How many books do you own that you haven't read (yet)?

[mynameisred]

I've decided not to buy any books for a year and am currently going through
my bookshelves to see which books I still haven't read.

I'm not even halfway through and have already found enough for a year of reading. Please tell me I'm not alone in this...

[combust22]

myname- not a bookshop as such, but I sell books on Amazon- I am self employed.

[Flangeshrub]

About 600? I'm always buying books, haven't got time to read them all!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Probably about 50 at any given time, mostly on Kindle now but I used to have a charity shop habit. I have gradually given up most of my shelf space to the DCs for their books, but still buy a few paperbacks a year to support my local bookshop, however the Kindle makes it far too easy to buy.

[FacebookWillEatItself]

If we are talking fiction in paperback form, plus any any non-fiction stuff that has caught my eye (but not reference books/cookery books etc) plus unread stuff in my Kindle library that I have actually chosen and purchased - not the out of copyright freebies, then probably around 150-200.

I always used to get carried away in Waterstones with the 3 for 2 deals, and I'd pick up books at charity sales etc. I always used to read them, but as fast as I could read one, I'd buy another two so the pile never seemed to go down.

Then I was given a Kindle and I haven't bothered to pick up a real book since. part from cookery books and 'coffee table' books which don't work on kindle for obvious reasons.

It's a terrible waste because they are all still just sitting there waiting for me and some of them I would read like a shot if they were on my Kindle but I am just not motivated to hold a paperback anymore.

And now the habit of bulk buying books on a whim for later has started on my Kindle. It's so cheap and so easily done.

[BsshBosh]

Around 100. Things got worse when I got a Kindle because e-books can be so cheap or free. DH buys lots of (paper) books but reads all of them. But it means I have a load of his books I want to read too. I'm going to make more of a effort, thanks to this thread, to work my way through our existing books. Will be good for our bank balance!

[TheWanderingUterus]

In the hundreds. I buy more than one book and don't finish them before buying more. Usually because I have found them cheaper than amazon and if I don't buy them there and then they won't be there when I get back. A lot of them are for reference purposes so I will probably never read them all cover to cover.

I don't have a kindle but I do have an app stuffed with books, but they were all free.

[BestIsWest]

Hardly any. I buy/read/pass on unless it's something I love and will re- read. Cookery/art etc books go on a bookshelf. Same on the kindle. Or I get them from the library.

[gamescompendium]

I have about 50. Some of which are presents that will probably never be read! I always have two books on the go at any time but get books from pretty much everyone as birthday or Christmas presents. Actually a lot of the books in the 'unread' pile are DHs, I've taken to reading some of his because he doesn't read much.

[DuchessofMalfi]

I have far too many books - both paperback and kindle - lying around unread. I'm a reasonably quick reader, when I get the time :o, so don't feel guilty because I know I will get round to reading them.

But my problem is reading a review of a book, and then developing an obsession with it so that I must track it down and buy/borrow from library and read it immediately. That, of course, means it leapfrogs over the pile of tbr books and gets read first.

I have decided to have a self-imposed book buying ban until Christmas, so I can catch up a little. It's going to need huge amounts of self-control :o

[17leftfeet]

None

The only time I buy books that I'm not going to read straight away is holiday reading

Other than that I will read a book as soon as I'm home

I'm not a fan of charity shop books -you can't smell them like you can smell a new book, and I don't have the money to buy more than one at once

[Southeastdweller]

Agree with most of the comments, especially from Uterus - I buy more than one book and don't finish them before buying more. My number is roughly 50 - 30 paper books and the rest on my Kindle. My problem is that I love browsing in charity shops and in the city where I live there's some very good ones where I've very cheaply bought recently published books that I wanted to read and I can't resist buying them. I really need to ban myself from getting anymore, but then again there's some interesting new books coming out soon from Grayson Perry, Stephen Fry and a few others...I need to make better use of libraries.

[mynameisred]

I feel much better now

Usually because I have found them cheaper than amazon and if I don't buy them there and then they won't be there when I get back.
Yes I do that too, and a lot of mine are for references purposes as well. Still I'm surprised I have so many I haven't read.

But my problem is reading a review of a book, and then developing an obsession with it so that I must track it down and buy/borrow from library and read it immediately.
I do that too. I almost ordered a book because of a review before I remembered that I wasn't supposed to buy any new books, and then I decided to count all the ones I hadn't read...

[EBearhug]

More than I had before I started with MN...

[Hulababy]

I don't have any "real" boos unread. I stopped buying actual books, other than non fiction, a while ago as I prefer my Kindle.

I have about 10 unread book on my Kindle at the moment. Others I want to read are on a separate Amazon wishlist ready for me to order when I start to run low.

[mmack]

I just counted and I own 14 books that I haven't read yet and also have 2 unread library books. I'm actually very surprised that the number is as high as that because I don't like unfinished things at all. I'm going to have to read some of them before the 3rd Justin Cronin vampire book arrives in October.

[TillHammerZeit]

I have about 800 on my Kindle that I've yet to read. And 50 or so paperbacks.

[riverboat1]

Probably about 20 now.

I did a massive clear out recently of scores of books that I had sitting on my shelves for years and never got round to reading. Most of them were books that 'seemed like a good idea at the time' of buying, but re-reading the blurb or the first few pages just left me without any real desire to get stuck in. A lot of them were quite full-on dense things, which probably didn't help.

They were making me feel guilty, so I got rid.

[Fairyliz]

None thats why I am sitting here bored to tears I might even have o talk to DH.
As an aside has anyone else noticed how poor the selection of pperbacks in charity shos is getting since the invention of the kindle? Im going to have to get one aren't I.

[mynameisred]

Fairyliz please visit your local independent bookshop instead, they need your support more than Amazon. And it is so much better to browse in a real bookshop ...

[mynameisred]

I did a massive clear out recently of scores of books that I had sitting on my shelves for years and never got round to reading.
This is what I had planned to do. I'm going through all my books now, shelf by shelf, but most of the unread books are actually books I'd still like to read one day. It's actually quite nice to discover so many interesting books that I'd forgotten were there.

They were making me feel guilty, so I got rid. Only 'Ulysses' is making me feel guilty, sitting there like a fat toad reminding me of several failed attempts at getting it read. Maybe I should get rid?

[EBearhug]

You can get Ulysses for free on Kindle. It's less guilt-inducing in that form.

[mynameisred]

but more difficult to fool people into thinking you've read it.

[EBearhug]

Why? You might have read it from the library. I've read tons of books which aren't on my shelves.

[Cheboludo]

I'm astonished at the amount of restraint people have. I can't imagine not having a stack of books to choose my next read from - at the moment I've about 200 yet-to-be reads on my kindle and at least 500 in hard copy
Like others, I buy when I find low- priced books I want to read & I find it really, really difficult to only buy one book at a time. My choice of next read is dependant on so many factors that it would be impossible to only have one choice of next read.
I should go on a book-buying ban but I tried that at lent with cookbooks & only lasted 10 days. I didn't even attempt it with novels as I knew I'd fail

[frogbubbles]

I am such a boom hoarder id say about 20 on my book cases I haven't read and roughly a thousand on the kindle