what do you do with your old books?

FDuff

what do you do with your books once you've read them?

mainly novels, not really talking about technical books which can serve as a reference for years usually.

Eliot Rosewater

I stick them on my bookshelf in my room, and every morning I wake up I look at them and go "shma shma, I'm better than everyone else."

Seriously though, I love keeping all my books. I can't use libraries at all!

EDIT: your poll is flawed, there should be a "keep them on shelves, taking them down every now and then to find quotes or read favourite sections".

Graceland

I give my books to charity shops. If I kept them all through the years, I would have to move out of the house, lol.

dudara

Every so often, I move a stack of them to my parent's house, where they have a lot more storage space than I do. Plus my sisters then get to read them as well.

I pretty much still own every book I've ever bought

the west wing

Most of the history and politics books I read I keep, but nearly everything fictions gets sent to the charity shop.

Kinski

Keep 'em, regardless of whether I'd want to re-read them or not. I enjoy collecting books more than other things like cds, dvds etc.

Bog

Kinski wrote: »

Keep 'em, regardless of whether I'd want to re-read them or not. I enjoy collecting books more than other things like cds, dvds etc.

QFT. I keep them all and I find myself developing an almost library-like organisation system the more books I have.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

E.T.

I started dividing books into 3 types when I realised there were more on the floor than on any of the bookshelves! If I love it, I keep it. If it's good, but not brilliant I give it to friends or charity shops. If it's absolute rubbish it goes in the recycling bin (this doesn't happen very often!)

chucken1

Books are the best gift to give away. Share. ...free websites charity shops etc

Einhard

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I stick them on my bookshelf in my room, and every morning I wake up I look at them and go "shma shma, I'm better than everyone else."

Seriously though, I love keeping all my books. I can't use libraries at all!

dudara wrote: »

Every so often, I move a stack of them to my parent's house, where they have a lot more storage space than I do. Plus my sisters then get to read them as well.

I pretty much still own every book I've ever bought

LOL, that's exactly my policy. I used to love goign to the library, but now, for some odd reason, if I don't own the actual book I won't read it. I bought my brother a book that I wanted to read last year, and bought the exact same one for myself at the same time! And I'd rather throw my bed out than get rid of my bookshelves. Only problem is there are a few embarassing titles that I've had to relegate to the very bottom to stop people noticing them!:D

[-0-]

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

IEDIT: your poll is flawed, there should be a "keep them on shelves, taking them down every now and then to find quotes or read favourite sections".

Agreed. I keep them all, and often go back and read them again. I also loan them out to friends and family, who always return them asking for more.

bladespin

Guilty of option 1 above I'm afraid, not sure why TBH, mabye I want someone to think I'm well-reads someday (it would be some time coming lol).

darragh666

Keep them on a shelf. I enjoy looking at them when I wake up and remember the stories. I usually find the books I forgot the quickest are the ones I dont own.

Asphyxia

I keep them I love having books there to read even if I've already read them

I love my book collection

FDuff

Bog wrote: »

QFT. I keep them all and I find myself developing an almost library-like organisation system the more books I have.

that's interesting, so your're building your own library at home.. but do you actually read again some of books you've already read? or do you feel the need to keep them?

FDuff

darragh666 wrote: »

Keep them on a shelf. I enjoy looking at them when I wake up and remember the stories. I usually find the books I forgot the quickest are the ones I dont own.

that's a very interesting point Darragh, and it makes a lot of sense then keeping books for years... the sight of them brings back their stories.
And if they're gone, the association to their story is also gone.

Denerick

Einhard wrote: »

Only problem is there are a few embarassing titles that I've had to relegate to the very bottom to stop people noticing them!:D

I know that feeling. Poor old John Grisham and Jeffry Archer.

emeraldstar

I keep them always. I can't throw/give away a book, even if I haven't enjoyed it It's not necessarily a good thing though, as due to my job I have a never-ending supply of free books...and my house/room is ever so slowly becoming crowded..

n0irin

Every now and again, I run out of space on my shelves when I get a few new books (I don't have a huge amount of space) and I look through and find those books that I *know* I'm never going to read again. Of course most of my shelves are full of ones that I definitely want to read again so I have to wrestle with the choice of which ones to go. Then I tend to send out a message asking if any friends or family want <insert list of books here>, first come first served. If nobody replies, then off to the charity shop they go!

I don't feel so bad, because especially if I've enjoyed the story, I want to share it with other people - and part of me hopes that when they're done they'll pass the books on again to others! On a side note, I also *adore* when friends give me books that they've finished with and enjoyed, so it's a good cycle...

kylith

My books all go on to my bookshelves in the living room, although some go onto the Oxfam shelf to be donated, but they're the ones I am 100% certain that will never be read again.

The rest of them live on the shelves awaiting the day I run out of new things to read. Then I stand and stare at the shelves for a while until a title jumps out at me.

Haruki

Hoard them in my attic, wardrobes, and book cases around the house. I cant give them away ! Sometimes i find it hard to lend someone a book:eek:. I always find at least one passage in a book (even the bad ones) that id like to delve back into again and again. Plus, i'm planning on dedicating a room to reading in the near future, and filling it wall to wall with my books.....bliss.

ArcadeFred

Does anyone ever sell their books to Chapters or a place like that? I've heard it's not really worth it, what you get for them?

I was like most people in this thread, wanted to keep every book I ever got regardless of how good it was, but I recently had to put a stop to this because I've far too many and whenever I get around to moving into my own place, they can't all come with me. So now I've two huge piles of books on my floor waiting to be evacuated! I was planning on bringing them to Chapters to see what I could get for them (recession and all...every little helps) but I can't bring them all on the bus, I don't drive and there's never anyone around to drive me into town :rolleyes: But then if I was to bring them to Oxfam instead, the same issue would apply. What to do, what to do

Grievous

I keep them.

I love my books.

Let's put it this way: I understand that nothing lasts forever and we all eventually die so what's the point of possessions?

Well, while we are here, its nice to keep stuff around you that makes you happy and that are things that you find useful.

Malari

Hmm, bit of all poll options! I sometimes sell the ones I know I'll never read again or recommend to anyone back to a second-hand shop. But often if I enjoyed the book I'll pass it on to a friend. I have friends who give me books too and I think it's nice to share instead of buying new copies all the time.

There are others that will always be mine though! Books that have had a big impact on me, or I know I'll revisit sometime I always keep. And I have a fair few non-fiction that are good for reference. I like my bookshelf, although I could definitely do with more space!

Fragglefur

I keep them all, even the Enid Blyton ones from when I was a child. Most of my books are on shelves by the fireplace, or in my office. The more forgettable ones have been relegated to the attic.

Travel is good

I used to donate my books to charity, but now I use www.bookcrossing.com
much more fun. I still buy books (!) from the charity shops just to distribute through Book Crossing. That way, I feel I am spreading around the good karma (donating to charity & giving away free books).

To be honest, I was running out of space in the house. I got new wardrobes a while back, beautiful things. You've guessed it, the wardrobes are filling up with books! So I had to do something!

If I need to see a book again, I can usually get it easily from our wonderful library.

There was a great thread here a while ago, where people showed photographs of their bookshelves, I'll try find it.

It's here...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=67054125

Enjoy!

Even though I've given away a lot of books, I still love looking at other people's bookshelves, nosy I know!

Travel is good

ArcadeFred wrote: »

Does anyone ever sell their books to Chapters or a place like that? I've heard it's not really worth it, what you get for them?

I meant to say, I don't think Chapters give you that much money for them. You could try sell them yourself through car boot sales, but you won't make much!

That's why I think charity shops might be your answer. Just remember not to buy more books from them! On second thoughts, maybe do buy, to support the charity. If you don't have transport, just bring a few books at a time.

I always have a bag of books near the door to remind me to bring them with me.