Is it normal to keep buying books even when you have plenty?

[MsGreying]

People often ask me why I'm always buying more books. The truth is, I have a genetic condition where my body doesn't produce books on its own, so I have to supplement.

Who else gets Arrangement And Categorisation Anxiety? Mainly stemming from those books which defy categorisation, or could legitimately fit into two or three and you could spend 40 minutes trying to decide which, only to move it again three days later.

Or the problem where you've devoted one or two whole shelves to one category only to find that you have two books left which dont' fit, but you can't justify a whole new section just for them. What to do? Stick them horizontally on top of the others in their category? I hate doing that, I see it as a sign that I've failed in my reaarangement task. Or stick them in a section where, strictly speaking, they don't belong?

I feel there must be some sort of support group for this.

Have you considered a large subsidiary basket labelled as 'Pending' for the pesky overspill?

Or, create a special vignette area displaying said book laying open on a book rest, complete with lit candle? Thereby looking intentionally styled as opposed to confused carnage?

I'm absolutely not implying that I do this. Definitely not.

I have thousands of books, and will be off to Clunes Booktown this weekend. Having said that, fuck the books, I love the peerless drive across the goldfields.
https://clunesbooktown.org.au

Actually, having checked, maybe I won't as I'll be charged just to look at bookstalls. Unbefuckinglievable.

Oh god, this definitely ^

I have a (large, lovely) Art Nouveau bookcase for my books on Art Nouveau, the Arts & Crafts Movement and Pre-raphaelite art that is just about full. DH keeps coming home excitedly brandishing titles I don't have and - whilst I'm delighted - I'm not going to be able to sustain this much longer as at 200+ titles, it's almost full! Where will they go?!? I already have a smaller, copper-embellished bookcase from the same period that houses books on Oscar Wilde and women connected to the Pre-raphaelites etc, so that's already spoken for 🙄

In our larger bookcase we've both tried categorising our respective collections. It's an old post office pigeon hole type unit which can only accommodate 10-15 average sized books per section, meaning some categories spill over into second/third or even fourth sections. Ultimately I've taken to stacking horizontally other books from the same category - I'm not really happy with this arrangement either @SquallyShowersLater!

The struggle is real. 😂

Well I do always have one cookery book artfully open in the cookbook stand in the kitchen, which I change almost daily, looking deceptively as if I am just about to bake a complicated cake or prepare an authentic pot au feu when really I'm having Charlie Bighams

Same here

With jigsaws too

Rumour has it that there's a beautifully illustrated French bakery book permanently opened on a stand on our kitchen island when I have never baked a cake in my life

I can neither confirm nor deny this.

Buying books is like buying wine. You buy and keep them in the cellar until it’s their time to be opened

I am blind so have audio books. But I have so many it’s an addiction. And I spend far too much on them. I will never listen to them all. But it makes me happy knowing they are. When I lost my sight I had to get rid of my books as it was to painful to have them in the house. Honestly getting rid of them was one of the hardest things I have done and I still think about them now.

I don't have any owls. There is however tiny dragons, a Grimm Reaper, a meditating Nazgul and so many too many gnomes/gonks; as well as various candles (used and unlit) and fake succulents.
Oh and some sweary bookmarks too.

@SquallyShowersLater
I got new books to add to the collection as well as more accessories for mothers day so my bookshelves are now empty and their contents now live on the sitting room floor until I can reconfigure everything. I'll end up repeating the process about 5 times before the itch in my brain will go away about where this,that or the other would work better; only to go through it all when I get more for my birthday in a couple of months.

😂 I used to do that too 😂

We have a bit of an owl thing going on too...a cased taxidermy barn owl on the snug bookcase and an Abigail Ahern owl lamp plus a couple of art pottery owl jugs on the upstairs bookcase 😍 I confess to there being other carefully curated stuff strategically placed too.....

Oh, I want some little dragons now too. Basically, I want my bookcases to look like they belong to a lady alchemist in a Romantasy novel.

I have had this addiction for as long as I can remember. I could happily give away old toys and things, but books...? Not on my nelly!

I cannot walk past books. I always have to stop and look, and it pains me to say that my nearest town centre does not have a book shop... at all! 😳

I can go into a bookshop, pick a few from the shelves, and then end up with more on my way to the tills. It's even worse now that I am trying to learn to read Welsh, so I have a growing stack of Welsh/bilingual picture books, on top of my 100+ To Be Read pile that threatens to topple over and suffocate me in my sleep. I keep reading, but the piles seem to mate and multiply overnight!

I always aspired to a library with a moving ladder (like in Beauty and the Beast, or in Ollivander's wand shop in the Harry Potter films). Alas, my own personal library is not big enough to hold the collection, so they have mushroomed into most of the other rooms of the house... where I claim that they are excellent insulation. It's very fortunate that I have a lot of alcoves for extra shelving space.

@TheeNotoriousPIG that is my favourite scene in Beauty and the Beast when he sweeps back the curtain…..in real life the library in Arundel Castle is one I would love. 😁

Yes.

I have this condition too (I wouldn’t say I “suffer” from it though, I bear it with fortitude).
It is a hereditary condition, and mine was exacerbated by the death of my maternal grandparents.
I went from one TBR shelf (albeit quadruple stacked) to an extra thousand books when each of them died.
My book addiction has moved beyond the confines of the house, I set up a library at my church too, and check that the books are all shelved comfortably whenever I’m at church.
I’ll definitely read them all if I live to 150.
If books weren’t meant for hoarding, then why do old books smell so good?

@Pashazade Is it wrong to admit to having home library envy? Arundel Castle has one very beautiful library! I'm also a fan of the Admont Abbey Library in Austria, which I discovered when generating ideas for how my home library should look. It's just a shame that my current one isn't big enough...!

@InMySpareTime You are not alone in bearing it with fortitude. The only thing that insists on constraining me is my bank balance!

@TheeNotoriousPIG my town has a free bookshop, so bank balance is not a limitation here. The free bookshop staff are definitely enablers, you’re allowed to take three books at a time and despite this I am often coerced into taking five when I only meant to get one.

We've discovered that it's an inheritable condition. Having grown up in a house full of books (still expanding - the collection, not the house.....) neither of our sons can pass a bookshop without going in.

Yes, it's clearly an inherited genetic condition. DD2 was beside herself with excitement when ACOTAR 6 & 7 were announced.

We have both pre-ordered them and have arranged a mutual, girlie reading date for the day they're published. DD2 is compiling a suitable Romantasy play list for background ambience.

I love the book buying...but please also support your local library!

The municipality where I live has more little free library boxes outside people's houses than any other place of similar population density in the US. I can't go for a walk in any direction without passing a minimum of three. I always have a rummage. They call my name - what can I do?