BookTalk.org

So how many books do you read and how many books are on your book shelf

That is 2 separate questions! I shall address the question asked in the title of this thread first. Excuse me while I go count.

I counted to a hundred and then got interrupted by an annoying puppy. I have more than 100 books on shelves, but that doesn't mean I've read them all. I also live in an apartment and have many more books at my parents' place, so I can't count the exact number of physical books I own. Also, add 50 to 100 books I have on Kindle. I'm pretty sure I have read hundreds more books than I've ever owned. I am a huge fan of libraries and only keep books that I would like to re-read or reference again. I also keep giving away my favorite books.

Books are heavy and hard to move from place to place. They also are super good at collecting dust, which is the worst for people with dust allergies.

princesscookie19 wrote:So how many books do you read and how many books are on your book shelf

I probably have about 40 books stored in various places, but I'm trying to get rid of them after I finish reading them.

The number of books I'm reading at the same time is around 8.

Murmur, it sounds like you are good at culling! What is your secret? And are there any books that you keep around? I'm terrible at culling. I blame it on my grandmother, who lived through the great depression and washes tinfoil in order to re-use it.

scrumfish wrote:Murmur, it sounds like you are good at culling! What is your secret? And are there any books that you keep around? I'm terrible at culling. I blame it on my grandmother, who lived through the great depression and washes tinfoil in order to re-use it.

I keep a book if either of these are true:

a. It brings me joy.
b. It's a manual or textbook that I need to keep.

For all other books, I give them away when I'm done with them.

An example of a book that I'll be keeping is the complete short stories by Lovecraft.

I stopped counting when I reached 1700, double stacked on 5 book shelves. I find it difficult to get rid of or too give any of them away.

I’ve learned so much from my library, and as I’m finding out as time goes by..I constantly re-examine different volumes. One of the things that I learn is that my sophistication expands as I read and discuss more and more of what is there. Sometimes a ‘book’ is beyond my level of understanding at an initial read and so the library naturally expands to accommodate what is just a ‘gist’ level.

So re-reading is a somewhat constant enterprise. Adding to any given subject through additions, I find that I am able to go deeper into the narrative.

Something that has been a source of interest for me personally is how people will ignore the elephant in the room,(all those books). I have a small home so they really do stand out. I find that there is a benefit to conversation when I am able to place a stack of those books in front of someone who is for example denying Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Books to me are a tool, no different than tools I would use to rebuild a customers engine or to remodel my kitchen.

I rarely buy books these days. At one time I had a decent book collection that traveled around with me in the Middle East. When I left Pakistan I had to mail out all my books and they (the packages) were left outside on the tarmac and were rained on. When I got the boxes in Kuwait most of the books were warped with the pages stuck together. Since I was using the 'free' military mail service there was no compensation.

I now try to keep my books either as digital pdf's or digital audible. They travel better.

i have a lot of books. I have about 473 books with more in the mail and at other houses. I love to collect them so much! If I had all the money in the world I would buy every single book!!!

I really have no idea. I used to have a large collection but, unfortunately, some of them were lost. I've counted about 25 on my bookshelf and I know there are a further 25 or more located around my room in different storage boxes. There are also some books in my loft and in other storage facilities so I'm going to estimate over 100. I've also just bought over ten books so I can get myself through this lockdown which is going to start tomorrow. So I'm going to be busy reading through Christmas and New Year.

I'm really terrible. I can't throw books away. Even after I read them, they sit aimlessly on the shelf, doing nothing, going nowhere LOL. I cannot bring myself to throw them away, although I rarely read a book more than once.