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how many books do you actually own? and keep in your house?

135 replies

juicychops · 23/05/2011 13:58

i have about 250 books in a book shelf in my front room. ive read about half of them, and the other half i will get around to once ive finished my degree at the end of the year- im planning on reading straight for a good few months! but they do look quite cluttered now

but the thing is, i like keeping the books i read. i dont know why, but i just do. i would rather buy and keep one than borrow it from the library. and when i read them i like to keep them all nice and neat and try not to bend the spine too much so that they still look reasonably new on my shelf

does anyone else keep loads of books like me? or am i just silly?

OP posts:
CheerfulYank · 23/05/2011 15:13

Hundreds, maybe a thousand. Definitely over a thousand if you're counting DS's little books. :)

My friend owns a used bookstore and lets me just take whatever I want. I do try to give some back, but I can read books I love over and over again, so I keep those.

ScousyFogarty · 23/05/2011 15:14

My BH is the reader in our house. She does books and tapes now. Not an enormous amount in the house. we get hardback from the library. I am more into newspapers. But do read biographies,,,,Wife does not like Kindle idea, but i might give it a go

tabulahrasa · 23/05/2011 15:18

I thought I had about 200, till I listed 50 textbooks on amazon, realized that 50 books isn't even a full shelf in a bookcase, I have 3 bookcases and enough to fill another one in piles and in boxes in the attic

so I must be past the 1000 mark Blush

I don't keep ones I didn't like though

elkiedee · 23/05/2011 16:44

I can't count how many books I have, possibly too many. I hoard them and only discard most chicklit and books I don't like, and duplicate copies. I have about 6,000 catalogued on LibraryThing but that's not quite complete. Blush

Yeni · 23/05/2011 19:44

I'm not sure, probably a couple of thousand. I've hidden the ones I'm ashamed of upstairs, but I needn't have bothered as I have never been to another house in my area with books on display. This automatically qualifies me as some kind of eccentric. I've started trying to use the library more but I have to order everything I want to read and in the time between making the reservation and the book's arrival at the library I tend to have lost interest.

CheerfulYank · 23/05/2011 19:48

I don't really trust people who don't have books in their houses, to tell you the truth. I think they must have too much time on their hands and get up to all sorts. Hmm

Georgimama · 23/05/2011 19:48

We've got two floor to ceiling bookcases built in on either side of fireplace plus a glass doored tall bookcase for first editions Gollum style "precious things" books in the drawing room, and DS has one floor to ceiling bookcase in playroom. There must be about 2,000 books in our house. I love books and fear and loathe lending them. I would prefer to buy someone a copy of a book to lending mine. I don't read chicklit or modern fiction really so none of our books are discardable. I want them all to stay right here.

The idea of a Kindle is complete anathema to me.

iEmbarassedMyself · 23/05/2011 20:00

About 20 now.
The ones that we loved and will read again are on our kindle's - we didn't fancy lugging all the books to the new house and ebay'd them.
Can't say I miss them, love seeing the walls

exexpat · 23/05/2011 20:07

There are books in every room in my house (9 rooms not including bathrooms), and the first thing I did when I bought it was get floor-to-ceiling bookshelves built in to three rooms. I've never counted, but there must be thousands - maybe over 10,000 if you include all the children's books - but I have started getting rid of some of the trashy paperbacks as I have no shelf space left, and no space to put any more bookshelves. Basically, I live in a library. It suits me fine. Smile

natto · 23/05/2011 20:35

We have a small bookcase of adult books and a small bookcase of childrens books. I'm not overly attached to the books, just rubbish at getting rid of them, although I often pass them on to others.

I hate the assumption some people seem to have that those without loads of books on display don't read or care for literature. It's like assuming people without shelves of records/cds don't listen to music, or people without dvds don't watch films.

Some people aren't hoarders and pass on their books. Some may have their collection hidden away. Some use libraries. Or e-books (love my kindle).

FourFingeredKitkat · 23/05/2011 20:37

A couple of hundred... Not like I'm going to go and count them though (slopes off upstairs..)

CocktailQueen · 23/05/2011 20:43

I have two huge bookcases in the lounge, the kids have a bookcase each in their bedrooms as well as books in the playroom, and I have two big bookcases in the spare room, which have overflowed and there is also a big teetering pile of books before the bookcase - adn this is AFTER a big slear out! Can't imagine being without all my (many) books.

NerfHerder · 23/05/2011 20:48

We easily have over 3000... not really sure how many any more. I do try to cull them, but last time I tried I went through 3 8ft Billys and managed to weed out one book... Blush

...and I couldn't be bothered to walk to the charity shop to drop that one in, so it's still here!

They are in every room of the house- as they should be. I dream of having a room for a library though.

I am very Envy of elkiedee though... and I follow her on twitter, and she reads and reviews loads, tweets interesting things, so everyone else should follow her too Smile

SybilBeddows · 23/05/2011 20:48

about 4000.
from time to time we try to get rid of them and it is rather pathetic - we spend hours discussing it intently and end up with a pile of about 6 books we're prepared to let go.

even the duplicates, we end up saying 'Oh well suppose the dcs want them when they grow up?'

we need to move house really.

ohnoshedittant · 23/05/2011 20:48

I have 10 books at the moment.

I buy from charity shop and then give it back when I'm done or use the library.

I cannot stand the clutter. The thought of 10,000 books in my house is making me itch.

SybilBeddows · 23/05/2011 20:49

I dream of having a room with No Books In At All.

piebald · 23/05/2011 20:55

I always kept every book i read and then when i went travelling learnt through necessity to exchange and get rid of books and since then have forced myself to do it, but have to admit that i hate it, i would love to still have them all. BUT i realised when i looked at the boxes of books under my bed that i still hadnt reread after 25 years that they were just disintegrating so i ditched them. And it is recycling books that make charity shops good. I now just keep ones that i really enjoy that my friends will borrow

piebald · 23/05/2011 20:56

Oh but i still have books everywhere!! And a bookcase in every room!!

JemimaMop · 23/05/2011 21:01

I don't know exactly how many books are in the house, but I would estimate at around 800-1000. That is with culls and Oxfam donations a couple of times a year, and borrowing lots from the library rather than buying them. I just love books.

LillianGish · 23/05/2011 21:05

I have hundreds of books, but I only keep the ones I love and think I'll read again. I don't keep anything trashy (though I'll happily read it!) and I don't keep stuff I don't like. I take the unwanted books to Oxfam or give them to friends. I agree that books furnish a house, but only if they are in bookcases - I'd love a library, but piles of of books everywhere just look messy.

roundthehouses · 23/05/2011 21:08

maybe 100 and that´s only because I haven´t passed them on yet. I LOVE reading but I do not hang on to books, i read and pass on and now I have a kindle so will have even fewer. my parents had tons and tons and tons of books and we moved so often they made up a huge part of our storage and were always in and out of boxes. Even when we settled for a while they were in the attic always waiting for shelves to be built. I don´t know, it just made an impression on me, so I don´t keep mine.

I do like the idea of floor to ceiling shelves crammed with books but I wouldn´t like the reality.

rockinhippy · 23/05/2011 21:12

Never counted, but between DH myself & DD probably several 1000, we have whole walls dedicated to books, especially reference books - we ALL love books :)

ziptoes · 23/05/2011 21:16

Hundreds and hundreds, at home and in my office. I must have spent about £100 on charity shop books while on mat leave (it's a good way of killing time while DD sleeps in the buggy). I'm one of the people that buys old university texts from the Oxfam shop. ;) The thing is I love libraries too - and I get about 2-3 books out every 2 weeks as well as the kids'. I feel its important to support the library, especially now.

I think people without books in their homes are weird, and I worry about their children.

CDMforever · 23/05/2011 22:00

A house without books is like a garden without flowers.
I agree ziptoes, people without books are very very strange.
I read somewhere that years ago Tory party canvassers would peer into people's windows to check our their book situation and would only ring the bell if the house was book-free. Says it all reallyGrin
Unfortunately DH is of the Tory persuasion and has in the past called my books mini fire hazards Angry

NOmeansNO · 23/05/2011 22:31

i was reading this and looking at the very small bookcase in living room whic holds about 100 books.. thinking i dont have that many books compared to some people.

Then i looked at the dining area with the new waist height bookshelves i have which goes round 3 full walls(and is full of textbooks as study table is in here too)

then looked in the kitchen where there is 30+ cookbooks

then the kids room where they have their own bookcase.

and my collection started from scratch 3 years ago when I upped and left the old collection. I thought i was doing really well in swapping with people recently.

i notice people dont even ask to swap. my mum was doing my childcare on friday, she left a carrier bag of books in a space where she had removed books Grin