child now for less than a fiver unless you go to certain shops. In my new house I can't wait to have bookcases with as many books out as possible.

I drastically cut down my book collection a few years ago and held on to only my absolute favourites and the unread ones. I created little community library in our village bus shelter and found that the joy of passing on books is actually bigger than the joy of looking at hundreds of books on my bookcases. The library has had great feedback and has really been good for the community.

I barely buy new books now, I use our community library or the council library.

edited to add that of course we still have far too many books at home but they are the ones that I can’t part with!

I have a tiny little house and half of the single living room is bookcases with books double and triple stacked (I'm an author so some of those books are mine...). I've also got recipe books double stacked in the kitchen, and I downsized five years ago and got rid of HUGE amounts of books then, otherwise my mattress would be on the ceiling and I wouldn't be able to get into the bathroom. I love books.

I go the library and get them for free.

Or charity shops

Or World of Books.

I did that with the piles of magazines years ago, I don't think he ever noticed. When we go to National Trust places I show him the notices asking for used books and say we must have a sort out but he seems to just buy another one instead.

I have three bookcases but these also house lego sets too. I get most of my books from the library but if there's a book I love then I'll buy a copy for the shelves at home.

Yes but they're not on bookshelves as our house isn't big enough and I've not finished the room I want them in.

DD has quite literally HUNDREDS of books and that's after I donated about 300 to her primary!
Funnily enough she's always seen reading as a chore....until she discovered the Cat Kid books (& Dog Man, which funnily enough has just been released as a movie despite the books having been written in 1997!) and now, reading one of them many books is our nightly routine she gets excited for! So a good RESULT.

Our bookcase in the hall was mostly Knick knacks, these have now been moved to the to the spare room bookcase and they gave to share

I'm not a huge reader so most of the ones I got rid of today were old ones I've had for years. OH is the avid reader so his have stayed.

I've had a clear out as I need more shoe storage

I'm not sure you can get a book for a child now for less than a fiver unless you go to certain shops

i buy most of the dcs books on ebay 2nd hand.

I'm not sure you can get a book for a child now for less than a fiver unless you go to certain shops

Try charity shops.

Yes. A house full of books.

Charity shops sell them for 50p here, and there's a shop where the books are free but you give a donation.

I'm sure there is going to many posts about my comment. I know you can go to charity shops. I know there's the odd shop where you can get so many books for whatever. I was talking generally...

I have to keep some books unread because it makes me feel secure knowing I always have something to read. The thought of not having something to read makes me panicky. I mostly read books from the library but I've read everything that interests me in my local library (only one bookcase of English books) so have to order from other libraries which takes time and costs money and there's always the fear I'll be stuck for a few days without any new books to read so my unread books in my bookcases are there for that situation.

Of course its not showing off when it's just your house and you decorate it as you like

It's the threads on here that pop every few months where posters fall over themselves to brag about who has the most "stacked two deep" books and make statements like "a house isn't a home without books" and "it makes me sad when a house has a bigger TV than a bookshelf" or "I judge a house without books" (the stupidest statement of all, how many rooms in most peoples houses do you visit, you're basically judging them for having a tidy living room, they could have a whole library upstairs)...that have more than a whiff of (unearned and illogical) superiority.

I'm another literature PhD, reading daily, but with minimal books-er. There could be lots of reasons why someone doesn't have many physical books, it means absolutely nothing.

Great post @latetothefisting
I have more kindle books than actual physical books, most of which are on bookshelves upstairs.

The "awesomeness of reading" does not equate to possessing hundreds/thousands of books.

Yes, a lovely trad topic on MN @latetothefisting . I make more or less the same contribution every time. But as the years pass and everyone gets more addicted to reels than books, more into decluttering, more into minimalism, more into spending less and possessing less, more into understanding that you can read all day every day without ever holding a book in your hands - it still amuses me that MN has this snobbery about owning a ton of old yellowing paper that never really gets looked at.

Yes, a lot. I do take books to the charity shop, but I can't bear to get rid of anything I really enjoyed, even knowing I'll probably not read many of them again. I feel sentimental about books that I've loved reading and have memories attached to them, it would be like throwing away cherished mementos.

I agree reading on a kindle is much more practical but it just doesn't feel the same for me. I mainly use my kindle on holiday when I don't want to take up luggage space with books.

But why not do both? I spend a small fortune on beautifully bound books but I always read them too. And I like even my most expensive books to 'look' thoroughly read and enjoyed. The more well loved they are, the more beautiful they look to me.

I often annotate my books and when our DDs were growing up I used to slip their little drawings, or homemade cards or even just their spelling test lists between the pages of my books. To this day it's a real joy to open one of them and one of DD's spelling tests from 2007 flutters out.

I notice a few people say they need to reduce the number of books they possess, This is definitely me - i retire next year and will downsize my home quite drastically. Some books I will need to keep as they will be used, but i will have to get rid of many others. Has anybody used any of the book selling apps where you scan the app, pack and send?

Where have I said that everyone should want their own personal library of beautifully bound books? Books happen to be my passion crazed obsession but I certainly don't expect others to feel the same. In fact I would prefer they don't (as it means more books for me and less crowded bookshops).

You seem to be challenging everyone who says they don’t want them.

“You’re not buying the right books”

”Why not do both?”

People have different views, but you seem to be insisting that people buy books?

We had loads. Then we got Kindles and had a big clear-out to Mind and the hospice shop. Then I did an MA and DH started his PhD (and so did I.) Over time, physical books have crept back in for both of us for a variety of reasons; we prefer them for referencing and anyway, in some cases, it's a moot point as not everything is available in e-formats. I love paper books for their comforting physicality; I'm currently reading a biography of Agatha Christie in a paperback with a soft spine that just flops open. At the same time, reading from a Kindle while digging into a bowl of pasta has its own appeal; I'm reading Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! at the moment. And I've also got an audiobook on the go, Alan Weisman's The World Without Us, which imagines what would happen if we humans vanished overnight. Through Everyman (they publish as The Library of America in the US) I've rediscovered the beauty of hardbacks. I've got the university library's edition of Edith Wharton's short stories and it's lovely. If I could get away with it though, I'd slap the little airhead who saw fit to deface the first story with pencil marks. Why do people think it's OK to do that to books that aren't theirs?

Re owning books: I own a lot, but I agree with those who say it's not necessary for the enjoyment of reading per se. I have a friend who regularly visits our local public library to return or collect a batch of contemporary literary fiction, a genre she's become quite expert in. I'm pretty sure I don't enjoy my leisure reading more than she enjoys hers.