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Can you have too many books?

  • 70 votes
  • 15 votes
Sooz 6 Mar 27
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53 comments (26 - 50)

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0

The question is incomprehensible.

1

Only when you are moving!

JK666 Level 7 Mar 27, 2018
2

You can never have too many books...You just need a bigger house.

1

Fuck no. Especially now that I have a Kindle...

0

No such thing as enough books... though these days I try to get Kindle editions when possible. I have a lot of hard copies left too.

1

Also Kindle has helped me greatly with this issue.

Less trees killed so I can re-read my favorites all the time.

I do love the ones I've got in my library in the basement though. But Kindle is cheaper and doesn't weight what book does either. (Important when you already had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists!).

0

Don't read as much -have more books than that. LOL

0

The planet is fucked anyway as we know it and I love books but only keep the ones I've read and that's only on the toilet lol.

0

hen I feel my bookcase is too full I donate some books to our local library. I had a book ritten by my German uncle of his experiences in the war. 4 years in a tank on the Ruddian front and then 5 years in a Siberian gulag. He illustrated it and had only one copy in English. After a number of years I thought hat am I going to do with this book so I donated it to the library's special book section.

0

Some of us do move now ant again. Moving books that have not been read in many years - and will not be read again is a horrific waste.

0

I'm not a huge "book" reader but I love books so collect as many as you can.

1

No such thing.

1

I grew up in a house where the walls were lined with bookshelves and there were still piles on tables! These days, I get most of my books digitally, but that just means more room, so why not more books too?

0

Depends on how many bookcases fit in your home

0

Only if they are rubbish. I collect books.

1

My husband and I went to the bookstore yesterday and bought 5 more books to add to our collection. Between my books and my kindle I have plenty to keep me busy for months. That won't stop me from buying more the next time I'm near a book store. It's probably a good thing I live more than an hour away from one.

2

It's only too much when you start collecting what your not interested in

1

I've become a minimalist over the past 10 years or so. It's not necessarily about too many books. It's about too many things, period. I find myself perpetually downsizing. I don't hang on to anything unless I use it regularly or have plans to do something with it in the fairly immediate future. The only exception is my toolbox. I don't currently use it, but I know if times get tough, I can drag it out & have a decent job within a day or two, if needed.

1

I collect all sorts of books. I have a library where I have an antique books collection and a Manga collection and sooooo many in between

1

When I was mobile and moving a lot I had to weed my book collection often for practicality. I only kept what I couldn't part with. They were mostly second hand paperbacks, and I'd read all of them multiple times.
Then I lived in a group house in Boulder CO and a woman moved in and filled all common space with shelves of books--not collectors' stuff, just books.
I thought it was great. I saw some tiles I recognized and asked her opinion of their worth. Every time, she said, "I haven't read that one yet."
She was my opposite! In terms of owning books she knew, she had fewer than I did. It was all for show. She owned too many books.

2

I suppose, in some hypothetical alternative multiverse, there might be a time and place where it was possible.

0

If your collection is similar to a public libraries, mostly fiction, you have too many books.

2

Never too many books. Just not enough shelves!

0

There is a nice sentimental reason to have physical volumes but they are totally impractical. I had an 800+ volume scifi collection I had to sell/abandon when I moved from NJ to FL 5 years ago. I only kept the most valuable or signed copies. Also now that I am older it is harder for me to read print volumes with small text. I vastly prefer to use a Kindle or iPad where I can adjust the typefaces.

0

When I purchased my retirement home , my ,"little ," brother , phoned our Mom and told her , to tell me to get rid of my books . Mom can read a hard back in a day , and where she lived , they sent a library truck weekly to drop off her stack of books for the week . I told Mom , the new-to-me house I'd just bought , came with a library . We laughed . I have an additional three book cases , and a large portion of the shelves in the library are double stacked . I've read all except those in a foreign language , at least once , and sometimes more often . The nice thing about growing older is , memory fades , and I can reread a book without knowing how it's going to end . Had a man once tell me , that keeping books , was like owning a trophy case . My response was , it's more like a room full of friends , I can reread them when I can't get around , or loose power , I can share special ones with other friends , if you stack them on outside walls , they provide insulation for a cold room , they're decorative , they improve your mind , expand your knowledge , and in a dire emergency , if you loose heat during a horrible winter storm , and you're really , really desperate , you can maybe , put your least favorite in the fireplace .

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