How many unread books do you have at home?

[Charity]

Sherry - You've Got Mail is a guilty pleasure of mine. It is based on the play The Shop Around the Corner and it is a remake of the movie of the same name, The Shop Around the Corner (with Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart).

The remake is cute though...big, bad Fox Books (which just HAS to be B&N).

[Sherry]

I loved The shop Around the Corner.Jimmy Stewart is so cute in that movie!

[Charity]

Totally! This soooo makes me want to rent that movie tonight. Jimmy Stewart is amazing. :-)

[Sherry]

Did you see Harvey.I loved him in that as well.He's just so sweet and lovable.I would say he's one of my faves.

[Charity]

I love that movie! Hell, I'll just go out on a limb and say I love every Jimmy Stewart movie...even ones I haven't seen. :-)

[Sherry]

Isn't he adorable in that?

[Mandy]

I'm another You've Got Mail fan, I too love all the bookshelves and all the stores, yes, even the big bad one, I love the way it's set out and would love one of them near me so I could just go sit and read every now and again. However, I also really like the smaller more personal shops, in fact it's more than the shop itself, it's more the owners and workers of those shops, they're just so welcoming and obviously in love with what they do.

[Charity]

I love the part of You Got Mail where they are at the book party. Wouldn't you love to have a home like that...filled with built in bookshelves??

My new house has a whole wall of built in shelves with a window seat in the middle, but it is nowhere NEAR as impressive as the bookshelves going on in that house in the movie.

[Lori, Super Mod]

Charity, that wall in your house sounds lovely... I really wish I had the room to do up a whole wall with bookshelves.... One day, before I die.......

[Mandy]

I ditto Lori's comment!

[Charity]

I swear it was THE deciding factor for me in buying this house. One wall is great...but one room would be better. :-)

Maybe when the kids go to college...

[Mandy]

I want to do up a room but will have to persuade the other half, he thinks it's a waste of room and cluttery, can you believe that!!

[Kataklicik]

Ahem, this is a little embarassing, but I love the wall of books in Nigella's dining area in her cooking series (Nigella's Feast is it?)... :o) Cosy!

But methinks maybe not so much a good idea for me - I might forget that I'm supposed to be cooking!

[Kataklicik]

What appeals to me about Nigella is the way she describes the food... even as she's chopping it up, or plonking it into a pan!! :)

[The Book Whisperer (aka Boof)]

To say I hate cooking, I do love Nigella. I have all her cookbooks - OK, let me rephrase that - my husband has all her cookbooks and I just drool over the pictures and tell him what to make me, LOL. I love her show too and also the fact that she sneaks down to the fridge - she's a real foodie and refuses to slim down cos she loves food too much. She's great.

Yes, she does (still, I think) write for a newspaper. She is also the daughter of an ex-politician who was in Margaret Thatchers cabinet so that is probably where her interest in social causes comes from. Her dad is called Nigel Lawson (LOL).

[Liz]

Much too many!

[Abigail (42stitches)]

Well I just did a count, sort of. See I just moved and we decided we needed new book shelves so I am going based on an average... About twenty boxes with up to 30 books in each puts the books at about 300. I don't have any duplicates at current (I gave the few I have had for awhile away within the last year). And I have probably read at least 200 of them. The ones I haven't read are mostly my husbands' text books and some of the books I have picked up from library sales. Dam 3 dollar a bag sundays...Just can't help myself. Pack a grocery sack full of books for 3 dollars? sure why not, let me help take those off your hands...

[Abigail (42stitches)]

Haha, I forgot. That does not include the 132 manga and trade comic books we own of which I have read about 115.
^^;

[Kristina]

At least 50! So I have enough books to last for over a year, maybe. :P But, I keep getting new ones, so it'll take a lot more time than that to get through them.

[Abigail (42stitches)]

Yea, even with all the unread books at home, do any of us stop going to the library? Probably not...It is a little embarrassing, but oh well.

[Charity]

So true, Abigail. I have 3 books from the library that I'm trying to get through before I pick up books from my personal library. I always feel like I'm cheating on my books. :-)

[Kirsty]

Abigail, I'm with you on that one. I have 30+ books on my shelf, but 2 of the last 3 books I read are from the library... as is the one I'm reading now! I can't help myself, lol.

[Tisha]

haha...ditto. 23 unreads and home... 3 unreads from the library at the moment. :)

[Kristina]

And if it's not books from the library, it's books that I've borrowed from a person. I borrowed a few from my brothers (The Chronicles of Narnia) and I just read a book by John Dickson Carr that my dad let me borrow. And before that.. books from the library, and right now it's one of my boyfriend's books. :P

[Julianne]

Just an update for me: I have increased my TBR lately. And it never ends, either. I'm going with my sister to Borders/B&N/BooksAMillion on Thursday and we've got somewhere around 10 books to buy. That's on top of the 20+ I have at home.

And I borrow from my Dad and sister, too.

And I can't stop picking them up at the library.......

[Gumball]

i actually stopped counting like 3 years ago

[Kataklicik]

Hahaha akasha, that's a good idea!

Me, there's another booksale by my favourite store this week. I'm doomed. But I'm so excited at the prospect of 'meeting' more books. But I'm doomed. I can't restrain myself!

I too, should stop counting how many books I haven't read. Teeheehee

[She'Davia]

So last night I went through all of my books, and all of the books at my friends house to determine how many of them I actually plan on reading, and the number came out to 22. The majority of them are non-fiction.

[Stacie]

So, it is worse than I thought. I remember saying before that I didn't care how many unread books I had. But, that was before I knew the actual number. Now, my stomach is kind of riddled with anxiety about all that I have that is unread.

I cataloged my books so that I easily knew what I had and found I have over 200 books unread! That is just wrong. Especially considering that there are so many more that I want to read. Granted, some are more reference than they are actual books you would sit and read, but still.

It makes me feel nauseous just thinking about it.

[Kataklicik]

Stacie, no worries, there's a lot of us alike! Last month I had to move my books to another part of the house (we don't have space to display them anymore so they've gone into cupboards) (yes, sad!) and while at it, I separated my read from unread.

I have a closetful of unreads, ok? There's no more space to squish any more in, and yet I'm itching at the thought of going to the booksale! Should I? Shouldn't I? Guilt guilt guilt guilt

:p

[Stacie]

That Kataklicik. I feel a bit better. :)

[Sherry]

I find that if I view the books I haven't read as part of my library I'm building then it helps alleviate the anxiety I sometimes(though not often)will feel when I consider the amount that I have for unread books.

I've had to put my books in storage due to the renovations in our home so I have been storing the books I've read in a box.The box is getting fuller all the time.That's a wonderful feeling.

[Chloe]

Stacie, you've inspired me to start just such a spreadsheet. The purpose is two-fold- I am an OCD freak when it comes to my books and I'm planning on starting to pack them back in tubs soon so that we can figure out what size of truck we need when we move. If I list which tub I put which books in then I can find them easier once they're all boxed up.

[Stacie]

Happy to inspire!

That is exactly what prompted my list. It was simply a list so that I knew what book was in what box while they were in storage so that if I needed one, I knew exactly where it was. So, it started simply with books I had read, as they were put in the boxes as I read them. However, I had always wanted them all in one list. That way it is a quick reference of what I have.

Good luck...it is quite an undertaking. I would say it took me about 5-7 hours total to do it.

[Matthia]

Ok, so I just finished catologuing my library and I have over 600 books....yikes. I haven't actually counted how many are unread but it's probably around the 150 mark...maybe more. In my defense I did work at a wicked awesome used bookstore for three years and I got a 40% discount. And I still get a 20% discount when I go in. woo-hoo!

[Beth]

Good collection, Matthia! It's great that you still get a 20% discount at the used bookstore. You can't go wrong there!

[Liz]

Me too, Akasha! I doubt I'll live long enough to read all of them - hopefully, my children will donate them to a good cause!!

[Allison]

I have about 20 on my shelf that I need to read. There are more packed away (we moved and I haven't unpacked everything yet) and some library books as well. So probably around 30.

[Joanie]

I'm avoiding counting my unread books-I know it's a big number. Actually, before I can even count them I need to gather them from all around the house (the basement, spare bedroom etc.) and then count them. It's a project I definitely want to undertake once we've done some more work on our house and I can set up my other book shelves but I know I'm going to be shocked by how many I have-it's bad.

[Jenna]

Compared to some of you I don't have as many as I thought. I have about 65 uread books in my apartment. I am running out of room because my bookshelves are full, so the books are now starting to be in piles on the floor. I need another bookshelf, but honestly don't have any room for it. Oh well...I'll just keep adding to those piles anyway.

[Tisha]

I adore IKEA.

[She'Davia]

My list went up to 23 today when I bought another new book, and will go up to 24 tomorrow when my friends aunt brings me over one of her romance novels.

[Ann from S.C.]

Gotta love IKEA!! Love anything Scandanavian! I got some really neat book shelves for the boys rooms.

[Leslie]

Many of you seem to lament the fact that you have so many books on your shelves that are still unread. Several years ago I found a wonderful book called "The Little Guide to Your Well-read Life" which offered suggestions about ways to get more books into your life and more life out of your books. One of the suggestions that was made was to always have "candidates" (books waiting on your shelves to be read) and to never force yourself to read a book you weren't really into at that time. With many candidates at your disposal, you can easily find a book to suit your every mood and whim.

I have absolutely no idea how many unread books I have and unfortunately all of my stuff is in storage so I cannot count. But I would be willing to bet there are dozens nearing if not surpassing the 100 mark. (And having all of my stuff in storage does nothing to curb my compulsive book buying habit ;) My number grows weekly.)

[Melissa]

OOOhHH, way too many to count. I have a whole case full of them. Probably more than 100.

[Emma]

A lot. But I got most of those from my old school fair where you can get a huge brown grocery bag full of books for 5 dollars. At that price I pretty much just bought everything that caught my eye. I've also managed to pilfer my parent's bookshelves, grabbing anything I wanted to read. Almost all the books I've read are sat in my closet while my shelves are reserved for the books I have yet to get to. Yes, it's a slightly strange system.

[Julianne]

Well, I just added 8 more books to my pile. But I'm so excited to have them at home. Now, I need to close my doors to all new/used books for a bit. Wait...................I'm not sure if my doors will allow that?!?!?!?!?

[Mandy]

Sherry, that's a great idea, viewing the unread books as part of the library you're building - I shall repeat this to myself every time I start getting anxious about all my unread books.

It is good having so many unread ones though because I find no matter what reading mood I'm in there's a book on my shelf that I can pull out and read and therefore not get stuck reading something my heart isn't fully wanting to.

[Mandy]

Ken, I'm off to IKEA this weekend again (we went last weekend too) and will hopefully come home with a brand new bookcase - I am soooooooo excited!

[Mandy]

Leslie, what you said is so true and is exactly how I feel. Also I love the line about "getting more books into your life and more life out of your books".