The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
General Chat
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What do you do with your books?
Genine wrote: "I used to be like you, Nick; had probably thousands of books. It's only in the last few years that I've become altruistic enough to want my books to be read by others; a combination of softening i..."Here Here! books are sacred, I love the smell, the feel and the turning of the pages. I have a lot of space but I am choosy about which I now keep. If I read a book over and over I usually try to keep it. aloha
Susan wrote: "I have a lot of books. My favorites or ones I would read again I keep, a good bit I haven't read yet, and some I take to the used bookstore."Susan, I wish you would give a list of those you keep to read over and over. I have read Agatha Chistie's over and over and even forget how it ends on purpose.
Hi everyone! I once had every book I read, but following a divorce and a tough move into a smaller place, I switched to digital for much of my collection. I stood by that decision for a whole 14 months, until I couldn't take it anymore! Now I am buying books again and arranging them lovingly and opening them up to inhale them (at least I do with the old ones I've recently bought). I suppose that something ebooks will never have!
I donate the latest bestsellers to the library. There's always such an incredibly long wait for the new books and I remember my mac & cheese days when I could only afford the library.I keep only my very favorite book of my favorite authors (I've got about 7 fav authors). Otherwise I'd be overtaken by books. If the author's latest book becomes my fav, I forego giving it to the library and donate the now-#2 book.
I used to have 2000+ books! We are moving at the end of this month and I have been donating bags and bags of them to a local charity that helps,those in need! I have an iPad now and do 99% of my reading on it. I think I'm down to under 500 books now! I'd been lugging my collection around for almost twenty years and my back just can't take it anymore! LOL
Afsana wrote: "Denise wrote: "For those who love their books and are creative, http://media-cache-ec1.pinterest.com/..., I thought you might like to try this with a book."i c..."
Afsana - I recoiled in horror at that picture. I have been brought up from an early age to revere the printed word. I can cope with making paper boats and hats from newspaper, I can just about cope with making a fan out of an old magazine.
But no matter what the book is - I could never breath easily with one damaged like that.
I can't even turn corners or make highlights. It took me ages of telling myself it was okay before I could bring myself to sign my own books.
I can understand that people don't have the same inhibitions - but when I clicked on that picture it shocked me badly.
Michele wrote: "Afsana wrote: "Denise wrote: "For those who love their books and are creative, http://media-cache-ec1.pinterest.com/..., I thought you might like to try this wit..."I still cringe when I see damaged books or water-logged books. With my new (growing) print collection, I am allowing myself to be OCD with their appearance, arrangement and with who handles them. I once thought I was being too anal, but I no longer worry about it!
I used to sell books to dealers, but now they pay so little and choose so few of them. So generally, I donate to organizations that pick up at the curb. Very occasionally I trade at trade shelves in coffee shops. The rest is on the shelves in the basement and upstairs. I used to buy willy-nilly, now I am more selective by far. Just started using a e-reader a year ago and have about 50 books on that. Love that they take up no room and weigh nothing.
I get about 90% of my books from the library. Those that I do buy, and they are always pb(can't afford hc on a fixed income), I trade at paperbackswap.comThose I don't trade are either donated to our local library or to other organizations.
And yes, I have a kindle fire, but very picky about what I will pay $$ for even there, If the e-version is the same price or more than a pb, I get the pb. I can always recyle the paper back. if the ebook is more than the pb and I can't get it from the library, I put it on my pbs wishlist and wait for it that way.
While I am a confirmed Kindle fan these days (being able to instantly download a book is still a thrill for me), I still buy and read the print stuff. I just had a lot of bookshelves. I didn't worry about keeping them in perfect condition. I just liked having them there on the shelves. Nothing too spectacular.
I work at our local public library, and I get most of my books there. Most of the books I buy are used, probably from the Friends of the Library's book sale. After I've read them, I donate them back to the Friends so they can sell them to someone else :)
My books never know what to expect when they enter my life. Some novels are read with enthusiastic relish and then are shared eagerly with other people. Away they go, lovingly handed from one person to another. Then there are those occasional fine creatures who enter my reading realm and in no time have me wrapped around their little finger. They often find themselves coddled, nestled in a special spot on the bookshelf. Then there are those tomes I purchase with good intentions and sincere hope but, unfortunately, I fail them miserably. They often sit, glum and sullen, cloaked miserably in a sheen of dust. With them, I will try to do better.
VickiLee wrote: "My books never know what to expect when they enter my life. Some novels are read with enthusiastic relish and then are shared eagerly with other people. Away they go, lovingly handed from one pers..."Wonderful Metaphor's VickiLee. I can add one. Some are greedily put away never to see another reader again. I reread these and consider them friends whom I can't let go. Aloha
Robert wrote: "Hi I am from England and really enjoying being on this site.
I live in a small flat(apartment)so have little rroom to store books
I tend to buy second hand from charity shops then re- cycle to cha..."
I lend them out to other readers, but my shelves are their forever home. Caveat: If I really can't stand a book it gets donated to charity. Or, in the case of "Middlesex" I just hide it. I stored them wherever I found someone willing to share some space. I now have three walls of bookshelves. Opening boxes for three days was like having three Christmas mornings!
Charles wrote: "Denise wrote: "For those who love their books and are creative, http://media-cache-ec1.pinterest.com/..., I thought you might like to try this with a book."VER..."
Gadzooks, Charles. I had no idea about your "troubles." Maybe you've just been out in the sun too long. Did they (the docs) consider that. I thought you were down there having the time of your life. Picturing some dusty roadside attraction. A few shrunken heads hanging from a post. Natty blankets. All your wonderful books, of course. If I can store enough water in the camper, we'll come buy sometime . . . while there's still time.
So I looked this "thing" up on The NEt:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/acrome...
Also noticed a bunch of other medical horrors. Now I'm convinced I've got 'em all. Specially the Morgellons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons
Heading off to Santa Fe next week. Will stop and check your recommendation for the best Mexican restaurant in the universe. Cheers.
Aside from reading 'em and putting 'em in bookshelves so you can look at 'em (bookstore fetish):** Extremely short people sit on 'em.
** Modern Automotive Technology makes for a great doorstop.
** So does The Company. Just don't drop it on your foot. [It was a wonderful read, BTW.)
I have an entire wall of bookshelves in my living room (thanks, Dad!)and more shelves in a spare bedroom. All of them are mostly filled. I take a lot of the fiction books I have read to a local used bookstore. My friends like a lot of the same mystery series that I read so we have a pact to never buy the same books. We share one copy of the book. I'm also buying books on Kindle. I just don't have enough room to keep everything.
I don't buy books. Or, I should say, I seldom buy books. When I do it's usually at a thrift store, and when I'm finished I donate them. I have a wall full of bookshelves, which are full. And stacks here and there of books to read. I use the library for all the fiction I read, and will buy non-fiction if it's something I can't live without. But, even then, I try to buy used.
As an author I try to buy some books new to help out an author with a first book. But I have to like the subject matter. I recently bought many new memoirs because I wanted to see if my book was "special' I gave most of them away to bookmooch. I am a mystery reader and with some exceptions found the "misery memoir" which mine is not often a pity party or depressing.
Izzy wrote: "Lee wrote: "Check out my pics on my profile......that's what I do with them. My little book room!"ha ha I have a book shelf like that. Told myself that any books that didn't fit on the shelfs I'd..."
I usually keep my Stephen King & Dean R. Koontz but other books that I read over and over again I donate them to local libraries and schools.
I think I am a book snob, I don't share my books with anyone, and I don't borrow books from anyone. I keep them all to myself and they live on my bookshelves.
I keep some books to re-read and give others to my local public library for their book sale fundraiser. Since I sometimes can't remember what I've read, I occasionally wind up buying back the books I donated!
Hey Linda, I don't think you are a books snob. I think you think of your books as valuable. So do I. I only give away the ones I don't like. I also buy books that I read a long time ago, gave away and now want to own them again to read. I'm thinking specifically of Tommy Thompson excellent true crime books. I miss him. What a good writer he was!
Depends on how much I liked it. I keep all my favorites: Lee Child, Robert B Parker, Janet Evanovich, etc. All others are sold at a used book store so that I can buy more!
It's hard to see the type in the old paperbacks. And now they are starting to decompose and stink. Ywwwww.
I keep a few authors books, but I do share them among family and friends. Now that I read almost everything as an ebook I don't have the storage problems!
I used to keep them all and I still have bookcases and boxes and stacks all over the house. However, a few years ago I had a change of heart. I now buy books, read them, and pass each one along to a person who I think will enjoy it with the instructions to either keep passing it along or to feel free to keep it for themselves. When that person is my mom, she takes the books and sells them to a used book store and gives me the few bucks she gets from them. Both she and my husband think I'm wasting my money to buy a book just to read it then let it go. I feel I've gotten my money's worth out of it and giving it away makes me happy because I like to give gifts! And what better gift than a good book?
I'm a hoarder, no doubt. I have three floor-to-ceiling book cases in my office filled to overflowing, with stacks on the floor categorized by nonfiction dog books, cat books, and thrillers. Sheesh. The ones already reviewed go to the library once a year or so, and the ones I want to keep (for reference or have an autograph) stay...until I run out of room again and re-think. I give bunches to my dad, too, as we have the same taste in fiction.
Susan wrote: "I used to have 2000+ books! We are moving at the end of this month and I have been donating bags and bags of them to a local charity that helps,those in need! I have an iPad now and do 99% of my re..."congrats on slimming down your booklist
very hard to do
moving helps i bet
all best,
robert ray
Interesting discussion. Affects all readers.... We once had a clean up...boxes of books to charity, book share box at work and sold LPs and National Geographics to second hand shops! Within a year I was back at an English language bookstore buying new copies of my collections....Anne Tyler books and a few others! Costly, living in Europe. I usually read an author book by book...collect. Even cookbooks!We have bookcases full in kitchen, living, bedroom, den....and books and magazines seem to appear everywhere in the house.
Now we have had months when we have been in numerous bookstores NL, Scotland and UK and newstands without buying anything. In fact I stood in one store looking at three classics and a just out book and used my iPhone to browse iBook store then proceeded to purchase all four iBooks as they were all better priced than the store I was in. Tacky but it was a good learning curve.
We need to cull....but it is soooo hard to do. I can give away but never throw.
At the very least....no new paper coming in now! iBook, kindle app, eBook, kobo app....
I thought about this some more and realize I do buy new books from Amazon every month as I get free shipping but I check with my library to see if they have it first. I just like to get that "new book smell" I don't do Kindle yet, even though my debut memoir was in Kindle form before it was in print. I just like the physicality of books. They comfort me.
I share my books with my mother who has similar reading tastes...then they go to the local library where I work. If the books are in demand and we don't have it at the library, it is catalogued. If we do have it, then it is compared to the copy in circulation and catalogued if better. Books we can't use are put out for sale ($2 for hardcover, $1 for paperback) to help the library. You would be amazed at how many boxes of old, smelly, moldy books we get each week because people think if they can't use them the library can! People - recycle your books if they are in poor condition or are very outdated!! Tear the pages out individually and put them in the recycle bin - the cover goes in the garbage. We hold onto items that may be of interest but honestly, libraries only have a certain amount of space which should be for the benefit of all.
I keep almost all my books. I think being surrounded by bookshelves with books is the ideal life and makes a home warm and cozy and beautiful. If I truly dislike a book or get overloaded on one genre (this happens a lot with Harlequins), I sometimes give to friends or trade for other books.
Denise wrote: "For those who love their books and are creative, http://media-cache-ec1.pinterest.com/..., I thought you might like to try this with a book."That is really pretty...
There is just something about books that I love. I currently have about 50 sitting in a book shelf waiting to be read. Once read, I generally sell them to the used book store. I keep biographies & a few series that I absolutely love - I have read the series' more than three times each!! I have a Nook & the Kindle app on my iPad - so I have a lot of $.99 - $2.99 ebooks. I probably get 85 - 90% of my books from the library because they are free or at least my property taxes have already paid for my use of them.
I used to keep all my books, but now I keep those I will likely read again - books I enjoyed or classics. The bestsellers go to the library or to book swaps.I have a Kindle and am getting some books on it, but most of the books I buy are paperbacks.
I use the library 100% and sometimes I will go out a buy some new books and then if I do not want to keep them, I take the books to a book store where I will get store credit towards new books
I've just begun getting more into kindle books (I'm running out of shelf space). As far as regular books go if it's one I particularly like then I keep it otherwise I donate it either to the local library's used book store or to the Senior Citizen's Center.
I keep all my books. I love books and getting new ones. I have two book shelves that are filled. I do at times get rid of a few that I didn't enjoy, doubles or just don't want anymore. I've had a Kindle Fire for a year now and have only read one book on it! :-/ I just can't seem to let paperback and hardback go! There is nothing better then having an actually book in your hands. Crazy maybe, but I love my books! :-)~Sammy
Sammantha wrote: "I keep all my books. I love books and getting new ones. I have two book shelves that are filled. I do at times get rid of a few that I didn't enjoy, doubles or just don't want anymore. I've had a K..."If you keep all of your books, then how on earth do you only have two filled bookshelves? I get rid of a lot of books, and there are still 10 filled bookcases in my house! Of course, that includes my children's bookcases (5 of those) and my 2 in the kitchen overflowing with cookbooks.
I just started a few years ago collecting books, I use to just get my books from the library so I never bought any, and I had to give the library books back ;] haha. But I dont have anymore room on my shelves, I actaully had to put books in front of the other books and double stack them. You have ten filled bookcases, wow thats what I want! ;] I want my own mini library!
I have 10 bookcases of varying sizes and two closets with several shelves each double-stacked.
I keep most of my books. I've probably given a couple dozen away in the past 10 years. According to the codicil on my insurance, I'm officially a collector.
I have recently run out of bookshelf space with over 700 volumes--and that's just the hardcovers. I have the paperbacks in boxes in storage. So a few months ago, I bought a Kindle! It solved the storage issue and I can make notes, use the built-in dictionary and the thing I like the best, I can search the book for words or phases. Can't do that on a print platform.Walter Danley
www.walterdanley.com
Robert wrote: "Hi I am from England and really enjoying being on this site.
I live in a small flat(apartment)so have little rroom to store books
I tend to buy second hand from charity shops then re- cycle to cha..."
I have a box I keep all my Agatha Christie books in. My bookshelves are full of other books.
I just recently bought a kindle. Over 95% of the books on it were free that I found on a website. It may not be a bad investment.
As for several of the books I had as a teen I gave to my niece.
I belong to Paperbackswap.com also and get all the new books I want with the credits I earn by swapping the books,I don't need anymore.
Kelly wrote: "I put mine on Paperbackswap.com"Me too Kelly. It's a great site, isn't it?
I have had to weed out my books over the years. Too heavy to move them all! But I have my "collection" I cant be torn from (my Dean Koontz, my fave classics, my Stephen King...and my few fave Danielle Steele - hidden away). But now, if I read a book and I know I won't re-read it then I bag it up, with others, a couple times a year and drop off at Restore. This is the consignment shop for Habitat for Humanity, so I feel its being sold and the $ is going to a good cause.
The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group
Books mentioned in this topic
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Here Here! books are sacred, I love the smell, the feel and the turning of the pages. I have a lot of space but I am choosy about which I now keep. If I read a book over and over I usually try to keep it. aloha