to think theres nothing wrong with having a few books?

[slightlymentalmum2one]

Well perhaps few is slightly underestimating 1732 but there's no such thing as having too many right?

My house has too many books too. However I have also had an ebook for three years now ( I'm on my second Sony) and my son also has a kindle, bloody love them! I couldn't agree more with cardibach, all you people saying ooh I couldn't have a kindle, I love proper books are missing the point, you can have both! And you can get thousands of free kindle books, and it means you don't ruin all your handbags carrying a book and a spare and another spare. Did I say I love my ebook? Oh and we bought my MIL an kindle, she loves it because she can magnify the print on any book and it's easy for her too hold ( she has arthritis in her hands). So anyone hesitating, you really should get one, it doesn't mean you are banished from Waterstones forever!

When asked 'What book is on your bedside table?' during some interview, Alexei Sayle replied "I have an assortment of books on the bedside table, in the bed itself, under the bed and on the floor beside the bed: I am currently reading about nine of them".
Me too, Alexei!

I have no more room for paper books, so I've moved to the Kindle. I read in bed with it, fall asleep with it etc, and it is fine - a lot less dangerous than falling asleep and giving yourself a black eye with a hardback (not that I've ever done that, you understand).

I love the fact that it automatically syncs to my iphone, so if I find myself somewhere needing to read, I can just pick up where I left off on my phone.

In an ideal world I'd just have a massive house with a library, but in the real world I was in danger of becoming the subject of a channel 4 documentary with my many leaning towers of books.

Numberlock I may have to pinch your method of storing books waiting to be read. My husband and I both have our own books waiting to be read in the form of wobbly stacks on our bedside tables. If they were to fall, we'd be squished.

YY, one needs books.

Kindle is all very well for holidays, but what would you use for a stepping stool if your stepping stool broke??
What would you find 'lost' 5 pound notes in?
What would you press flowers in?
How would you teach your DCs that there is paper for drawing on and for NOT drawing on (you know who you are, DS4 )?

Our house is also full to the brim with books, a significant proportion of them first edition hardbacks as DH and I both collect. I often sit on the floor gazing lovingly up at our bookshelves, re-living when I read a particular book. My entire personal history (and DH's) are on those shelves and I'm ridiculously attached to my books. I've culled many over the years and I also have a Kindle filled with books I've read or am reading. I love my Kindle too but not as much as some of the books on it. One of my friends actually asked to browse my Kindle library and I was so happy!

We have thousands, they are in every room of our house and have both been collecting them for nearly 40 years. Most members of our immediate families have thousands too, if not more than us.
We have floor to ceiling shelving in our study, shelving in most rooms and yet we also have a Kindle and an iPad full of books.

Books decorate a house, keep it insulated and provide entertainment...what's not to love.

I had to answer a dept of education survey once about family reading habits & on all the questions about reading materials had to give the top answers (how many books in your house 0-50, 50-100, 100-500, 500+) etc. Now I havemahout twice as many & would hate to give any away.

My brother manages a bookshop and we can't say the K word in his company!

Maryz you're a kindred spirit! Eason's, Reads, Muji (I think I'll have to go for a stroll tomorrow at lunchtime!)

I recently had a clear out. 20 binbags of books were taken to the charity shop.

I still have 3 full bookshelves, and numerous piles of books.

YANBU. If I had the room I'd turn a room in my house into a library, god I'd bloody love to have my own library. We live in the tiniest house known to man so most of our books are in the loft. DH and I probably have 1000s between us, and neither of us can get rid of any of them.

I do have a Kindle but just love the feel and smell of a book. In the days before Amazon I used to love discovering new authors and then devouring all their books. I would then wait with eager anticipation for a new book to come out I loved going to down to WHSmith's or Waterstones to get my new book, and the smell of a bookshop there's nothing like it.

As a child I used to spend my summers cooped up in the library rather than the park.

I am a bit of a techno and gadget queen, but the one thing I have no interest in is a kindle.

I like a book to be a book. Pages of paper that I can hold properly.

Cautionary tale - I recently threw away 500 books. 'Recently' was 3 months ago = I still feel sick about it. Don't.

We counted (because we are saddos) when we moved. We had 3,122 then. Have quite likely added another 1000 or so since then. Also have an e reader with 2000+ books on it. I do not trust people who have no books

I had to visit someone with a friend once and she was lovely, very welcoming etc. But there was something weird about their home and I couldnt put my finger on it until later, there was no reading matter. Not even a magaziine or a newspaper.

I asked my friend and she rolled her eyes and said that she thinks that people who read are boring and books make the place look messy!

I have over 1500 books but most are in the loft now as I dont have the space for them :(

Yes Maryz the best day out of all is one spent oblivious to all others knee deep in book shops!
I have a kindle, cannot get away with it at the minute, but am hoping like computers it will grow on me.
the one positive with the kindle is that friends cannot run off with favourite books!

My house is stacked to the rafters with books going back years, most I could not bear to be without, I think about a cull from time to time, but it never happens.

Actually instead of the cull I find myself on amazon replacing books that have gone walkabout that create an aching hole in my heart until they are back!

A good book is just the best friend you can have!

Yanbu. Love my books and think there's nothing nicer than a book case in a room. We've one in most rooms. I hate the thought of a kindle tbh. I love the unexpected book you find in the bookshop/ second hand book stall.

I can't believe someone's Nanna called them a slag! Wrote it in a book, even!

This thread is like home

Cory... You threw away 500 books...?!

I am trying to give away one book out of the house for every book that comes in in some kind of attempt to keep a lid on things. It's not really working though.

I think you've only got too many books if there's so many that you can't move around your house.

We have oodles of books. I haven't counted them, as it would take far too long and waste precious reading time, but 1732 books certainly doesn't sound like too many to have in a house.

We'd have more books in the house if I didn't borrow a lot of interesting looking books from the library instead of buying them. I got a kindle for Christmas too. It's great on holiday, but it did recently cause an arguement between me & my dad. We were at the shops, and he objected to me wanting to look in Waterstones because "You can't possibly have read all the books on your kindle yet." Pah. Like that's a sensible point of view.

I have a method now.

When I was trying to sort out the mountain of books the other week, I discovered at least two dozen that I have bought and "put away" for holiday reading... and then forgotten about.

So they are on the shelf, and as I read one, it gets put in a pile to be taken to the charity shop.

The method will not work, it is just another pile... lol!!!