What Do You Do With Books After You've Read Them

[Andy M.]

I'm curious. The thread about Kindles and GB's comment about boxes of books in the basement got me to thinking.

Many of you read regularly. Unless you use the library or read electronic books, that means you have accumulated a mountain of books.

So, do you keep these books, trash them , sell them, give them away, our put them in a bookcase or in boxes in the basement?

While I don't read as much as I used to, when I was reading a lot, I kept every book. If I loaned it to someone, I'd make sure I got it back. I finally saw this as a waste of time space and effort for me. With one exception, I never reread books so what was I keeping them for? I finally got rid of them all as part of a yard sale.

How about you?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I make the decision, sometimes difficult, if I will want to read it again or is it classic enough that I don't want to get rid of it. You can guess what I pick most often.

Books that will not be read again, go into a stack, then into bags and boxes and get taken to one store. They offer credit and what books they do not take, I shuffle those to the other used book store for credit. Once done with that, if i have any left, I fill the bookcase at the facility with the novels...if there is already a copy there, I bring them back home. From there I mail them to the Department of Corrections to put in their libraries.

Mgazines are sorted into catagories and delivered to appropriate places for others to read and enjoy.

Even after all of this, we are slowly moving to the center of our rooms and the outsides are filling up with books.

 

[Uncle Bob]

When my Mother, a librarian and avid reader passed away she had a lot of books...I didn't count them, but I would guess 300+ ~~~ With the exception of Signed/Autographed, a few First edition, and very old books...I donated them to 3 different libraries. ~~

 

[Zhizara]

Years ago when the Doubleday Dollar Book Club was around (1964), I joined. By 1975, I belonged to 5 of their clubs, the Doubleday (regular novels and no longer just a dollar), The Mystery Guild, The Science Fiction Book Club, The Literary Guild (for Classics in nice bindings), and the Cookbook Club.

When we moved, I donated over 1,000 books to the local library. They were all hardbound books and I got a nice tax deduction. Of course I kept a lot of the books, especially the Literary Guild and some of the Cookbooks.

I've recently started over in a new place leaving the past behind, so I only have 16 paperbacks saved up so far.

I let my neighbor read them, and there is another friend here that I want to trade some books with, and then when the shelves get too full, there are lots of empty book shelves down in the computer room I can help fill.

 

[Katie H]

I'm an avid reader and often have 2 or 3 books working at a time and read about one per week. Having said that, I get many of my books from the library so there's no disposal or storage problem.

Of the books I have that are mine, if there's a book I especially like or feel as though I'll read it again, I'll keep it and, when I get the chance, replace it with a hardback of the same title for my "library." Yep. Library, but that's just the term for the big bookcase in our den.

There are several stores here that will take paperbacks and give a credit as a return. Nothing for hardbacks so those go to the local library or nursing facility. We're not near any prison or such or they'd go there.

My biggest problem isn't with the books I've read, it's what to do with the ones I HAVEN'T read. My "to be read" shelf is about to barf and I'm reading as fast as I can.

 

[Zhizara]

I really miss being close to the library. I was reading 5 or 6 books a week.

Even when I was still working, I always had a book with me, and often several books going at the same time.

Now that I'm retired and have moved away from all the stress, I manage to keep busy and don't seem to be reading so much. I think a lot of that had to do with my former life being in so much turmoil, and the books being an escape into another world.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I'm an avid reader and often have 2 or 3 books working at a time and read about one per week. Having said that, I get many of my books from the library so there's no disposal or storage problem.

Of the books I have that are mine, if there's a book I especially like or feel as though I'll read it again, I'll keep it and, when I get the chance, replace it with a hardback of the same title for my "library." Yep. Library, but that's just the term for the big bookcase in our den.

There are several stores here that will take paperbacks and give a credit as a return. Nothing for hardbacks so those go to the local library or nursing facility. We're not near any prison or such or they'd go there.

My biggest problem isn't with the books I've read, it's what to do with the ones I HAVEN'T read. My "to be read" shelf is about to barf and I'm reading as fast as I can.

No kidding, I must have about three or four stacks of those. I get finished, then Shrek has to decide if he wants to read it...and he buys books and saves them for me...luckily, we do tend to like the same books, but he reads slower than I do.

You should see the scramble for the new book when we get it home... I fight dirty...

 

[Barbara L]

It's interesting that you started this thread now. I had come to a decision a couple weeks ago, directly related to this. I have been buying books for years, usually used, but not always. There are really only a few that I like to reread. A couple weeks ago I realized what a waste of space all my books are, especially since we have no storage space in our little house. Most of the books I have now were either given to me or I bought them on our trip a couple years ago, and I haven't gotten around to reading them. I decided that I will gather up all my books and donate most of them to the local Hospice thrift store. There are, of course, a few books that I won't get rid of, but I decided that if I want to read a book I can get it from the library. I also have Kindle for PC and have been getting a lot of free books for that from Amazon.com.

Barbara

 

[babetoo]

i pass them on to friends. some i want back, usually the non fiction. then i donate to our little library here in our park or to the vets. right now i need to winnow out some of them. the shelves are overflowing. mostly the cook books are getting out of hand. i will keep all my j.d. robb as well as the non fiction. i recently found out i can get books delivered through the mail from my local library. they even pay for the postage. this opens up a limitless supply of free books for me. i do pass some along mostly to daughter and granddaughter.

 

[GrillingFool]

I have pretty much stopped buying books, and just go to the library. Did the math...
I'm saving a couple THOUSAND bucks a year.
When I do buy books, I buy paperbacks, and when done, they eventually end up
at Edward McKay's Used books. They give a fairly decent credit towards store purchases which is nice.

It's funny... I sell books and printed collectible items on ebay, so I literally go through
thousands of books and paper items a year. Only this year did I start actually throwing
away stuff I couldn't sell or donate... took 10 years to get to this point. But I can recycle the paper so that's good.

 

[Midnight_Merlot]

My problem is ridiculous actually when it comes to books. I tend to forget very simple things - like, sometimes I will drive around saying to myself "I just KNOW that I live SOMEWHERE around here"(seriously,...WHO loses a HOUSE )??!!, but, for the life of me, I cannot forget every little detail of these books that I just love sooo much. Some I have lugged around like an extra appendage nearly 20yrs. now...I just want so desperatly to forget them even just a tiny bit, just so that I can reread them again. My brain plays bad tricks on me sometimes!!
So, unless the end of the world is coming anytime soon, &, if isn't in the dead of winter, &, for survival purposes I have to burn them for heat, I will keep my paper treasures. I will never get a Kindle though. As convenient as they seem, I really actually love the smell of books. Good-book pages actually do smell better the more I like the book! I read fantasy books too BTW. Just GOTTA have a damsel in distress, some magic, dragons, &, even better - TALKIING animals!!
(the other books that I CAN part with though, I have no problem donating to Goodwill, which, I frequently do)

 

[Bigjim68]

I read a lot. Mostly I use the library. Those books I buy get recycled to another. I keep a very few, mostly reference books. Even those I seldom revisit.

 

[Alix]

I use the library most of the time, but I have a selection of books I keep. I have just given piles and piles of books to my various workplaces. The kids seem to really enjoy them.

 

[Claire]

I feel like I'm a person who doesn't really buy too many books (I read WAY too many for my income, so am a real library person), but still have so many books it is ridiculous. I buy books when they're a subject matter I know will take me a long time to read (spacing them with more "fun" reading from the library), or when I'm going on a trip (my husband jokes that the heaviest part of our luggage is my reading bag)(well, probably not a joke).

I still find myself with what seems like tons of books. When I lived other places, I'd find book exchange stores where you could do 2/1; bring in two, exchange for one. But there's nothing remotely like that around here. So now I just donate them to the local library for their annual fund-raiser book sale, and I also volunteer for it. What I best love (when volunteering) is in the last few hours of the sale, people are allowed to come in and grab a bag and fill it as full as they can for $3, or a box for $5. It does my heart good to see those books fly out the door.

Now we're looking at huge shelves full of books we haven't touched in years. Always thinking, well, we'll re-read them some day. Lots are coffee-table-photography books from places we've lived. Even the cook books are getting ridiculous. So, when the library starts its drive in April, I think even some of those books will go. Books you don't read aren't really doing anything, and if the library can get a couple bucks out of them, I'm all for it.

 

[Midnight_Merlot]

or when I'm going on a trip (my husband jokes that the heaviest part of our luggage is my reading bag)(well, probably not a joke).

Not to make my DH seem a dolt, but, this part of your post reminded me of something...whenever we go somewhere, & I take a book along, he ALWAYS says "you're gonna get sick reading in the car"...It gets me every time...I don't get car sick, &, I can't think of any book that he has read(other than Sporting News & the like), let alone while riding in a car to even get sick in the first place...lucky I love him, but, at times, he seems to be begging for a .

 

[joesfolk]

We have very little space in our home so I keep very few books, just a couple of favorites and some cookbooks. I have a bookcase full of books that I want to read and when I am done with them I either leave them in the break room at work where they will disappear or i donate them to one of several local charity stores. I used to hate getting rid of books but now i realize that they just collect dust, take up space and end up ultimately making me unhappy if I keep them. If I donate them I get the joy of that plus at some other time I will find the book again at a yard sale or some such place and it is like meeting an old friend again, sometimes they even come home with me to be reread. Either way, as much as I love the feel and smell and look of books in my home at this time I'm just better off sending them on their way to make someone else happy.

 

[Barbara L]

On our long vacation a couple years ago, when I finished a book I left it either in the laundry room or in the bedside drawer with a note that it was free to take.

Barbara

 

[Claire]

Merlot, so many people I know cannot read while in a car. It makes them car-sick. I don't know how long you've been married that your husband doesn't "get" that it doesn't do that to you! Not only do I travel with a sack of books, I keep one in the pocket of one of the car doors so, if I wind up unexpectedly waiting for an appointment, or if hubby's driving and we're stuck in traffic, I have something to read.

 

[Claire]

When we were on the road in truck and camper, many, if not most, campgrounds had book-shelf exchanges in laundry rooms or day-rooms. They were great! Then when we'd hit a community large enough for a used bookstore I'd take a box in and exchange and buy. I didn't realize until late in those years that many libraries sell used books at bargain rates, or I'd do what I do now, as I said, donate books, then buy used ones at incredibly low rates.

 

[Midnight_Merlot]

Oh Claire, trust me - it has been long enough!! LOL I understand how it could affect some, but...surely not him!! I have even asked him how he would even know? LOL..."just leave me be, let me read this darn book, &, be thankful that I am distracted from your awful driving" is MY perspective.