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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how many books you have?

144 replies

Merryoldgoat · 14/10/2021 10:26

I’m trying to declutter my house which is slow going but I’ve reached the bookcase.

There are a good few books I’ll never read again but I feel funny about getting rid of books. Why is this?

Do you keep yours and just get more and more bookcases? Or do you keep thinning them down.

YABU - send them to the charity shop
YANBU - get more bookcases you heathen.

OP posts:
LemonJuiceFromConcentrate · 14/10/2021 10:55

Quite a lot; I’m guessing, but probably over a thousand? — some kept for sentimental reasons and some because they are beautiful or useful. Lots of old ones, bought second-hand or handed down.

I now buy on Kindle for light reading and I also tend to thin the bookcases out every couple of years to make space. I don’t find it too hard to let most things go; it’s just getting round to it.

Our home is not large so we just have two bookcases for the grown-up books. Every shelf of those is double-layered (with one layer hidden behind the other) and there are also random stacks dotted around.

DS has a small bookcase, and DD’s room still has all the picture books from their younger years in a big long case. She’s heading for secondary school now so we definitely need to get rid of some, but she still looks at a lot of them, uses them as inspiration for art projects and so on.

Which Kindle have you tried, OP? Mine is old but it’s a Paperwhite and I vastly prefer it to the others I’d tried before it. It’s gentle on the eyes, good for reading in bed.

Threewheeler1 · 14/10/2021 10:57

Tons. I can't get rid of them, unless they proved to be a disappointing pile of poop.
Usually trawl 2nd hand bookshops wherever I go.
I have lots of sentimental ones that belonged to family members who aren't here any more, often with their little notes and newspaper cuttings they saved tucked inside them.
I'm with the 'get more book shelves' crew Grin so I am absolutely no use to you at all.
Also love looking at the books on other people's bookshelves Grin

Original poster
Merryoldgoat · 14/10/2021 10:57

Right. I’m no nearer to a solution.

Thanks Grin

OP posts:
TheUnbearable · 14/10/2021 10:58

I used to collect children’s books a few are valuable and have well over a thousand. I’m thinking of selling them and also donating some to charity. For professional reasons both DH and I have a lot of books and journals. I have retired now so do plan to get rid of mine. We got rid of most of our purely reading for pleasure books a long time ago as read, we donated most to the local library.

TheSoapyFrog · 14/10/2021 11:00

Only about 60 or 70 at the minute. I can't bear the thought of getting rid of them. I hate kindles as well.

CaptaNoctem · 14/10/2021 11:00

Yes I have them catalogued! Can't always find them but I know they are around somewhere. One day I will actually organise the books themselves

gardeninggirl68 · 14/10/2021 11:01

Nice to see so many other kindle/device users!!

Mumsnet is usually stuffy about 'books'

Pigeonpocket · 14/10/2021 11:02

I can't get rid of books so I say keep them!
I have around 1200 books. I also read kindle books and library books to try to keep the amount I buy down!

MatildaIThink · 14/10/2021 11:03

Probably about 800 ish normal books and about 60 children's books. Of the normal books they are split between a small amount of fiction, some technical ones for my work, random stuff, autobiographies etc. as well as some classics, not for any love of the classics, but because they are hardbacks, owned by my grandparents, that I have inherited.

felulageller · 14/10/2021 11:04

I couldn't even guess to the nearest thousand. Just buy more bookcases and put some fixed shelves up.

mumto2teenagers · 14/10/2021 11:05

I buy a book read it then pass it on to someone else. I only ever own between 5 and 10 books that are waiting to be read.

FlatteredFool · 14/10/2021 11:07

I've not counted but lots. Hundreds I think. No such thing as too many books OP. I dream of a house with a library.

Myrighteyeball · 14/10/2021 11:08

I started counting our books to respond to this thread and stopped at 300 - that's just the children's books. So I guess about 2 thousand - I know I have over 200 cookbooks after culling about 50 last year but I've never counted the rest.

I've read all of the books bar a few of the children's books and the 20 or so books my husband owns - and the 5 books in my current reading pile.

(Plus i have over 1200 books on Kindle - but there are at least 20 on Kindle I haven't read yet, possibly more.)

TorchFire · 14/10/2021 11:09

@gardeninggirl68

Nice to see so many other kindle/device users!!

Mumsnet is usually stuffy about 'books'

I use both -- it's not an either/or thing for me. I'm a fairly recent adopter of Kindle, and it's stopped me being the one who lugs a suitcase of books on holiday or to hospital (I read very fast and have a horror of running out of reading material...)

But a lot of my work-related books are old, and don't exist in Kindle form, so there's no choice there.

TorchFire · 14/10/2021 11:10

And also for reading in bed!I definitely value my Kindle. It just doesn't stop me having a lot of books, also.

JapanJetplane · 14/10/2021 11:11

Thousands. Have had to have floor to ceiling bookshelves built in three rooms to accommodate them.

Most I will probably never read again but I also find it hard to let them go!

Picklypickles · 14/10/2021 11:12

I forgot, I also have another full bookcase at my dad's house that there's no room for in my house, he's been renovating and has told me I'll need to decide what to do with them in the next year so that he can have some of his space back. If I get rid of my bed I will have room for another bookcase, or one of the childrens beds perhaps...

Now5sos · 14/10/2021 11:14

I read a lot and tend to buy from charity shops as I usually read about 2 books a week and buying new would soon add up.
I bought a kindle but prefer real books and only use it if I don't have a book to read
During lockdown I decided to declutter my spare room where I tend to store the books I've read
Knew I had a lot but turns out I had 460 books Shock

PhoboPhobia · 14/10/2021 11:15

Loads. I only pass them on if I didn't really enjoy them. I also have a lot of non fiction/refernce books that I'll never get rid of.

OneInEight · 14/10/2021 11:19

Several thousand but then I run an online bookshop.

RunningToHeaven · 14/10/2021 11:21

Only the ones my daughter is currently reading which then go to the charity shop afterwards. She has to have a reading book for secondary school. We use kindles or our phones to read on.

Books are just dust collectors. 😬

user1493494961 · 14/10/2021 11:21

Hundreds.

SirenSays · 14/10/2021 11:25

I downsized a few years ago and vowed never to keep so many again unless I absolutely love them or I have my own library. I probably have about 60 at the minute. I'd say 20 that are beloved keepers and the rest are the ones I'm working through. Every month or so my writing group will host a book swap.

FangsForTheMemory · 14/10/2021 11:27

About 700. They’re not clutter though. They’re friends.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 14/10/2021 11:28

Books to keep...

  • books you'll read again
  • beautifully illustrated books
  • non fiction books that have a purpose
  • age appropriate childrens books

Books to pass on

  • fiction you only ever read once
  • outgrown children's books
  • books you dislike

I used to keep everything. Sent loads to the charity shop on one of international moves. Realised I didn't actually miss them, as I wasn't planning on rereading them. Now do most fiction reading on kindle, only buy physical version if its cheaper.

However the children have enough books to open a library. I pass on outgrown ones though. A small box of favourites have been kept.