Page 6 | To ask how many books you have?

Merryoldgoat · 2021-10-14T09:26:35+00:00

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.

lazylinguist · 14/10/2021 20:16

We used to have gazillions but have now got rid of lots. I didn't like the idea of a Kindle at first, but I'm a total convert. I read more since I got it tbh. It's the words that are important, not the paper.

PuzzledObserver · 14/10/2021 20:22

We moved a few months ago. Got rid of about 1,000 books before the move - some sold, most donated. Still moved with about 2,500. DH is the main culprit.

We bought more bookcases.

MordredsOrrery · 14/10/2021 20:22

We moved a while back so I made a spreadsheet of all my books. I've got a few more since then so I have around 1500 physical books and about 2400 eBooks. I can't quite seem to part with physical books, despite the space it would save.

StrongerThanA90sTrend · 14/10/2021 21:11

I have so many.

I rarely get rid of them. The ones I know I won't want to read again are in the loft. The ones I enjoy looking at, love to read over and over and those I have not read are in the bookcase.

I'm hoping that we will, at some point, move into a bigger house (we need to, 2 beds. 2 adults. 1 boy. 1 girl) and we will have the space for more bookcases so for now they are in the loft.

Ah, I love my books.

UnaOfStormhold · 14/10/2021 22:52

My son has started reading some of my old books which I have had for nearly 40 years - we're both delighted by this. I don't think I am ever going to be able to bear to dispose of any of my books ever again....

Griselda1 · 14/10/2021 22:55

Thousands of books although I did have a huge clear out about a year ago. The idea of a spreadsheet is very appealing as I sometimes find duplicates.There are worse things to be addicted to.

MajorNeville · 14/10/2021 22:59

@gardeninggirl68

Got rid of the lot! Any new ones now are via kindle

Don't feel 'funny' about getting rid!

Same here. I read a lot but never keep them and I don't think a house without books is sad, that's just bollocks from people trying to sound superior.

antsinyourpanta · 14/10/2021 22:59

We have very few books and neither i nor DH read on kindle either.

According to some on MN I think this would be very frowned upon! The DC have plenty of books and I buy them books or get them from the library but I probably only read about 5 books a year myself (I can probably count on 1 hand the number of books DH has read in our married life - weve been married nearly 20 years)

TwinklyBranch · 14/10/2021 23:03

I have three tall Billy bookcases and one small one. They are all full and I also have many books on my Kindle. I'm happy to get rid of books I've read if I don't think I'll read them again. It's all the books I've bought and haven't read yet that are the problem!

Femnisaurus · 14/10/2021 23:11

I had hundreds, one whole room full plus bookcases in bedrooms and hallways... a lifetimes' worth. Downsized so had to be ruthless, ended up on first name terms with the volunteers at the local Oxfam, still had 25 boxes for a charity sending them to African Universities. Only kept the ones I couldn't bear to part with..... New smaller house, had bookshelves fitted for the amount of books I have left .... still buying more books. 🤷🏼‍♀️

2bazookas · 14/10/2021 23:16

I haven't ever counted, but around 20 years ago we were moving house from one with A LOT of built-in book shelves (staying in property) to one with none at all, so I needed to buy some bookcases and first work out how many we needed. So I measured the bookshelves lengths and found we had 36 yards of books. That was 20 years ago and there are a lot more now....

One of the pleasures of lockdown was guiltfree hours happily re- reading whole sets of books I hadn't read for decades. All of Winston Graham, Patrick O'Brian, Donna Leon, and Jane Duncan. Another, was discovering which books I'd held onto for years because I once enjoyed them; but now discovered I had no interest in reading them ever again. So there has been a fair amount of clearing out to charity shops.

Myrighteyeball · 14/10/2021 23:52

I love this thread. A family member came to our house recently and commented repeatedly about how many books we have. I didn't think we had that many (as I've said above, about 2000 but spread over 8 rooms, so not too many in any one room) but it made me feel a bit self-conscious. Now I can delight in my bookwormishness!

highlandcoo · 15/10/2021 00:18

@JaninaDuszejko

We've got about 21m of shelving for adult books so assuming 2.5 cm per book about 800 adult books. 14m of shelving for kids books but no idea how many since that includes picture books and the DC have piles of books in their rooms as well. I want to have a bit of a cull and am planning on giving the books I cull to the local Global Education Trust Bookshop who gave away over a million books last year, they have free bookshops across the country but mainly in the north.

I'd never heard of GET but it sounds brilliant so thank you for mentioning it. I'm planning to find out more and might volunteer for them when I work out where my nearest shop is.

highlandcoo · 15/10/2021 00:21

Oh, and I'm on holiday just now so can't make a rough count of books at home but I'm guessing maybe 1500 although could easily be more. DH sighs when I appear with a few more to add to the TBR pile but I'm unrepentant. I tell him there are worse vices than buying books.

Ffs2020 · 15/10/2021 00:30

I think I'm at the 2000 ish mark. I had a clear out about 10 years ago and got rid of 4. I have 6 freestanding bookshelf units and my dad built me a custom floor to ceiling bookshelf unit. I'm about 20 books away from needing more bookshelves.

Original poster

Merryoldgoat · 15/10/2021 02:35

Right. I’m keeping them and getting nicer shelving to display them. I will make them a feature.

I do reread books quite frequently as well as buy new ones.

I will dump the ones I won’t read again but that’s only probably about 15 books.

If I find a book I love then I end up buying lots of the same author (I’m looking at you, Anne Tyler) so I have a large ‘not read it yet but really want to’ pile too.

Thank you fellow book fans!

Both DH and I have kindles but just don’t like them.

OP posts:

Cheeseplantboots · 15/10/2021 02:51

I used to keep them but these days I can’t stand clutter and know I’ll never read them again so I get rid of them now, I tend to listen to audio books now as well. I got rid of all the kids books as they outgrew them too. Just kept a few special ones.

mydogisthebest · 15/10/2021 11:06

@JaninaDuszejko

We've got about 21m of shelving for adult books so assuming 2.5 cm per book about 800 adult books. 14m of shelving for kids books but no idea how many since that includes picture books and the DC have piles of books in their rooms as well. I want to have a bit of a cull and am planning on giving the books I cull to the local Global Education Trust Bookshop who gave away over a million books last year, they have free bookshops across the country but mainly in the north.

So glad you posted this.

I had never heard of GET but now know there is one not too far from me. I don't like getting rid of books but if I know they are going somewhere like this I will find it easier.

I can't just take them to a charity shop as I know they get rid of so many books

scarpa · 15/10/2021 11:53

I have a few hundred, I've run out of space so lots are in boxes in the attic for when we finally buy a house and I can put my own bookshelves up. I like having them around :)