TOO MANY BOOKS!!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

I know, it's rude to shout, but I just have to let it out.

I can't afford to buy a lot of books (don't feel sorry for me at all) so I make copious use of my local library. Right now I have 14 books checked out, one waiting to be picked up, and another 21 on hold, all but two of which are frozen.

Plus, my sister who always does a Christmas Eve thing at her house decided to host a literary Christmas this year, because she and all of her friends are great readers, and invited everyone to bring books to exchange. I took about twenty of those books. AND I went to Barnes & Noble twice and bought three more books there.

Oh, my god, what am I to do? At least I don't have a job to keep me away from reading.

Heck, one reason I don't come here as often as I should is that I see far too many good book suggestions.

[Eko]

1. Its like guitars,

no such thing as too many.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

10. Coincidentally, the optimum number of guitars is

the number of guitars you own, plus one.

[Eko]

12. Nice.

[LisaM]

2. We had to move out of a rental we'd been in forever and deal with our books. It was hilarious.

I figure we had at least 3000 books, and that's a low estimate. After weeding through the ones that were just in really bad shape (too moldy or brittle to really keep), it turned into kind of a game - donate, pack in storage, or take with us. We learned a lot of stuff about ourselves.

1) I had four copies of Camille, but had never read one of them. I kept the best one and read it (it's really good!)

2) We had enough books by or about Frank O'Hara that we now have a small Frank O'Hara section.

3) We buy a lot of duplicates.

4) The ones we were least likely to keep were ones other people had given us, or really topical political books. So now we don't buy as many of those.

5) We both wanted to get rid of some of the other person's books, but didn't (so he still has a section on bridge (cards) and I still have a section on the Salem Witch trials).

And, now we've been in our new place for five years and they are piling up again.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Two different times in the past I gave

huge amounts of books to someone planning to open a used bookstore. The first got 31 boxes of books, the second only about 16. I've given up trying to sell them at Half Price Books because I get so little for them. My solution to the overwhelming number of books is to stop buying, unless I think it's a book I cannot get from the library or I will actually want to reread.

Even with that, I've twice done a serious cull in my current place, which I've been in almost ten years. The fact that it's small, about 900 square feet, keeps me almost under control. But now I've got a lot of signed books that I want to hang on to, and I'm going to need to box them up and store them in the garage.

I almost never buy duplicates. Of course, the fact that I'm not buying very many these days helps solve that problem.

[LisaM]

5. Well, there are two of us and we used to go to a lot of books sales.

That's where most of the dupes came from. Having four copies of one book was a surprise, though. I figured if I'd made four attempts at reading it, I should probably close the deal.

With Half Price books, I know they don't give great prices, but they also have good inventory and sell for good prices, so it's kind of a wash. I put a lot in my friend's Free Little Library, too.

[Polly Hennessey]

3. Cant have too many.

Am now going to read Camille.

[LisaM]

6. LOL!

Tell me how you like it!

[fierywoman]

7. I hear you, brothers and sisters, I give my books to the library -- they save me lots

of money and space so I think they deserve them!

[PoorMonger]

8. You know....

Books are great for free insulation. My gift this year for Christmas was a nicer home office and I now have book shelves lining every wall. It’s funny because I had just enough space for all my books but then bought more the other day for classes starting Monday and I’m right back to having to stack some on my desk. Ha

[Ohiogal]

9. I can relate

Although I rarely buy books, I get them from my library. Cannot afford to buy too many.

I will buy a book, however, that I enjoy a lot or want to read again. The last one I bought was "No Ordinary Time" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, about FDR and Eleanor. That one is fascinating and I've read it twice. Would highly recommend.

[northoftheborder]

11. Lovely to read of those more addicted to books than me!

In my immediate circle, I know no one who has as many books as I, and, since moving, I have given away to the library or took to Half Price, boxes and boxes and boxes of books. All my designated shelves for books are full, plus stacked on a desk, plus, antique books I may sell online are under my bed. Since joining Audible, I have bought only a handful of printed books! I read mainly fiction these days from I-Books and the Kindle App. Audible is great, because I listen while doing other things not requiring concentration. And since I cannot stand to watch TV with it's wall to wall coverage of all things Dotard, it remains off most of the time.

I also love the book recommendations on here!