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?

So for those of you who have Kindles and have downsized your book collection significantly as a result, what do you do? Do you go through your shelves on Amazon, buying the book in Kindle form and sending the hard copy to the charity shop?

Apart from the fact that I like books around me, I have absolutely no intention of paying publishers twice for the same novel!

My house does look like a charity shop, but not because of the books (which are all housed nicely in bookcases). It's all the DSs' clobber.

Not sure that everyone who claims to own hundreds of books can do that, nickel, but I concede that if you spend all day dealing with them you might...

I have to take issue with the mindset that cheap paperbacks should be treasured like holy objects, though. They just arent in the same league as books used to be when they were rarer and more expensive.

i can - whenever i move home, i put all my books in their new places and learn where they live :)

Lacking - you can have discussions about maybe disposing of some of them, but you don't let your DH tell you you're not allowed to keep your books (i think you'll find that the Married woman's property act stopped all that bullshit)

penguin oranges used to be cheap paperbacks.
now what a booklover wouldn't give to have all of the first 1000....

At the moment, Reshape, I'm just filling the kindle up. I've got rid of the hard copies of those I've now got on kindle but these were only 99p classics anyway- practically disposable. I've bought loads of books I would never have considered before, partly because I enjoyed the free sample, partly because they were cheap, partly because I didn't have to worry about housing them somewhere. It's opened up reading for me in a massive way.

I am considering working out how much it would cost to replace the others which are available on kindle and just having massive splurge, then I can get rid of more! I need the space- it would make me happy!

Surely one of the reasons they are covetable is because they're rare, though???

I used to be really anti kindle, then I was given a kindle. It is now my most treasured possession and it has made me fall in love with reading all over again! Did you know it has a built in Oxford English dictionary? So if there is a word a don't know, I just press the word and the definition pops up...has made Will Self books soooo much easier to read! I never thought I would fall in love with an electronic book reader, but it really is amazing. I am reading more and faster than ever before...happy happy days :)

There's no such thing as too many books, only too small houses.

There is no such thing as too many GOOD books. Some books are really not worth the purchase price (although which books they are is entirely up to the purchaser).

I think my book collection is around the 2,500 mark.

After we had some decoration done recently, I alphabeticised and catergorised my books.

And then I looked at them and had a teeny-weeny orgasm.

Well, I was very happy anyway.

Good point, jandy - I have regular culls, and some of the books I buy from charity shops for holidays never come back from the holiday at all.

DH and I have about 2,000 books, and another clearance is definitely needed so that I can buy more.

And just think, with thr rise of the e-reader we could see an end to books with nice messages written in the flyleaf. I love seeing them when I buy old books.

I like to have something tangible, I like my e-reader (I have a kobo) however it is annoying when it runs out of power and it's just not the same.

YANBU.
I went out to a book sale last weekend and came home with even more, including an untouched (!!!) Delia Smith Christmas hardcover and her complete cookery course, both for ridiculously low prices. I love buying old recipe books at sales. There are often notes and little handwritten recipes on cards tucked in among the pages, and even splashes of sauce or smudges of cocoa. Looking recipes up in the internet is great but there's something fascinating about having an old, well-used book.

I also bought a humongous Russian English dictionary and G.R. Elton's England Under the Tudors to replace my old copy that fell victim to a bowl of spag bol last January (left it open on the kitchen table and DD4 tripped over the cat .. so sad and messy). Also came home with The First World War by John Keegan, some good reading for DS and DD2 after I have got through it.

The DCs have Kindles and love them. They are screen people. Just as well, because there really isn't room for all the books.

I love my books and I love my kindle. People that don't have books are just weird.

One of the things I like with owning physical objects rather than digital versions is there can often be a back story involved in the purchase. I always buy music and/or books when visiting places. Then when thumbing through the books or CD's many years later I can find myself in a pleasant memory. A download will never deliver this, nor the excitement of finding something unexpected in a shop.

kungfu

that's one of the reasons i love my bookshop - alphabetized and categorized.

i would never do that to my books at home - i've not got a library and it just seems too clinical

right, e-readers in general spoil other people's enjoyment of your book.

it's fun sitting on the bus/train, glimpsing at the person's book cover - it's a good way to judge the person, or to find a new recommendation.
you can't do that with an e-reader.

But on the plus side, you can read whatever rubbishy junk you want to on an e-reader, without having to worry about strangers on the bus/train judging you for reading 50 Shades of Grey or whatever

Space for good books: I got rid of a massive pile of Jill Mansells about ten years ago when I developed slightly more discerning tastes in reading and realised they all have the same plot. In short, I didn't rate them highly enough to feel they 'earnt' their space on my bookshelves. So I made space to buy something a bit better instead.

Actually recipe books are a good example of books that are worth keeping in a paper version. I often enjoy curling up with one, getting tempted by the pictures and being inspired to try a new recipe out.

...even splashes of sauce or smudges of cocoa....

Sorry, but I would find that really rather grim....

I dream of having a library in my house one day - just a modest absolutely huge room with floor to ceiling bookshelves, an open fire, wingback leather chairs and a decanter of port on the table.

Would be better than having them all stacked in nappy boxes in the corner on account of my floors being too wobbly to allow for free standing bookcases!

we have just moved house and for the first time ever my collection fits in and there is at least as much room again for more shelves. I have even gota bookshelf in my cloakroom!

I love books, too. We have ranges of bookshelves in each of four bedrooms. I had a turn out once and, like another poster, categorised them and created a catalogue on the computer. If I'm unsure of where a book is exactly I find it on the computer and it will tell me where to look. If a book is missing, I will have put a note against it in my catalogue.

My X couldn't understand why I didn't get rid of a book when I'd read it. He couldn't understand why I might want to read it again one day.

This was my Christmas pressie from DH this year. If anyone lives near Bath I highly recommend it

ranty oh wow. Just oh wow