Do you keep your books?

[Michelle]

Do you keep all the books you buy or do you sell/give them away?

[Cerridwen]

A bit of both really, most fiction I will probably read once and maybe sell or something, I do keep books that I know I will read again and I always keep non-fiction books unless its something I really haven't enjoyed and wouldn't get a use from in the future.

[Michelle]

I have just a few that I keep - most of which I have already read more than once, and feel I will read again.

Most of mine end up at a book fair, or given to a charity shop.

[Freewheeling Andy]

I think I've only ever lost about 10 books, and they were loaned and not returned. I really ought to take a more sensible attitude, but I hate the idea of not being able to go back to a book if I remember an important passage.

[Maureen]

I used to keep them all.....now I have to share my space, I cannot do so anymore. :( (Apart from the fact that they were getting out of hand!)

[Inanna]

I too used to keep them all, then one day I just bagged stacks up and gave them away :shock:

Now I wished I'd kept them and sold them on ebay or something, I could have made lots of money to buy more books.

Nowadays I get alot of books from the library, but the ones I do buy I tend to sell as I find it hard to reread a book, once is generally enough for me, seeing as there are so many books I want to read, I'd never get through them if I kept rereading everything.

[Michelle]

I'm fed up with ebay - I pay out all the fees, then no one wants my stuff, or buys it for 99p! :grr:

[Angel]

I generally keep all my books. I did sell some about 8 yrs ago and I deeply regret it 'cos I now want to read them!!!! :oops:

[Kell]

I keep most of mine as I like ot be able to go back & reread them. Many are gifts too, so I feel like it'd be a bit of a slap in the face to pass them on (unless I really didn't enjoy them - LOL!). Occasoinally I have a clearout to make room for new books & in the past they either got sold or sent to a charity shop. Recently, though, I've gotten into swapping, so I'm not really clearing much space, but still getting new books - LOL! Still, it's a great way to try out new authors without having to hand over loads of cash.

[Inanna]

I'm fed up with ebay - I pay out all the fees, then no one wants my stuff, or buys it for 99p! :grr:

LOL that happens alot with books, saying that the last few I have bought have cost me near on £3 before postage :wink:

[jake]

I keep all my hardback books, but generally give away the paperbacks. If I like an author I tend to collect their books in hardback. Although at the moment all of our books are packed away apart from the ones bought recently. We desperately need more bookcase space.

[Leah]

I keep the books by the authors I love and read faithfully no matter what but anything else I tend to get rid of. If I know I'm never going to read it again there is absolutely no point in me keeping it. So I either give them to a used book store (most of them here tend to give you store credit so you can buy books there for cheaper) or give them away to someone who wants them. I'm not picky about these either, if they're hardback and I'm not going to touch them again they go. The only hardbacks I buy that are expensive are by the authors that I love so I'm not going to get rid of those.

The biggest problem I have with being such a bookworm is I always seem to run out of space. I had 4 bookshelves in our apartment, then we had to cut back due to more limited space and adding a baby to the household so I cut back to 2 and am about to cut back further because I have no room to get more of my favorites.

[Acesare*]

Yes! I'm weird like that, although I did leave a load of books at home when I moved out. Unfortunately, every time I go back I seem to talk another one home with me!

Jo xx

[Kell]

I’m finding that I keep fewer books these days. Unless I really adore them, they’re getting passed on, whether via sale or swap. It used to be much more of a wrench to have a clear out when the shelves got too full and the cupboards were bursting, but I recently barely blinked an eye when I took about 30 books off my TBR pile and decided not to read them after all, but to give them a chance at a home where they’ll be loved. Not so long ago, I couldn’t have done that at all! However, I still keep books that are gifted to me and books that are part of a series that I particularly like (all my Pratchetts, Scarrows and Armstrongs are staying put, I’m afraid!) and I occasionally get one through a swap that I decide I’ll want to read again at some point in the future…

My Dad is going to be moving within the next few months and will be clearing out his loft. No doubt I’ll have to sort through more books!

[Sugar]

My books are mine - hand off!

I occassionally bookcross books - but they tend to be books that I end up with duplicates of, or things that were given to me that I didn't really connect with.

The dream is to make sure the house that we buy (eventually!) has an extra room to keep my books in!!!

[1sillywabbit]

I keep most of mine, do swap the odd double...
Did try to reduce them a little while back and took a whole boxfull to the charity shop, :) hate to admit it, :oops: but next day I went in and bought a lot of them back :roll:


wabbit x :wave:

[Ronny]

I keep many of my books, to lend to others or reread if I enjoyed them. If I didn't really like them enough to share or reread I give them away, I usually do a BookCrossing wild release but no one has claimed to have caught them yet, maybe I should leave better books.

[pontalba]

I keep them all.

Well, I occasionally give friends books, but only friends I know will take care of them.

[Tiger]

I keep my books, although I have given the odd couple to friends.

[Icecream]

I don't like giving books away, but am more than happy to lend them.

[pontalba]

Ah, now lending.....a friendly thing to do. However I have had unfortunate experiences with lending, so try to avoid it. If I do lend a book, I count it as gone in my mind.

I do enjoy giving someone a book I know they will enjoy though. Almost as good as getting one myself. :D

[dogmatix]

Mine, mine mine, mine!!!!! Think Golum and that precious ring. For me books are a comfort and I hoard them. Lending...... rare for me. They NEVER come back. I've bought three copies of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime because I keep lending it out and it keeps disappearing. I try to buy only hardbacks when possible and I have no problem with used so that saves me some money. However if it came down to a choice between books and food, books would win, hands down.

One bright side; when I die someone is going to get an amazing hard cover book collection. :roll:

[Renniemist]

Sometimes I lend books to friends, but like Pontalba I don’t expect ever to see them again.

I am mostly a hoarder, although recently I have given some books to a charity shop just to make space on my shelves.

[Icecream]

Well I have lent about seven books to a friend at church. He might keep them for ayear or two until he has passed them round his wife and children, but they always come back. My sister is reading a couple too.

I am just anxious about the Da Vinci Code that I lent to a Christian friend at uni not long before I left. I kepp sending her texts (as a gentle reminder) asking what she thinks.

[Lilywhite]

I don't mind lending but people always want my favourite books. They always pick up my brand spanking new copies that are really for show and only to be read with gloves on!! They are never interested in the large pile of scruffy paperbacks by the bed :roll:

[Icecream]

They always want my fave books too. I wanted to reread LOTR two years ago, but Allen and his family had them for ages. Now my to read list is too long, and growing.

[Sofia]

I used to keep them all. But quickly found it difficult to find room for new ones. So instead I keep certain ones and just give away others to either the library or anyone who wants them really.

[sib]

I tend to keep all my P G Wodehouses because they're the kind of thing you can read again - it's also quite difficult to get hold of some of them. After that, I'll probably keep books that were presents, and others I tend to not keep. One book I've often regreted not keeping was the Drones Omnibus by Wodehouse - I gave it to Oxfam. While I know that that's a good cause, it had a pretty big crease down the spine, and I often think that they probably didn't put it out for sale anyway.
I also saw the exacty same edition on Amazon the other day selling used for £46. :doh:

[Angel]

Very rarely lend my precious books out. On the occassion that I have I have never received them back! Even my mother handles my books with caution, and constantly tells me on the phone that they are safe, :D

[greenchair]

I keep most of my books and I only donate them when it's a book that I didn't like

[KAY]

Definately couldn't give them up. no way!

[Liz]

Once I've read a book, I keep hold of it in case anyone I know wants to read it - that way I can either lend or swap with them. Books that I haven't got a hope of someone wanting I take it down to the local charity shops.

I only ever keep books if I have enjoyed them so much that I would want to read again, or if the book means a lot to me, for example... a very good friend of mind gave me his copy of The Woman in White in which he wrote a special message for me. Even if I end up not liking the book, I'll still keep hold of it for as long as possible.

[kernow_reader]

I get fiercely possessive of my books. On the rare occassions I have given one away I've lived to regret it.

[Louiseog]

Not at all give them all away!

[Gyre]

I keep certain books but the rest I just pass them on...
:readingtwo:

[Nici76]

I keep the best ones on my bookshelf to be read again and to lend to my friends and the rest i take to the second hand book shop near me to swop for new books :)

[DaddysGem]

I used to keep every single one of my books. But now i just keep the books i enjoyed, and i swap the rest for books i would like to read.

[kitty]

I Keep all of mine unless they were really bad. When me and my boyfriend move in together, he wants a computer room and I want my own mini Library!:D

[Polka Dot Rock]

I keep more than giveaway.

If I've really enjoyed a book (or if it seems something to me), I hang onto them. I like seeing them around - mainly on my bookshelves, but they're normally hanging around on tables as well...

But I'm certainly not averse to giving them away, as you will see here (http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2740) :mrgreen: In fact, I like to re-home them: it's nice to think a book is wanted :)

I have this dream of creating a library of one's own. But as it's probably going to be a good while before I have a place completely on my own, the 'library' will only get bigger and bigger and bigger!

[wrathofkublakhan]

I am pretty loose about it. In general, they pile up until I give them to my local library or some charity. I won't re-read very many mysteries and I run through them quite often.
However, like most; I keep many to re-read.
Some of my favorite books have been used books that were gifts, "here, you need to read this" or "this is what we were talking about the other day" - examples are:
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The World According to Garp
The Illuminatus!
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
The Stand
Sho-Gun

As you can see, I have some really good friends!

[JudyB]

I keep all my books unless they're really bad. I'm running out of bookcase space though. Borrowing from the library helps which is where I get most of my books from nowadays - if something stands out then I will buy my own copy. I also tend to buy my own copies of 19th century literature - in particular I am collecting the Rougon-Macquart cycle by Emile Zola.

[Bunny]

I keep the really good ones, but the others I put on greenmetropolis or amazon

[Bigbananas]

Most of the books I read I keep as I tend to collect books from my favourite authors, and will read them again in the future, plus I have become a bit of a library for my friends who borrow regularly.. Of course they have to promise to look after them and not fold the pages! :blush:

[Purple Poppy]

Bigbananas said
Of course they have to promise to look after them and not fold the pages! :blush:

LOL, a girl after my own heart!

I am a hoarder. I hate saying goodbye to books, but sometimes it has to be done...lack of space. So Green Met get some and charity shops get others.

[Bigbananas]

Sorry to sound dumb, but what's this Green Met? :blush:

[Kell]

Sorry to sound dumb, but what's this Green Met? :blush:Green Metropolis (http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/www.greenmetropolis.com) is a site where you can list the books you no longer want for sale and buy others very cheaply. For each sale, 5p is donated to the Woodland Trust, 70p goes to the running of the site and the rest goes to the seller (books are listed at £3.75 each - the seller pays postage on paperbacks, but can add a small amount to eh price of hardbacks to cover postage costs).

There are thousands of books listed and it's the place I tend to check first when I am after a new book for reading circle as there are often several copies of books available, especially if they're popular ones. Then, when I'm done, I list them for resale. :mrgreen:

And you don't sound dumb at all - nobody should ever be made to feel dumb here just for asking a question. ;)

[Bigbananas]

Thanks Kell, will look into that site when wanting to get new books or get rid of some of mine :smile2:

[Karen]

I tend to keep the majority of mine, unless it is a book that I know I wont ever read again, in which case I either sell it on eBay, give to a friend or take to the charity shop.

[Fay]

I keep them, all of them. My wardrobe has more books in it than clothes!!!

[aromaannie]

I've had to start being strict with myself as I never read a book more than once so it's pointless me keepin them. I sell them on Green Met and here. On another sight i swap them for toiletries etc and I take 1 a week to the local charity shop