Roisin: how many books is too many?

[SoftFroggie]

Like you I love buying books for my kids (and myself). I usually get them from the Book People / Red House / School Link, so always good value. I aim for at least one a month, plus extras for - well almost any reason.

Is this too many? How many is too many - can I go for weekly books?

I was recently at a friend's house for the first time, and saw about 5 children's books, and no adult books - maybe we're mad! I left my DS (2) on his own at prschool for a short while recently, asked the leader how he got on, and she said "he loved sitting in the book corner, taking the books of the shelves and looking at them".

Surely you can't have too many books? I lost count several years back when I estimated our adult downstairs collection to be about 1000, but that's excluding the children's rooms (hundreds more), the bedroom where we have another bookshelf and piles of books in and on bedside tables, and the loft room where we have another 6' by 6' of books. I was reading a friend's "Life Laundry" book the other day, and it suggested as a guideline throwing away 9 out of every 10 paperbacks! Why?! You never know which books you're going to want to re-read when. I've just re-read all my "Anne of Green Gables" books which came out of storage a couple of months ago. Ah, nostalgia......

Agree you can't have too many books. Once I rented a lovely basement flat which had a bookshelf running all the way down the hallway and I loved having a place for my books (not all of them fitted!)
I've noticed some friends' houses don't have ANY books - can't imagine that!
My DD is just starting to read which is wonderful - you'll never be lonely if you can read and have an imagination!

Hooray for readers and for houses crammed with books!
We are also profligate book spreaders so this is a reassuring thread to be on!
You can't have too many books (though our removal men certainly didn't agree with that particular statement 18 months ago.....).
I am in awe of those who have their books organised and alphabetised - must try this sometime and will probably uncover all sorts of forgotten goodies!

I actually sell my old books on amazon as read about three a week and it is an expensive hobby.

I also like the fact that other people don't have to pay full price and can enjoy the books just as much as me.

I do wish I has a hugh house though as would definately have a proper library if money was no object

LOL at the alphabetizing books, Lyndap! When we first moved into this house, DH and I got loads of books back that had been in boxes at parents' houses etc, and as soon as we had enough bookshelves built, DH spent a few weeks happily putting in alphabetical order in the following (obviously anal)categories: fiction (general), foreign fiction (ie original books in Russian and French, my degree), drama and poetry, non-fiction, reference . 2 boys later and the ordering is a shambles, which I very much regret as I often can't find things.

You can never have too many books!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I always think I don't have many books.

And then someone comes round and comments on our bookshelves - mind you this is my lot combined with DP's exhaustive collection of trashy sci-fi and fantasy.

Ha! In our house most of the trashy sci-fi and fantasy is historically 'mine' and the rows of Penguin Classics, plus heavy academic tomes are technically 'his'

I'm just trying to work out how many books I can get away with giving the boys for Easter! (I've got a load stashed away in the cupboard, and it's a long while til birthdays.)

I have a loft filled with hundreds of trashy sci-fi/fantasy books. No bookshelves to put them on though

There's no such thing as too many books. It is my ambition to have a house with a library.

What can be nicer than a house full of books, I use a large double bedrooma as my study and it is crammed with books, as is the loft and I think I have boxes of work related books in my mum's loft too. My books are all categorzied into genre and then into alphabetical within their section!! Dd isn't much better sh has a floor to celing bookcase which is full. I also every night before bed have to organise her books into author/ type!

My dp wants us to have a book free living room which I have achived, a haven of white clutter free adult space - but for how long I can't say

I can recommend giving birth in a booklined room. A waterpool adds extra piquancy too.

What a wonderful thread - and to find so many mumsnetters with book filled houses - oh how I wish I could come and nose round them all...I LOVE other peoples books, and always find myself magnetically drawn to others book shelves.

As to how many - I'v never counted, but we do have a small sitting room that we have "lined" in book shelves, and guess what we have run outof space...I have books in every room of the house (even the downstairs loo)and as for the DD's, they are just as bad.
I scour second hand shops and a large part of my salary goes to Waterstones and amazon.
I am not even immune at work thanks to Amazon on the internet!!
We also have a library card each
There are so so many books to read.....

splutter MI. would you get maximum effect if you had bookcases lining a swimming pool

This has really cheered me up! Our house is crammed with books, mainly shelved but also in little piles in varioud nooks and crannies. Unfortunately I buy slightly more than I read, so a lot are unread. I keep trying to weed them a bit but I know exactly why I bought them and one of these days....Once we win the rollover we will have a house with a library. i did wonder about tunnelling into next door's loft for additional space but I guess they might just notice .

I'd love a library, too. We've never got enough shelves and I'm always looking at various odd corners of the house wondering if I could squeeze another bookcase in. Last time ds1 came home from the US he said that he had forgotten just how many books we had, lol!!

I read lots but never re- read any of them as there are too many new books I want to read.

So no point in keeping the ones I have read - and I have started leaving them in public places for strangers to find

www.bookcrossing.com

Can't have too many IMO. DD has her books in staorage boxes. these are under her bed (the whole of it!) plus a big box on this floor and another on bottom floor. She has hundreds of books and we love them!

I would love to live in a house big enough to have a library...actually, I still have wistful longings to be a librarian.

No such thing as too many....! When we moved I'd say half the boxes at least were full of books...! I sometimes say the reason I held off having ds for so long is because a close friend said after the birth of her dd she didn't read for 5 years

Apparently book shelves are a form of insulation(sound and heat!) so use this to the non-book lovers (strange people).

I do get rid of some (if I know I didn't like them first time round ) and have started swapping them \link{http://www.readitswapit.co.uk\here}

Another person with a house full of books. We lived in a small council flat and we squeezed bookcases into every conceivable space, to the detricment of everything else. Then I started to stack, pile, squeeze in all the spare (and not so spare space we had). We moved to Europe in January and I had the wonderful job of unpacking into my very own library. A lot of them are second hand, but that has never bothered me, I would never have been able to afford so many otherwise. We just bought a sofa bed to go in the library so thats where I am right now.
I used to sell on Amazon too, but never 'my' books, I used to go to the local auction house and at the end of the sale any unsold books (philistines in my area) were chucked out for the binmen. I used to 'rescue' the nice ones for my collection and sell the ones I didnt want. Made £25 on a signed first edition once, guess where the money went?

Nightynight, it doesn't pay well :(
but yes, if you are passionate about reading, and literacy, and sharing information and ideas with people, then it is a wonderful job :)