NationStates Jolt Archive

I tend to read my books multiple times so I just keep them around

Mrs. C and I used to keep all our books but then we got so many we had to clean them out. I also discovered once I read a book, I normally don't read it a second time so they were taking up a lot of space. So, we have cleaned out our books as we are getting ready to move and couldn't take them all with us. Now, once I have read a book, as long as it isn't a reference book, I usually give it to a friend or Goodwill.

Oh, there are certain books I will never give away, like my Irish books. So, what do you do with the books you have read?

Reread them eventually.
In the meantime I store them in the attic. I also lend them out, serving as a "mini-library" for some friends.

Books I'm liable to read a second time I keep on the 'shelf. Books I'm not, I sell or give away. Sometimes I soak them in water, purge them of toxic ingredients, and cook them with sugar, milk, and cinnamon. Book pudding > bread pudding, let me tell you that.*

* Note, not recommended for hardcovers, unless you want to spend a lot of time soaking.

does porn count?

I usually try to give them away (but nobody ever wants my books :()

oddly I have two books written in Spanish in my room which I somehow got stuck in a parcel from amazon, I've been thinking about throwing them away or possibly burning them (one is Fahrenheit 451) but I think I would go to hell for that

I tend to read my books multiple times so I just keep them around

amnesia?

amnesia?

I never really absorb all of the book from the first read

does porn count?

If it is a book yes, if it is a magazine no. :p

Unless I hated the book on the first read, I keep them - I generally end up reading them again eventually.

Book Mooch (http://bookmooch.com/)

Many I keep. In fact when I moved I had 54 boxes of books.

Book Mooch (http://bookmooch.com/)

Interesting what does it cost on the average to ship?

I often forget enough of a book to enjoy it again. *nod*

Book Mooch (http://bookmooch.com/)

I can't believe that I have never heard of this before.:eek:

:fluffle::fluffle::fluffle:

I tend to keep them about and re-read them. I've read the Alexiad about four or five times, and a lot of Pratchetts a similar amount.

Set them on fire and sacrifice hamsters, whilst dancing around to Daft Punk completely in the buff.

Obviously.

I usually keep them, but I will also sometimes lend them out to friends.

I eat them.

Set them on fire and sacrifice hamsters, whilst dancing around to Daft Punk completely in the buff.

Obviously.

strange you say that. I heard of one guy who stole someone's hamster, injected steroids into it so it couldn't sleep, spray painted it green and boiled it in water. Fucking nutter, i think i'll boil him in water should i see him, oh and the person who owned the hamster was nearly charged with animal cruelty (which it was clearly).

It depends. I keep some books, really good ones that I know I'll reread (there seem to be a lot of those). The rest I give to the library - it's tax deductible and the library usually sells them to raise money (it's amazing how many books I've bought at library book sales only to give them back to the library when I'm done).

strange you say that. I heard of one guy who stole someone's hamster, injected steroids into it so it couldn't sleep, spray painted it green and boiled it in water. Fucking nutter, i think i'll boil him in water should i see him, oh and the person who owned the hamster was nearly charged with animal cruelty (which it was clearly).
:(

:(

Ah don't worry he'l die of sphyilis in three years. bound to, either that or a giant hamster is going to drown him in water (which would be wierd).
Oh as for the books thing i usually re-read them and share them with other friends, i suppose you could give them as presents to someone if you're stuck with money.

http://i6.tinypic.com/6l2hgls.jpg

That should answer the OP's question, and that's only a part of my course literature I've accrued over the years... Crappy cell phone quality due to horrible lighting, but I couldn't find my proper camera.

Why, yes I did just stack them for this purpose, and, yes, I am bored out of my skull tonight.

http://i6.tinypic.com/6l2hgls.jpg

That should answer the OP's question, and that's only a part of my course literature I've accrued over the years... Crappy cell phone quality due to horrible lighting, but I couldn't find my proper camera.

Why, yes I did just stack them for this purpose, and, yes, I am bored out of my skull tonight.

Well if you're really bored you can do something for me, make them into a bridge thing (by glueing them together), then standing on top of them and cry "i am your god, i beseach you! to wonder at my holy bridge of doom!". that would be very cool.

Keep them, or give them to a charity shop. And buy more while I'm there. Damn compulsive buying habits.

Mrs. C and I used to keep all our books but then we got so many we had to clean them out. I also discovered once I read a book, I normally don't read it a second time so they were taking up a lot of space. So, we have cleaned out our books as we are getting ready to move and couldn't take them all with us. Now, once I have read a book, as long as it isn't a reference book, I usually give it to a friend or Goodwill.

Oh, there are certain books I will never give away, like my Irish books. So, what do you do with the books you have read?

I give them to the local Mensa chapter which has a book sale each year and gives the money to someone as a scholarship for college. I end up buying about as many books as I donate though :headbang:

I basically accumulate books, but that's okay because I a) am liable to read them several times unless they're really, really crap and b) am only 21 years old and still have lots of time to collect until I run out of space.

I get requests to lend books all of the time, and I usually follow them, and every now and again I feel the need to make people read one book or the other that I feel will be good for them.


Why, yes I did just stack them for this purpose, and, yes, I am bored out of my skull tonight.

Well, talk to me! As in, now!

I accumulate them, though there are few I reread. I usually recheck facts in non-fiction books, though. Meh, it's a blessing as much as a curse: I had to pay $100 for overweight baggage largely to blame on a store that was selling them for 1 to 2 dollars...

I basically accumulate books, but that's okay because I a) am liable to read them several times unless they're really, really crap and b) am only 21 years old and still have lots of time to collect until I run out of space.

Nur einundzwanzig? Ich hätt' dich älter eingeschätzt... :eek:

But that means I have to turn my laptop on. Don't be difficult, babe.Heh, at least you have one. :(

Well, talk to me! As in, now!

But that means I have to turn my laptop on. Don't be difficult, babe.

Except for the book on Pharmacology, that looks suspiciously like my daughter's coursework reading material. She's recently received a Master's in Epidemiology. What, may I ask, are you studying?
Your daughter?

http://i6.tinypic.com/6l2hgls.jpg

That should answer the OP's question, and that's only a part of my course literature I've accrued over the years... Crappy cell phone quality due to horrible lighting, but I couldn't find my proper camera.

Why, yes I did just stack them for this purpose, and, yes, I am bored out of my skull tonight.

Except for the book on Pharmacology, that looks suspiciously like my daughter's coursework reading material. She's recently received a Master's in Epidemiology. What, may I ask, are you studying?

Well, I get them from the library so I just return them.

Heh, at least you have one. :(

Aww. Well, if it's any consolation, I worked my fingers to the bone for it at an old folks home. So, not all sunshine and lollipops.

Except for the book on Pharmacology, that looks suspiciously like my daughter's coursework reading material. She's recently received a Master's in Epidemiology. What, may I ask, are you studying?

Medicine.

Your daughter?

I find this unlikely from fass...

Your daughter?

Fass would not study my daughter, gender and geography questions aside, I doubt they would like each other.

Fass would not study my daughter, gender and geography questions aside, I doubt they would like each other.

But I'm so likeable!

Put them on my bookshelf, and if I run out of room either sell them or donate them to the library.

Put them away somewhere. Reread them eventually.

Store them in a bookshelf and then impress myself with my vast literary reserves.

I horde books. Sometimes I reread them or reference back to them, and occasionally I lend them out to other people. But if they come back with dog ears then I'll dig their heart out with a rusty spoon.

Nur einundzwanzig? Ich hätt' dich älter eingeschätzt... :eek:

"Ich bin ganz schön altklug sagen sie..."

.. dass ich Tocotronic zitiere, sagt Dir alles, was Du über mein - inneres und äußeres - Alter wissen musst.

But that means I have to turn my laptop on. Don't be difficult, babe.
But I never learnt anything else!

Eat them! Books's good fibre...

But I never learnt anything else!

Pishposh. I taught you more and better.

Pishposh. I taught you more and better.

Nope. You only taught me to be more difficult on a more sophisticated level to a wider array of people more effectively.

Put them on the shelf.

The ones I liked, I keep. The ones I didn't like I either sell on Amazon or eBay or give to the Oxfam shop.

Nope. You only taught me to be more difficult on a more sophisticated level to a wider array of people more effectively.

No shit.

I have a very large personal library. Emphasis on classic literature, Henty, R.L.S., Twain, Kipling, and a lot of non-fiction.

I have some fantasy/sci-fi, of course. Tolkien, Stephen R. Lawhead, Brian Jacques, L. Neil Smith, Isaac Asimov, etc.

Local used book stores are the best way to buy most books.

Put'em in my bookshelf. Why else did I get one all those years ago, eh?

And when the one here is full, I take'em home and put'em in my bookshelves there.

(And yes, our home does indeed look like a damn huge private library)

Store them in a bookshelf and then impress myself with my vast literary reserves.
I plan to do that, although swap "myself" with "other people". Or at least attempt to, due to the fact that the majority is fiction. Bar the ruddy books on things like "Early Quarternary Environmental Change". Boo.

I keep them. Well, if it's a really bad book, I just hide it somewhere until I stumble upon it again after a few years. Then I usually read a chapter or two just to verify if it's still bad. Usually they still are. Odd, that.

Oh, and I have a weird habit of reading the Count of Monte Cristo at least once per year. I just love that book.

I keep most of them. I give the ones that I don't want anymore to charity/ebay :p

I re-read them or share them with friends/famiily.

Pretty much every book I've ever read has been checked out from the library. Most of the ones I've owned I traded at a really good used bookstore near my home.

Unless they are something I love and plan to read multiple times, I either give them away, or put them (if suitable) into my classroom library.

I give them back to the library. Spending money on books is a waste.

Mrs. C and I used to keep all our books but then we got so many we had to clean them out. I also discovered once I read a book, I normally don't read it a second time so they were taking up a lot of space. So, we have cleaned out our books as we are getting ready to move and couldn't take them all with us. Now, once I have read a book, as long as it isn't a reference book, I usually give it to a friend or Goodwill.

Oh, there are certain books I will never give away, like my Irish books. So, what do you do with the books you have read?
Depends. if I like the book, then I keep it since I would possibly read it again. if I didn't like the book then I would sell it/donate it/give it away.

That depends on the book. Some I'll just give away to family and friends who'll enjoy them. Others I'll sell to a half-price bookstore so other nerds like me can get them for a good price. And the ones I might use as a reference later I keep.

I never, ever, ever get rid of books. Heck, there are several books of which I own multiple copies Easy example: not only do I have three different "Complete Works of William Shakespeare," I also have at least one separate copy of about two-thirds of the plays contained therein. And I wouldn't give up a single one of them - they're BOOKS, and therefore wonderful and deeply necessary to my continued existence. :p

Mrs. C and I used to keep all our books but then we got so many we had to clean them out. I also discovered once I read a book, I normally don't read it a second time so they were taking up a lot of space. So, we have cleaned out our books as we are getting ready to move and couldn't take them all with us. Now, once I have read a book, as long as it isn't a reference book, I usually give it to a friend or Goodwill.

Oh, there are certain books I will never give away, like my Irish books. So, what do you do with the books you have read?

Burn! Burn! Burn! Books are the devil!!

There is an excellent essay by Dr. Mortimer Alder entitled "How to Mark Up a Book." Read and enjoy. :)

http://www.radicalacademy.com/adlermarkabook.htm

They go on my shelf. Often I'll reread them a couple of years after later and I'll be reminded of the details I forgot. I like having books around though, even if I don't read them all frequently, they do look nice on my shelf so it's not really bad to keep them around.

They go on my shelf. Often I'll reread them a couple of years after later and I'll be reminded of the details I forgot. I like having books around though, even if I don't read them all frequently, they do look nice on my shelf so it's not really bad to keep them around.

Sub-query ..
how much in tonnage would you estimate your bookshelf to be?
I'm thinking that my book shipping will vastly, VASTLY outweigh even my furniture cost.

Mrs. C and I used to keep all our books but then we got so many we had to clean them out. I also discovered once I read a book, I normally don't read it a second time so they were taking up a lot of space. So, we have cleaned out our books as we are getting ready to move and couldn't take them all with us. Now, once I have read a book, as long as it isn't a reference book, I usually give it to a friend or Goodwill.

Oh, there are certain books I will never give away, like my Irish books. So, what do you do with the books you have read?

Reread them. I am quite a bookworm, and i have read most of my books few times, and the best books i have read more than ten times. The problem is more in lack of books than too many of them.

But yes, I keep all of them. I wouldn't or couldn't give any away. Time after time when shelves of my flat are full, I take a carload of not-so-often-read books to countryside house. There is like minilibrary (or better huge pile) of books. They take up place, but they are works of art.

There is an excellent essay by Dr. Mortimer Alder entitled "How to Mark Up a Book." Read and enjoy. :)

http://www.radicalacademy.com/adlermarkabook.htm

Actually, although I agree with most, I enjoy mark ups by those people who've previously read a book - I like the comments, the underlinings and doodles and they can greatly add to my enjoyment of a book, especially where I agree or disagree with a comment, they make me think more.

EDIT: In response to the OP - having lived in countries where books can be fairly difficult to come by, I'm in the habit of sharing and swapping all books as well as having lively discussions about them since we all read similar books due to that scarcity - living in a city with a large amount of bookstores and libraries now may change that but, whatever, it's a huge blessing.

Usually put them on the floor . . . only EXTREMELY lucky books get a spot on a bookshelf in this house. There're plenty of bookshelves, but there are even more books. I have a small wall of books blocking the doors of my closet, which I don't use.
Mmmm, books.
Currently reading: L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - Colors of Chaos (book 9 or 10 of a number from the Recluce series)

I keep ALL of my books.
They came to me, they're mine, they're my precious, o my preciousss!

...er... got carried away...

...really, if I will ever have really no space for some other books, I'd give them to really close, selected, trusted friends who love books, too - or, as extrema ratio, I'd give them to the public library.

"Ich bin ganz schön altklug sagen sie..."

.. dass ich Tocotronic zitiere, sagt Dir alles, was Du über mein - inneres und äußeres - Alter wissen musst. This boy never was Tocotronic, also kann ich nur schlecht darüber urteilen :p

Sub-query ..
how much in tonnage would you estimate your bookshelf to be?
I'm thinking that my book shipping will vastly, VASTLY outweigh even my furniture cost.
Well, if you include my textbooks which are in my office...

It's still not a tonne. I don't have that many books, I only really got a chance to start picking up books for fun in the last little bit (I'm still a student, I'm just paid for being one now). Although of all the books I have there are only about nine that I haven't read, which I don't consider too bad since they're fairly recent acquisitions.

Usually put them on the floor . . . only EXTREMELY lucky books get a spot on a bookshelf in this house. There're plenty of bookshelves, but there are even more books. I have a small wall of books blocking the doors of my closet, which I don't use.
Mmmm, books.
Currently reading: L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - Colors of Chaos (book 9 or 10 of a number from the Recluce series)
Wouldn't it be more useful to remove the doors to the closet and line it with built in bookshelves?

Also, you should totally get a room that's just wall to wall, floor to ceiling built in bookshelves with one of those ladders that goes around on rails at the top with wheels at the bottom so you can reach the books at the top. This is what I would do if I had that many books.

bring them back to the library. Most of the books I read are from there, I don't see the need to buy books when I have a huge library only a few minutes away from my home.

There is an excellent essay by Dr. Mortimer Alder entitled "How to Mark Up a Book." Read and enjoy. :)

http://www.radicalacademy.com/adlermarkabook.htm
Side note: when I was younger, my grandmother would yell at me if I left my books upside down to keep the page for a minute while I went somewhere or wrote in the margins. It's only recently that I've found myself able to jot notes in pencil in the margins or underline things (in pencil, again). Eventually I might move up to highlighters. :S

i've never been able to have so many at one time as to run out of space for them. partially due, i suppose, to more then once having to walk away from everything i had previously owned that was more then what i could carry on my back. so i have abondoned quite a library's worth in the proccess of moving arround a bit in my life. and i have given a few away as gifts and so on.

but i don't generally aquire anything, books included, without the intention of keeping it for continued use and reference.

if i wan't to read something without having to own and house the paper or other media it's printed on, that's what libraries (and (one of the things) the internet) are for.

=^^=
.../\...

There is an excellent essay by Dr. Mortimer Alder entitled "How to Mark Up a Book." Read and enjoy. :)

http://www.radicalacademy.com/adlermarkabook.htm

Eh, I don't like the suggestion that one can't properly "own" or appreciate a book without being willing to (in my view) abuse it. I have a ridiculous number of books. All are well-read; most are well-read several times over. I most certainly do not "dip into" books - but I'm nonetheless obsessively protective of my books' physical integrity. I would as soon set a book on fire as scribble in the margins or dog-ear the pages. That's just wrong.

I horde my books. Other than books I read as a child, I've kept every paperback novel I've ever got, even if I didn't like it. I can't bring myself to part with any part of my book collection. I have no shelf space left; all my books are stacked on top of my shelves and a few of them are even in boxes in a closet.

When I read a book it either goes into my library or I sell it. Every once in a while I dump some off at a thrift store.

Sometimes I soak them in water, purge them of toxic ingredients, and cook them with sugar, milk, and cinnamon. Book pudding > bread pudding, let me tell you that.*

* Note, not recommended for hardcovers, unless you want to spend a lot of time soaking.

Clearly something from the "People's Seige of Leningrad Cookbook, 900 Recipes for 900 Days".

I'm with the people who answered "take it back to the library".

These days the Internet (or failing that, again the library) is by far the best up-to-date source of factual information - I certainly couldn't compete without spending a fortune on encyclopaedia supplements every year. And I usually only read fiction once, so have managed to persuade myself to stop buying it and others to stop giving it to me. Everybody wins.

I keep them if I like them. I sell them if they were just okay. I also sell them when my book shelf overflows.

I've already gutted my book collection a few times by selling them to a local used book store. Now I only have a handful of books compared to my younger days when my bookshelf was stacked double-deep on all three shelves. Been considering going all the way with it this time and pretty much selling all of them but a select few (Iliad, Odessey, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and maybe a few others). I'm just not reading like I used to. Doubt even my Robert Jordan collection or my RPG rulebooks will survive this one...

We also live not a mile away from a library and cycling distance to another, so keeping them all around just seems a waste unless I develop a desperate need for tinder.

Well, if you include my textbooks which are in my office...

It's still not a tonne. I don't have that many books, I only really got a chance to start picking up books for fun in the last little bit (I'm still a student, I'm just paid for being one now). Although of all the books I have there are only about nine that I haven't read, which I don't consider too bad since they're fairly recent acquisitions.
I think i'm actually currently reading nine different things, come to think of it. :p
I don't have a whole "tonne" just yet, but i could see it easily ... EASILY ... happening. I will continue with the fact that it's more than the weight of my furniture, though. :)

Erm, well, I'm very close to officially being an English teacher so it doesn't make much sense to do anything but keep them.

I am impressed so many people actually read the books they buy and/or receive because the last statistics I saw from the book industry were that 2/3rds of all books bought and/or received were never read. ^_^