Book Storage.

[Nicole]

I believe it's safe to say that we all love to buy books, and we can't seem to help ourselves even if we don't know where to put the books once we have brought them home. How do you solve this problem, do you give them away, sell them..or are you like me and like to hold on to them for as long as possible because I hate to get rid of books and if so how do you have enough room! Just wondering on how everyone stores there books, obviously book cases are a must but unfortunatly we don't live in libraries, and we don't have endless amounts of room for book cases :]

[Krystin]

Well what I have had to do is actually clean off any flat surface and pile them up there. I also have a DVD rack that I can fit my smaller paperbacks on but they are all perched quite precariously on there and you can't touch it or they will all fall off! My fiance gave me the guilt trip for having so many that people might want, why don't I give some away? But I just kept hoarding them like a dragon. But then someone said something about Bookmooch.com on here and I signed up and have given away 37 books so far! Granted, I have also requested 27... But hey, I'm down ten books! lol

[LJ]

I have somewhere around 5,000 books. I have bracket and board bookshelves on both walls of my entry hall plus a standing bookcase, two walls of my den (the other two walls are a large closet and an almost full-wall window respectively), two walls of my guest room (ditto as for den)plus a standing bookcase, a bookcase in my bedroom, two bookcases in my dining room and 1 1/2 walls are about to get bracket and board shelves because I'm starting to stack books because I've run out of shelves.

Books I decide not to keep I either list on PaperbackSwap.com (sent 96, received 88 for an attrition of only 8 books), sell on amazon.com or, for the new hardcovers, donate them to my local library.

[Sheri]

I have about 400 hardcovered and 200 softcovered books. The softcovers go in my bed's storage type headboard which is two cabinets where the top lifts and my hard-covered just got a new home in 3 large wall shelves in the living room which I believe I may have to buy one more because 3 was just enough.

[Rob]

Proper book storage is a huge problem in Hawaii. If you're not careful, books will be destroyed by our humidity. Up until recently I've stored books in a humidity controlled closet. There wasn't much space to move around so a few months ago I converted a large bedroom into a library. The entire room is humidity controlled. The walls are lined with bookshelves and it's become a favorite place of mine to hang out.

Sometimes I'll exchange books through Bookins, Paperback Swap and Frugal Reader. I thought about Book Crossing--have any tried this?

[Elizabeth]

I'm on bookcrossing. It's all right. It's nice, being able to track books as they get traded and move from person to person, but the "true spirit" of bookcrossing is a karma game- based on wild releases (leaving your book for someone to find). If there were something that was a cross between bookcrossing and bookmooch, I would be very very happy.

[Neil]

HI I buy bookshelves that have deep shelves so when they are full in front I can store books behind the books. If my wife looked behind them she would have a fit. :-)

[Lori]

I have three bookshelves, but only one is for me. One belongs to the books we have for the kids, and one is for all of my husbands college textbooks (when he taught) and work-related books (he is a paramedic and constantly purchases books to refresh and increase his knowledge).

As for my bookshelf, I already have it filled to the point that the shelves themselves are starting to buckle. They are at least double layered. Some are triple layered where I can manage to squeeze them in.

I do not get rid of any books I have purchased. I like to show off what Ive read (i can be a bit of a booksnob i guess)

I need a bigger house!

[Bliss]

When we moved to a bigger apartment and it came with a bigger built-in bookcase, I was overjoyed. Then I filled it with a mixture of some old and some new stuff. :-(

When I first ran out of space, I created a "footer row" on the floor in front of the bookcase. Now that's full too. :-(

The really old books are boxed up in the storage unit.

[Mo]

I thought that joining Paperbackswap.com would help me get rid of some of my books. Although it has helped me get rid of books that aren't keepers to acquire some wish list books, I have mailed 81 books only to receive 76 - a total attrition of only 5 books. I've just concluded that life is too short - I love books and I'll just have to find space for them. Books make me happy - plain and simple - and I need to be surrounded by them. Phew! That sounded like something that I should be telling a therapist. Smile. I really am sane, I am - just addicted to books.