To ask when you’ve read books do you keep or sell them

[Dancefloor999]

I tend to sell on

I normally pass into friends, we do a lot of swapping. Otherwise we have a local book swap to donate to. One or two outlying villages have old red phone boxes that have been turned into mini libraries for people to
help themselves. Great idea!

I have also bought a few books on Vinted so they do sell on there.

Give them to charity or someone I know if it's good. But mostly I read on my kindle now.

I just give them away to others like my sister, who might like them. Often the book has been given to me by MiL, who reads a lot in the first place.

I mainly get my books via kindle but I do buy some books second hand that are not available on Kindle. I tend to pass on the books to a friend of mine and she passes it on to her sisters and friends. They do likewise so you get a variety of books.

It's an attitude about waste, not book fetishism. I don't throw away anything that's in usable condition but which I no longer want. It goes to the charity shop. Why shove it in landfill when someone else can benefit from it? And twice if it's benefitting a charity too

Non fiction I tend to keep, fiction I keep certain authors, I pass on and donate anything I don't want to keep

Charity shop or keep. Recently got a new kindle and intend to buy mostly e-books and audiobooks for the foreseeable future.

Mostly keep.

But every few years I have a purge. The last one was about 3 years ago. I sold about 100 through apps like webuybooks and ziffit and made about £100. I gave away four or five times that number to charity shops and some were just thrown away. I still have several hundred at least.

If I like a book I struggle to throw it away and some I read over and over.

I do borrow books from the library too so I can try out new things without it costing anything.

I would hate to live in a house without many books. The only rooms in my house without books are the bathrooms and the utility room. Oh and the hall and landing. Used to have a bookcase on the landing but managed to do away with it after the last purge.

Editing to say I don't do kindle. I like the feel and the smell of real books too much.

I used to keep all of them. Storage was a problem. Kept all the good editions and got a kindle. Nowadays for physical books, I get them in the little free libraries where you can take and donate, or buy them in charity shops for pennies and donate back afterwards.

If I really love the book I keep it to read again, otherwise I donate them to a book exchange. We have a yearly big book sale here, with the proceeds going to charity, and I donate to it also.

I also don't buy new books, I get them from a book exchange or the aforementioned book sale - or the library.

Keep. I don’t know why but I can’t part with books that I own

I would love to keep them all but I only have one bookcase so I have to get rid of most of them. I usually buy them in charity shops and I give them away or take them back to a charity shop when I have read them. I have a little shelf in my hall where the books I am getting rid of sit until they get taken to the charity shop, and I encourage everyone who comes to the house to take books from the shelf if they want to.

I keep them so everyone who comes round knows I'm a thinker who values ideas more than pretty much anything else. I haven't read most of them in about 10 years but you never know.

They also are a subconscious marker of:
A) Not having to move house frequently
B) Being able to afford space

I mainly use the library but on the odd occasion I do buy I will give to friends/colleagues and if no one wants it then it goes on the bookshelf.

I give them to family or donate to the charity shop. I don’t have room to keep every book that I’ve enjoyed, and I rarely re-read anyway as there are so many books out there to read.

Non fiction once I have copied patterns etc I tend to sell on Vinted
fiction I keep the sentimental ones like the ones that belonged to mum
the rest of fiction occasionally sell on Vinted others I take to my shop I sell them and all proceeds go to our lights for Christmas funds. Its organised by our local Round Table all books are 50p regardless of size etc. bargains at moment including great cook books which most were £20 plus

When I was younger I fetishised them as a PP said - kept all but those I hated.

Then I realised an unread book was basically inefficient compost - no one was re-reading it, it wasn’t fulfilling its purpose in life.

Also there are different limits on the books a single person can keep vs a family of 5 avid readers.

Now I keep those I love and those I think I will re read. The rest are given away.

Same. Buy most of my books from charity shops in the first place so back they go unless it’s something I think a. friend would enjoy .

Second hand books are hard to sell, online is over flooded with them, and sometimes new books have special offers and can be cheap. I pass them to others, in our village we have an old phone box that has a stock of books to borrow.

One of the reasons I only buy Kindle books now, more safe saving and all in once place.

I buy quite a few from charity shops and then donate them back (unless I lovvvvve them).

Depends where I got them from. I'll keep them for a while if new but if they are from the CS or a free book box I'll put them on the bookshelf at the CS where I work or pass to a friend.

I’m the same. I used to have so many different books, on all sorts of topics. When the first DC came along I realised that eventually I would have the choice of having a major cull or living in what was essentially going to become a book storage unit. Most of those are gone now (I sold them off over about 5 years and then gave away the rest, only keeping those with sentimental value or that I love and are out of print) but we essentially have a revolving door of books coming and going as the children grow up. With heaps of the childhood faves in the boxroom of course!

If I had more room I’m sure I would have kept them all but we live in a maisonette and have to be realistic.