Too Many Books?
Comments: 12
There’s a thread on Plastic.com about what to do when you simply find yourself with too many books. My wife is constantly at me to get rid of some of ours, but… I just can’t.
Besides, they’re not my books anymore, they’re our daughter’s. I’m just taking care of them. I doubt she’ll be inheriting any money when I go, but she’ll be getting a damned good library (a sound investment in a market that never crashes with excellent rates of return guaranteed!).
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Posted to Books • 2002.10.27 (Sun) • 20:08
Comments
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens 2002.10.27, 23:52
My husband and I have completely different philosophies for buying books and thus rarely agree on what is “too many” or what is to be done about it. I buy books I treasure. Books I’ve checked out of the library several times. Or books that are rare and unusual; books I’m afraid I won’t see again if I don’t buy them right then. My husband buys books like magazines. Some good books, yes. But a lot of cheap, junk fiction to get him through a plane flight. Still he does not distinguish between his two classes of books. And he refuses to get rid of any. So our bookshelves are double-booked, making it difficult to find or get to anything. We got some relief earlier this year, by converting a hallway linen closet into a built-in bookcase.
Since he (and his books) moved into my house seven years ago, we’ve been working on a bookshelf project. The plan was to build floor to ceiling bookcases in the garage-to-kitchen breezeway. This has necessitated tearing out the carpet and laying tile. Tearing out the termite-eaten pine panelling and discovering the studs are termite-eaten, too. Calling in exterminators. Completely ripping out and rebuilding two exterior walls and one interior wall. Installing a new window. Installing a new door. Installing new sheetrock. Painting. Installing a new ceiling. (Still needs to be painted). Installing electrical outlets and light fixtures. (Not done).
Still no bookshelves, but we are closer. These last two rainy weekends, my husband has been working on a prototype barrister-style bookcase. We might actually have some bookcases by Christmas. Still, I warn him, this doesn’t mean more books. These are just a home for the books we already have.
Have you heard about the Read and Release Program?
Posted by Shawn 2002.10.28, 01:44
Warms my heart just seeing that big stack of books. Like you, I have a tremendous emotional connection to books. I rarely can bring myself to let them go, though my wife has made progress. She now regularly ships off large boxes to various groups, including women’s prisons, etc.
Like M (above) I have a weakness for snatching up those books that I fear may be unavailable in the future or that I may forget about and not get around to purchasing in the future. As a result, my backlog is immense, and sometimes overwhelming. But it’s great to know that I can walk into my home office at any time and grab a great book off the shelves.
Final analysis/answer: one can never have enough books!
P.S. Not sure if you’re aware, Jeremy, that your “Remember info?” function/cookie isn’t working.
Posted by Kristian 2002.10.28, 02:49
Impressive stack.
I’m currently reading my 30th book since the beginning of the year. That’s according to my booklog, anyway, and I think I may have forgotten to enter a book or two. My roommates are not quite as book-obsessed as me, thankfully. If it wasn’t for the internet, my book diet for a year might be 2 or 3 times that.
Funny I should see this post shortly after waking up, as I dreamed about books last night. My recollection is not fantastic for my morphean memories, but I recall being in the church my mother attends and her stacking up books before the altar to give away to whoever wanted them. They were books I’d abandoned at her house, and before any one else could look through the numerous stacks, I tore through them looking for forgotten treasures.
Posted by nick 2002.10.28, 14:48
you can’t get rid of your books. otherwise how will you convince people you’re smart?
i have a modest collection of books with a modest subset of books i haven’t read, and i’ll never get rid of them just because a whole bunch of books, whether they’re neatly shelved or…like yours, is a nice thing to look at and think about. plus someday i’ll be unemployed and i will eventually read them. really. books are just too functional to get rid of.
Posted by resonance 2002.10.28, 16:38
Books…argh, books. I’m a graduate student in Literature. Don’t get me started about BAP (Book Accumulation Phenomenon). Don’t even mention BTHEHTBCOP (Books That Haven’t Even Had Their Binding Cracked Open Phenomenon)!
When my now-fiancee moved in, we had a real serious dilemma regarding books. We now have shelves on practically every wall of the house except the kitchen and the bathrooms, and I’m again on the verge of breaking out the cardboard boxes.
I’ve recently read that books are among the favorite places for dust mites to set up shop. Dust mites… asthma… I think I’m allergic to books!
Posted by jh 2002.10.28, 16:38
M — They keep you on your toes, books, don’t they? ;-) I have to break it to you that you’re wrong, however — about no new books, I mean. If your husband is anything like me, it does mean new books! Once you load the shelves with all the books that were on the floor, you look at the space you’ve freed up and think, you know, we could… put books there.
Shawn — There’s definitely an emotional connection, but I also try to buy books that I think will have a lasting value. “Will this mean something in 10 or 20 years when my daughter reads it?” has become a sort of litmus test (which I admit I frequently fail) but, hey, I’m trying.
I find I constantly look things up in books, too. I remember something I’ve read and have to dig up the exact reference. I’m insufferably pedantic that way and am trying to wean myself off the habit, but most authors can say things so much better than I can that I’m happy to defer to them. As Addison said, I have but six pence in my pocket but I can draw on a thousand pounds.
Thanks for the note about “Remember info” — I think I’ve fixed it (with apologies).
Kristian — Books are simply the second best friends you can have (the very best being other people who love them too). Without doubt they’re the greatest invention we’ve ever come up with.
Apropos of nothing, I dreamed last night that Al Pacino punched me in the face. Really.
Nick — Anatole France, defending himself for not having read anything on his shelves, said what use if a library of books you’ve already read? But I disagree. I’m always going back to books. I recently re-read everything Nicholson Baker’s written, for exaple, and it was even better the second time around.
As for the unread ones, well, there’s nothing quite like the allure of an unread book. I’m constantly shuffling the list in my head deciding what will be next.
The list, by the way, currently stands at: The Book of Illusions, Paul Auster; The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead; Plowing the Dark, Richard Powers; Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, Herbert Bix; and The Evolution of Useful Things, Henry Petroski.
Resonance — Dust mites, silverfish, these funny little orange spiders I’ve noticed grazing across pages recently. There’s a whole ecosystem centred around books. Every single shelf in the place here is double-stacked, and some are triple-stacked (with small-format Japanese paperbacks).
I know someone here who turned off her refrigerator, cleaned it out, and now uses it to store books. She buys milk and egss and things day by day and tends to eat out more!
Posted by Nicklas 2002.11.01, 00:24
I don’t think it’s possible to have too many books. Too few bookcases yes, but not the other way.
And eat out? That tends to make money disappear, money that could be better used elsewhere. Such as bookcases and more books.
Posted by Nick 2002.11.06, 13:16
Too many books? Never. I’ve got a few shelves full, more in boxes that I can’t even dig out of storage either. I’ve been entering them into bjillion.com for safe keeping… I admit it’s a shameless plug but you guys sound like you could actually flood the system - and I’d love to test it at capacity!
Posted by Anonymous 2003.10.05, 18:15
These are wonderful words of wisdom! My books are knocking me out of my room! I have recently given away some and this frees up the much needed living space.
Posted by anne 2004.02.23, 02:55
My husband and I are both victims of the Book Accumulation Phenomenon. We have bookshelves in every room of our home, except for the kitchen and bathrooms, where we just stack them on any flat surface. Our son, who is 18 months old has at least 100 books already (most of which he inherited from his parents’ childhood collection. Most all of our books are pretty specialized in our field(s) and peculiar interests, so we couldn’t find them at the public library. We still bring more books into the house from purchases, gifts, or lucky finds. The trick now is living amongst all our books. We need a library in our house, but we don’t have the extra space. YIKES!
Posted by Charlene A. Willoughby 2006.01.14, 15:22
When I was 37 with 3 children, I found I was at about 4th grade reading level. Since then, I’ve found it hard not to buy book or free ones. I’ve got about 1,000 now. The biggest problem is, we are moving from Washington to Indiana and I don’t know how I will get everything back east in the biggest U-Haul. I’m the only driver and will be pulling my van behind it with 2 children in the U-Haul. I’ve wondered, what should I part with, what can I get again. Should I get rid of furniture, books, some of our clothes, toys, what? We have more books than anything I believe. I’m a single mom. Well, any advice will be appreciated.
Posted by Charlene A. Willoughby 2006.01.14, 15:26
Anyway, I’m 47 now and just keep a getting more of those books. I love them!
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