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How do you keep your books?


Hyzenthlay

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So, I'm a huge book lover. And like a lot of you (I assume), I tend to collect books. I buy them, read them, love them and hang on to them forever and ever. I've been doing this ever since I was a child. I love bringing a new book home to join the rest of the 'family'.

 

Because I am a student, and I've moved around a fair bit, my books don't always get the special attention I feel like they deserve. I have a lot of my old books from childhood and high school stored in my parents' library. I have quite a few of them stored in my brother's library (he's a book thief, heh heh). In my apartment that I live in now, I have most of my books hidden away inside closets and under my bed in boxes. The reason? My roommate doesn't really want all my nerdy books out in common space, and to be honest if she let me I would put them up all over the place. She isn't the huge lover of sci-fi that I am (go figure).

 

But I might be moving in with my boyfriend soon, and this would give me an excellent opportunity to make a change. I dream of one day having my own library. But for now, I would settle for a cool bookshelf or a smart space in which my books can be effectively restored and displayed. I would want them to be visible, available and inviting. And so I turn to you, dear BCF goers and experienced readers. I assume you all have some sort of setup for your books. Please share your book keeping solutions here, and at the same time give me ideas on how to sort out my own! I'm very, very interested. :)

 

Hyze

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For me, it's book shelves, bookshelves, book shelves. Fixed to the wall, free standing, whatever way they come. I have books in every room (Except the bathroom & loo!), so shelving is a must.

 

I have become more ruthless with time, so I do have a sort through every once in a while and pass on / donate any books that I either won't read again or have no attachment to. This frees up space to get more books! :D

 

I have technical and classics upstairs over 3 large shelving units, reference, travel and non fiction on two of five shelve in a downstairs room, and the other three are full of fiction, with one of them solely devoted to those waiting for me to read them for the first time. In the room I am in now there is a stack of books belonging to my husband that he hasn't shelved yet, and a low bookcase that cotains a combination of reference (Brewer's Dictonary type books) and waiting to be read.

 

Books and reading like we do is a form of addiction, and we just have to find our own ways of 'managing' the addiction! :lol:

 

 

 

 

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We have bookshelves all over the house, and some boxes of books in the attic. These are gradually reducing though, as I'm generally not a big re-reader, so apart from my favourite childhood books and the few classics and modern books that I can't bear to part with, I think I will gradually be dwindling the book numbers down via giving to friends and charity shops, as I'm tending to buy mostly ebooks now.

 

 

You might want to pop into this thread where some of us have posted some photos of our bookshelves http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2681-show-your-bookshelf/ :smile2:

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Having the smallest bedroom in my household, I have a few books on my two shelves which consists of my favorite books or books that needs to be read, then I have some in my cupboard, that I should really sort out, lately I have started putting some in a storage box that I have currently read for when I get my own house to start my own library.

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As I still live with my parents and my room isn't overly big, all my books are currently kept in an Ottoman next to my bed. I too don't like to throw books out, no matter how many times I've read them, or even if I don't particularly like them! I would love to have my own little library one day.

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On several bookshelves in the spare room/study. I used to keep them in the coffee table (and they broke the bottom out of the table :giggle: ), and whatever else I could on the shelf, with any others in the cellar. When we moved house last year, I was forced to do a bit of a clean up, and I ended up getting rid of a lot of them. But now that I have my Kindle, I probably won't be buying many more paper books, as we simply don't have the space. :negative:

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We have bookshelves in the front room but they're all full so the rest are in boxes under our bed. I do get rid of books as soon as I've finished them either to friends or to the charity shop but my TBR pile never seems to get any smaller:blush:

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Compared to the other people on this forum, my 250 books collection doesn't seem much but I do have one piece of advice. Never ever buy a bookshelf with sliding doors on it. They're demonic.

 

I have one "open" bookshelf (the sliding glass panes fell out one day and nearly hit me on the head) and three "closed" bookshelves which hold my technical books. I'll definitely get rid of the first bookshelf and get a custom made one soon. Hopefully within this year.

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I have one large bookshelf in my living room that has all my pretty hardcovered books and all of my TBR books. I also keep several books on my endtables and a couple boxes under my bed. A fire destroyed most of my books back in '06 but I'm slowly building my collection back up :). The more I collect I guess I'll need to invest in more shelving!

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I have one bookshelf (Smallest room and all that ;) ), and my books are over spilling now so I have a pile next to the bed also.

 

I however can part with books - unless I adored them too much, like Dorian Gray & A clockwork orange etc.. Others I give to my mother, whom also gives me crazy amounts of books in return too. She isn't helping my book addiction in the slightest.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I used to keep all of the books that I ever bought, which was a lot of books, I was on par with the library, if anyone was going on holiday and wanted a book they could look through my collection. I bit the bullet at the end of last year and sent them all to good homes, ie friends or charity. I realised that I was not reading most of them again so why keep them. I do have favourite authors so I have kept those books. It was very sad but had to be done.

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I have two book shelves, one has the books I want to keep and the other shelves has books I have still to read, I also have a box with books to read and my current TBR pile on my dresser, its all organised :giggle:

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I have two bookshelves full to bursting point one that is full of books I want to keep the other is a quarter full of read books then all TBR then theres the piles on top of the bookshelves and the piles on the floor next to the bookshelf.

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I only keep books that I know I will re-read. Others are put on either a book swap website or put into one of two book libraries that we run, one where we live at a local restaurant and another at a bowling club.

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  • 1 month later...

Right now I have a small bookshelf that holds the books I've read or that are TBR over the last two years. The others are in a box waiting for when I have my own place.

 

I feel like I need to start using the library more often I would save so much money. I don't know why I don't. There is just something great about going to the bookstore and buying a brand new book, and knowing I'm the first one to ever read it and that it's mine forever.

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I live in a tiny house and so storage is a real problem, but I refuse to get rid of any of my books. My bookcase is full so I've resorted to stacking them down the sides on each step of my staircase!

 

:D

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I only own about 150-170 books, but they are all neatly organised on the smart wooden bookshelves my step dad bought for me a few months ago, although of course the collection keeps expanding as I keep reading! Whenever I get my own place they are all coming with me and I will have a library one day!

 

I can never throw out the books that I had when I was little or the ones that my mum gave to me. I do give some books to charity every 6 months or so when I decide that I either am not interested in the book or that I know I will never read it! I try to use my local library as much as I possibly can as I love borrowing and reading books :)

 

Also I have an ereader that I use when travelling which has about 100 ebooks on it but I still love holding a book and turning the pages :)

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I have bookshelves in the new apartment! :D Can't wait to put my babies up come June! They're on the wall, and some of the space is gonna have to go to school books, but that's just a minor dent in the happiness.

 

edit: shelves. shelves. not shelfs.

Edited by Hyzenthlay
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I'm really limited for space where I am at the moment so I don't have any bookshelves. I have, however, recently invested in some huge, clear plastic storage containers which when stacked fit perfectly in the bottom of my built-in wardrobe, so these will eventually house the majority of my books...or at least those that I can't display elsewhere.

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