do you always keep books?

[zen]

after reading how much SW struggled with Heart of Darfur, i wondered.. does everyone always finish the books they start reading? or just give up and either give the book away, or stack it in the furthest corner and forget about it? when you do finish a book, do you always keep it?

i tend to stack. it's always been hard for me to give books away, even those i know i will never read again.. but just lately i'm beginning to look at my shelves with different thoughts.. i have too many books for the available space - at least the space i am prepared to give to them, and that's a whole (smallish) room. i don't want books to start taking over other rooms as well.

when you give books away, do you use Book Crossing? or similar... or do you go to book exchanges or second hand bookshops? i know last time i did that, i came home with almost as many books as i left home with, altho mine were in better condition.. do you wait for someone who might like the books?

i have culled books before, and kept them. i actually managed to give away 2 smallish boxes of books when we moved into this house, altho most were old cooking books with the old imperial measures.. i know i should just be more ruthless and not keep so many, but old habits are hard to break..

does anyone on the Central Coast know of a good second hand bookshop? i know of only one 'book exchange' that had less books in it than one of my bookcases last time i was there..

[mummyof3babes]

I put books on freecycle or give them away to family and friends. I keep all my Danielle Steel books and my absolute faves that I loved and know I will read again. Like 'My Steve', couldn't part with that if you paid me, I'll always read it over and over!

I used to keep them all until my bookshelf almost collapsed, before moving interstate I give away hundreds, I felt lighter too!

[Alexa]

I only keep autobiographies, all my others I give away to family and friends and they do the same with me, I believe books are to be shared, especially when you read something great and you want to be able to discuss with people etc.

[Patricia]

I used to keep every single book I ever bought. Yes..that amounted to literally thousands...:blink:

When I started my new life I gave almost all of them away.

I very rarely buy books anymore, I get vouchers as gifts and buy them then and then usually go on and share them when I'm done.

I am the local library's best customer..I visit there at least once every week and get a green shopping bag of books each time.

I would be even more insane than I already am if I didn't have books!

[Stormy]

I should probably borrow more from the library....but most times, I am out somewhere and I will see a book sale, so I buy up. :hehe:

I tend to keep trilogies/series of books, biographies/true stories (Darfur was the exception there), travel literature and books that I know I will want to read again. If I kept all the books I read, the house would be overflowing. I signed up to BookCrossing and now I just leave them all over the place when I'm done reading them and don't want to keep them :)

[miss kiki]

i keep all my books. i share them with family and a couple close friends. i never sell them or give them away. :)

[mel76]

i only keep all my Favourite authors all the others i pass on to other people!
Or wait until i have a garage sale & sell them people always buy books at garage sales!
I have a few times got a book as it sounded really great then put it away because i couldn't get into it, it's just one of those things, you can't like all books.
All my kids loving reading, we just got rid of a whole heap of kids books as they are now growing up & my son loves reading the authors i like so we share them, my daughter loves Enid Blyton those books i will never part with, i will keep them & pass them onto generations to come!

[Naomi]

I'm like Patric, used to keep them all. Now I only keep a few (we still have far more books than shelf space). I give them away to people or in a charity bin.

I almost always finish reading books (have occasionally not finished them, because I just couldn't get into a book at all). My husband almost never FINISHES a book :dk: I just don't get that.

So far I have kept all the children's books. I guess once Sophie is too old for the baby books I'll pass them on too ...

[Rachel]

I keep most of mine.. Although I lend them to people and quite often they don't make their way back :hehe:
If I can't get into a book then I just don't read it.. I only get a chance to read about a dozen books a year so I don't wanna waste it on something I am just not into!

[redrobyn]

I keep all my favourites but when I get to many I try to recycle them I have a few good hardbacks that I won't get rid of, I go to op shops and second hand book shops and trash and treasure markets, can't keep me away from any book sales going on, have to go through and get rid of some occasionly or else I would have too many and since my d.d. moved back in she's just as bad as me. Love my books can read a book in a day or two if I'm really in to it.

[zen]

me too redrobyn, lots of books i can get through in a day or two if they aren't too thick, and i find i can't put it down.. i cannot go past book sales! :) markets, fetes, street stalls, cheap bins, even the older cheap books at the newsagent will have me looking for anything i like.. i really should cull some of them tho..

[kimba]

I mainly keep them all but have had several clean outs and gotten rid of boxes of them:)

[zen]

kimba... i am glad my brother, who is epileptic, is not looking at your avatar... :) things like that can set him off...

[kezabelle]

I used to keep them all, but a few years ago I started to be a bit more realistic and only keep my favourites - which is still a lot :D Of course, I've just had an enormous book case put in so I have an excuse to fill it! As for reading them, once I start it, I have to finish it no matter what.

[SinginWithTheRadio]

YES! my collection grows and grows

[WonderWoman]

I keep all my favorites. Just last Monday I found the best 2nd hand shop that has heaps of books and they are all 20c each no matter how old or new it is. I bought 10 books so I am set for the next few weeks.

[zen]

wow WW.. 20c!! i am torn between wishing that shop was near to me, and happy that it isn't... lol..

i bought 8 books for $2 just yesterday from a street stall for charity, there were old books in bundles of 4 for $1 each. out of the 8, there are only 2 i wouldn't read in a pink fit, so i think i did ok.. :)

[Di Nana]

Luckily I have another house so I keep all my books, Hubby loves reading to so between us we have filled one of the un used bedrooms in our old home with books, sadly some were stolen in the burglary we had

I will never give my kids books away, I have them in boxes with there names on the box and when they have kids they get them back for there kids, they loved there books as kids and have a good collection to share with there own kids

[Kekka]

Only the special books.

[Patricia]

After saying yes I have given away most of my books I have kept all of the kids books and books that where my mother's and grandmother's when they were small....:yes:

[lizisme]

Have seen zen's book collection - if the State Library ever has a fire or flood, zen could restock their shelves. LMAO

I love books and reading but don't buy as many books as i once did - tend to borrow more from the library now.

[Night Crawler]

I usually will put ones I can't get into aside for a bit and come back to them later. But then, I generally have a few books on the go at the same time.

As for keeping them, I confess... I rarely give away, sell, or trade books. I did do it as a teen when I was so broke it was the only way to get more. But now, I tend to re-read most of my books, partly because I have so many that I go years between re-reading them. Well, that and the fact that no matter how broke I get, I can't seem to stop acquiring them, new and used! Hmmm, wonder there's a name for book-rats like me? Oh, and I rarely loan them anymore because I got tired of getting pristine ones back in bad shape, or worse, not getting them back at all.

[zen]

glad to see it's not just me! lol... no, i knew it wasn't, there are so many of us out there, all hanging onto our books, no matter what it takes.. i was talking to the woman in the bookstore close by yesterday, as i bought another armload of books - wasn't my fault! my husband steered me into the store, noted there was a sale on, and told me to have fun! (as he headed off to EB) :D anyway, she laughed loudly when i said please serve me, so i don't look at any more books! lol.. we both grinned at each other when we found out we had both filled a room with books at home.. :)