Do you keep your books?

Veronica · Post by **Veronica** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 12:55 am

This might have already been discussed but I couldn't see it anywhere.
Most people on this forum seem to buy a lot of books ( I thought I was bad until I met you guys!

) which make me wonder following;

1) How many books do you estimate to own?

2) Do you keep all the books you buy? (Cause surely we would all run out of space if we did?)

ejays17 · Post by **ejays17** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 1:04 am

I'm in the middle (okay, the start

) of cataloging my books, I've done the 2 bookcases in the small room, and have hit 400+ books so far.
So given that, I would guesstimate that i've got about another 2-2.5 thousand in the house to get through. I then have a storage unit whihc has at least two large boxes of books, so possibly another 1000 there.

We keep most of what we buy, but we also do rationalise the library every so often, and either sell the "discards" on ebay or donate to the local op-shops.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 1:53 am

I only keep research books, or fiction which has grabbed me enough to merit the space. But now I have a kindle, so I can keep them all.

I used to have the same problem with rolls of drawings and blueprints. They were stored under the couch, on the high shelves -- I didn't dare throw out any; after all, these were people's houses!
I've been doing my work on CAD (Computer-Aided Drafting) for almost twenty years now, and now the drawings are filed neatly on disks which take up almost no space. Heck, I could probably put the lot on one or two memory sticks.

But I still have those dusty rolls. At least the ones for MY house.

Alisha Marie Klapheke · Post by **Alisha Marie Klapheke** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 2:25 am

I probably have around 400 books. I keep books that I've enjoyed. Two reasons. One is just so I can jump into a world far from my own when I need to get away. Two is, well, being a beginner writer, I like to study their structure. To take them apart. To revisit what kept me turning their pages and obsessing over their characters. I loan them out though and that's why there's only 400. People are not so great at returning things....grumble....

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 3:16 am

I have way too many books, and I'm working hard now to get them gone as it has hit a crisis point.

(Hint: go over to Goodreads and see if there's anything you want on my discard heap) I've been steadily cataloging what I have, and it's around 2500 so far -- but there are many more that I haven't even gotten close to listing, so I suppose I need to double that. But my research and most of my art books are staying -- I am much too fond of those to get rid of them. And there are some authors that they will have to pry out of my dead, bleeding hands to take away.

Veronica · Post by **Veronica** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 4:12 am

Great hint for everyone!

But personally I think I'm not allowed to see your list on Goodreads as I'm not registered in the US (that is the list on Bookswap right?)
Anyway, I reckon you made some members happy now.

JRTomlin · Post by **JRTomlin** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 5:20 am

I keep my non-fiction. I would never get rid of my books by Barrow or the copies I have of original sources. When I moved from Colorado to Oregon I got rid of about 4,000 books. Now I mostly buy ebooks. At some point I need to figure out a method for my madness with those.

You have to understand I can easily read 7 to 10 books a week when I'm not writing. That goes down to about 1 a week when I'm writing. Of course, non-fiction for research isn't included in that.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 5:32 am

I have 1,256 books listed on my LibraryThing profile. Some are still in my soon-to-be-ex-husband's house because they won't all fit in my apartment, and the books in the piles in the floor around my desk are not cataloged yet, in case I don't keep them. I have a hard time getting rid of a book, although it's gotten easier since I started reviewing, because I really don't have room for everything! I keep reference books, novels I think I might want to read again, and anything that seems so special I just can't bear to part with it (I suspect there are a few too many in that last category!).

Alisha, I think your idea about studying really good novels to get insight into their structure is fantastic. I'll bet you're learning a lot. I have a hard time doing this, because the best novels are hard to read without getting sucked into the story, and then I forget to analyze. It's easier to pick apart a novel that isn't working, but that seems like a backwards way to go about things.

emr · Post by **emr** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 6:59 am

I have counted a few shelves and made an average and I estimate I have at home around 1800 books (oh my) including everything from Art enciclopedias to Asterix being most of them (75%) novels of the historical and fantasy genres. I may have around 300 more books at the office all non fiction.

Yes, I keep everything. In my entire life I have only trashed the school textbooks and 1 single box of books (and only a couple months ago) with books I didnt like at the time and only because I needed the space...

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Mon April 25th, 2011, 9:21 am

I have 1635 books catalogued on Librarything. A lot of them I have read, some are library books and some I no longer have. I've no idea how many I actually do have in my possession!

I have about 10 bookshelf units full which are overflowing. I don't want to count individual books as I'd find it too scary. LOL.

I do keep books which I've really loved or series of books like the Morland Dynasty, Poldark, Outlander, Forsyte Saga, etc. The rest of them I give to fellow book loving friends or list them on swap sites like BookHopper or Book Mooch (although I haven't many on Book Mooch at the moment as I usually list on here the ones I don't mind posting abroad).