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

[juicychops]

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?

Too many to count and then their is my DH's CD collection!!

After a little hunt around I think we probably have a couple of thousand plus maybe the same again in the children's rooms. That's after charity-shopping a thousand or so when we moved. I thought it would be nice to downsize the amount of bookcases and shelves and so weeded out the ones I wasn't so attached to - sadly I have missed most of them at various times and will never have another cull.

We have about 1000. Librarything says about 850 but I've not updated it much since DD arrived.
You can never have too many books. 1 wall of our lounge is books.... and we have bookshelves in each bedroom.
As far as I'm concerned it's good insulation.

I'm another one who judge's people on their bookshelves. Most of my friends scour the music collection, or spice rack, for me it's always the books.

ohnoshedittant - I'd feel very uncomfortable in your house.

About 2,500

When we moved house and downsized (having got rid of about 3000 books) the removal man told us that he had never moved so many books in a private house before

DH and I are both voracious readers and book hoarders. A few years ago we agreed to a book in/book out policy sayig that everytime we bought a new book we would get rid of an old one but we failed miserably

Probably about 800 non-fiction and about 200 fiction - mainly poetry/plays because I tend to give away/recycle novels once they've been read unless they're classics that one of us will want to read again. Always hoard the non-fiction ones though - just cos you never know when they might come in useful!

I'd have said Britannicas as it's not possessive.

I have a quandary. I lovingly hoarded kept all my favourite childhood books - and they are now on the (large, full) bookshelf in DS's room. Now DD has arrived it's occurred to me that at some point I'm going to have to decide which child gets the Narnia and which gets Elidor/Owl Service etc. I guess DD can have my mum's copy of Alice in Wonderland and DS can have my dad's copy of the Hobbit? But not until they're very very much older.

actually, it would be Encyclopaediae Britannica.
the plural is on the Encyclopaedia.

however, if it's one full set, then it's just Encyclopaedia Britannica, because that's the full name of the set.
had you a couple or more sets, then use the plural.

"Encyclopædia Britannica"

I can't be bothered to count them but we have 2 overflowing massive bookshelves in our bedroom, one bookshelf in ds' room and one in the hall.

The living room is reserved for dvds and games (because I hate people snooping around my books).

But dh and I never get rid of any of our books/dvds etc because just maybe one day we will want it again...

About 10,000. Half downstairs, some boxed. Even shelves in the loo.

I hate it. I hate the mess, the fact that I can never make a room tidy and I don't see the point of having books once read 'on display'. I'm hoping toinvest in some serious built-in shelving.

I like having reference books to hand, and I love being able to show the DCs things we've seen or been talking in a book, but 95% of the books in the house could disappear and I'd be delighted.

Interesting story about Tory party canvassers though I do know some Tories who read books!

Did anyone else read Lucy Mangan's last article in the Guardian before her baby was born - she seemed more concerned with her bookbag than a hospital bag. I took 3 in and had to beg for a lamp because I was being induced the next morning with my first baby and needed to be sure I could read if I couldn't sleep because I was so anxious.

Nerfherder, thank you for your lovely comment - please send me a tweet and let me know who you are on Twitter as I don't recognise your name and don't know if I'm following you back. My tweets aren't really very interesting at all, except when I get into pointless arguments with right wing idiots, and that's probably not that interesting either.

If you're interested in reviewing books, one of the websites I review for is always on the lookout for people to do that.

ooooh, I would love all the books to take over the house!!

my ex had very few books, he prided himself on the fact that he only owned about 12 books
So i emptied the house of books when I left.

I was delighted when I found that DH (obviously he wasn't DH at that point!) had quite a lot of books.
we've amalgamated most of our books now, and sometimes I can't remember if a certain book is his or mine (it's usually mine, though)
He didn't have many out on display, though - the house has lots of built-in cupboards, so he just used to put books in those (prob so he wouldn't have to think about buying bookcases).
Now most of them are on bookcases.

ziptoes, wait until they're older and what books they actually like if any. If there are conflicts over books, hopefully you will still be able to pick up secondhand copies through abebooks or something, or maybe all our childhood favourites will be digitised for ereaders? My Noel Streatfeild collection has got split between me and my much younger sister. At least you have the possibility that one of your children may like all your books. While I'm not keen on sex stereotyping, there are some I can't see my boys wanting, and I'll have to offer those to nieces or if there are any, grandchildren. Actually, I'm not giving my own copies away to anyone in the next generation who doesn't live in my house! My descendants will probably just have to bin them all when I die.

I once decided not to follow up on a date with a bloke because he boasted to me in an email that he had "an entire bookshelf of books". Like, he mentioned this several times.

I have...I don't know. A couple of thousand, maybe? My husband is a hobby carpenter and so builds me bookshelves when I run out, and each bookshelf is a different size to suit the space (dining room, living room, lobby, study, DD's room - some of these have multiple bookshelves) making it almost impossible to tell. He's not much of a reader, so possibly one or two shelves are taken up with his reference books only.

I cull regularly - if I've not read something in the past five years and spotting it on the shelf doesn't make me want to, it goes. Most of my books I re-read multiple times. I do borrow stacks from libraries, as well, but if I can't get something quickly enough I'll buy it, and I'm addicted to secondhand book shops, and it adds up.

I once decided not to follow up on a date because the guy kept going on about how intelligent I must be because I read books..... I'm OK, but I'm not that intelligent...

lambethlil I feel like you. There are now Too MENY. I'm hanging on till Ds1 does GSCE English or A-level, and then I shall give them all to HIM to TAKE OUT of this house. It just feels like a "collection" that all hangs together, that is the problem...
I think if I threw anything away it would be more modern stuff, Paul Auster, Ian McEwan, Atwood, I don't think I will ever read it again, and if I do..I can get it from a library.
May I ask why you haven't got rid of any if you feel so strongly? In my case, Dh has so many trashy novels that he won't get rid of, that I feel like it's not fair that I should be the one to throw all my favourites away. It's a block that we can't overcome. He is a bookseller. I was a bookseller.

I leap at the chance to lend books, and I absolutely love it when no-one returns things.

My non-fiction books for some reason, I read over and over again, especially the gardening books, I don't think I could ever part with most of them.

Lilly -
"oh, you must be so intelligent because you learnt to read!"
what did he do at school then??

I used to have 1000s and 1000s, but am gradually culling. Our house is perversely unsuited to bookshelves (should have thought of that when I bought it - relatively few walls without radiators/windows/doors/fireplaces). We have five billy bookcases full and I am trying to stick to that (with a few extras I can't bear to lose for sentimental family reasons hidden behind the front row). So it's one in, one out, and trying only to buy for my kindle now. I feel odd without more, though - books having been a defining part of my self-image - and am thinking of having a sign made to hang on the remaining shelves that says 'the rest of my books are on my kindle'...

Nickelbabe - wouldn't it then have to be Encyclopaediae Britannicae? (Though my Latin Grammar is one of the many books that got ditched in a cull!)

no, the plural only goes on the Noun - the Britannica part is the adjective, so it doesn't take the plural.

What's a billy bookcase? Is there a book I can buy that can tell me?

I have a serious book buying addiction. I gave away a few boxes a few years ago and I've never forgiven myself. I spend c. £30 pcm on second hand books. I cant stop myself. Most of what I buy is out of print and I know if I dont get it then and there I may never have an opportunity again. If I run out of cash I'll use the credit card, even though I know I shouldn't. Then when I get home I have to hide my purchases!

There are floor to celing shelves in the living room and kids' bedroom, 5 x 2x4 bookcases between the bedrooms, a few in the kitchen, 50 beside the bed, a box in the cupboard and 6 under window shelves. I woudn't have it any other way!

I feel sad when I go into 'empty of books' houses. They just dont feel like homes.

Doesn't the adjective have to agree with the noun? (Feels depressed at having forgotten so much...I have a classics degree, and a first to boot, but it was a long, long time ago.) (Wanders off, revising book cull policy...)

i don't know (i've forgotten, too)

let's just say it's Encyclopædia Britannica as the collection and it doesn't have a plural.

still, one good thing is that it has helped you to see it's a bad idea to get rid of books.