I had a topic in mind for today but after reading the responses from last week where you all shared such clever ideas for organizing and storing your books I thought I would continue on with the topic. What a book geek I am to be able to stretch this out another week! But come on, it is fun to talk about. We all mentioned our shelves, bookcases, crates, corners and other places where we stash our stashes. We all seem to have plenty to stash too!
Before I started blogging I kept almost all of my books. I made very good use of my public library and didn’t buy many for myself anyway except for special occasions or from used book sales. Almost all of the books I did buy were for my kids or as gifts for other people. I still remember the first ARC (advanced release copy) I ever received. It was for the very first Barnes & Noble First Look club and all participants received one. Jackpot! I thought then, and still think now, that it’s incredibly generous to give them away. I wasn’t a blogger at that time and I had no idea how important and invaluable the relationship between the publishers and reviewers was. In fact, I think I’ll bring that up again on another Wednesday. I had that book a long time but when I started my own blog and was receiving more books to review I realized that there was no way I could keep all of these books. And I really shouldn’t be keeping all of them. I have always shared my books but once I’ve finished reading them I really don’t need them anymore. I’ve learned to enjoy passing them on to others and I take pleasure in knowing that they will make someone else happy too. I give them to family and friends, trade with other bloggers, host giveaways, have recently joined PaperBack Swap and I still have towering piles of books that I haven’t read yet. All in all, it’s not a bad problem to have so I’m really not complaining here. Well, not too much.
So I was just wondering (after much nonessential prattle but I’m tired and getting goofy) what do you do with your mountain of reading material when you’ve finished with it? Do you keep everything or do you find another home for them? If you can part with them, how do you do it? This might sound silly but I really want to know!
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There is NO way on earth I could keep all the books! Where would I put them? When I'm finished reading, most of them go on a shelf in my guest room closet. Before we make the annual trek north, I sort them into piles for different people. One of my daughters gets a lot of the mysteries and cozies. My other daughter gets some romance and any legal thrillers. My niece gets a lot of literary fiction which she then shares with my friend Carol. Luckily they live close together. A lot of military, spy, politcal stuff (you know those are TBG's) goes to our friend Carl.Since we can only take so much stuff with us, a lot of stuff goes to the library book sale. Some I even swap with other bloggers or pass on to a friend down here but she's not too much of a reader. Anyway, that's what we do with it all.
ReplyDeleteI give most of them away. In this order:
ReplyDeleteDaughters (both in their 20s)
Sisters (I have 6)
Friends
Family Reunion (it's an annual event so I take whatever is leftover from the above).
Friends of the Library sale (anything the relatives didn't want)
That's only in the past few years. I used to keep everything on shelves, in cabinets, in stacks next to shelves and cabinets. I can't stand the clutter anymore and also know I'll never read some books again. My keepers and tbr books are shown in my profile pic :) That's it!
I give them away on my blog :) (contests), trade them at a local bookstore for something new, or list them on Paperback Swap or BookMooch.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I haven't managed to get rid of many, but I do lend them out to other people.
ReplyDeleteI lend out my books, swap through BookMooch, or give them away BUT if they are books I particularly enjoyed I keep them.
ReplyDeleteARCs: I tend to give most of them away on the blog. Unless I really truly loved the book I'll hold on to it for a while, especially if they are author signed.
ReplyDeleteHardcover: Some are well loved and go on the keeper shelf. I will also give them away on the blog. If it wasn't an awesome book I'll sell it used on Amazon.com and make about $1-$5 in profit to buy more books. :)
Paperback: Generally I sell these on Amazon as mentioned above. Usual profit is $1 - $3 as well
I do share my favorite books before I sell them. I share with my mother-in-law and a married couple I've good friends with.
I have a stack of ARCs I need to part with but I'm going to hang on to them until I launch my new blog site. :)
Giveaways. Love them. :)
We've decided that we are only going to purchase and keep books that are in series that we already own. Those are the ones that we will re-read often when each new book comes out.
ReplyDeleteLast time we moved, we sorted through our books and donated a lot of them to the library where I worked. Now that we will be moving again in about a month, we've done the sorting again and will be taking three bags of books to Goodwill. These are books we've carried with us for quite a while but haven't re-read. We will actually have more space for bookshelves in the new house but we wanted a fresh start.
I give away almost all of the books I receive for review. They are generally books that I've enjoyed but know that I am not going to read them again. There have been a few I've kept but not many. Some of these I've lent to my Mom because I knew she would really enjoy them.
Each month, on my blog, I have a giveaway where I list the books I'm ready to give away. People let me know which book they are most interested in and then at the end of the month, one or more people, get the book of their choice. Books get added each month based on what I've read in the past month. I actually just got the April giveaway up on Monday so I'd love to have people check it out. I think there are 8 books to choose from this month :-)
Debbie I love this weekly feature on your blog, you always ask the greatest questions.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty there is no way I can keep all the books I have read. I probably would have enough to open my own second hand book store if I were to keep them.
I am really good and have been about passing on books that I have read.
As for passing them on I will offer them to the local bloggers I meet up with, give them to the friends of the library, sale them at second hand bookstores or drop them off at value village.
The only ones I keep are my signed books, my VC Andrews books, or ARC's and of course I keep all my son's books.
I take almost any book I don't want anymore to my library where I have a stash of books for my teens to borrow. My teens that are part of the library council get to borrow advanced copies from me in exchange for a review. They love this and even if it's a book that's been out for a few months, they still love reading the ARC (they think it's very cool!) Also, it helps for when we have a popular book that I want to booktalk, I can just pull the books from my shelf and booktalk those instead of putting it on hold. That's one of my reasons I keep too many-I always think-but what if I could booktalk it!!:)
ReplyDeleteI also give ARCs away on my blog and if I really need to do a Spring Cleaning of my books I'll sell paperbacks and hardcovers and donate the ones I can't sell.
I have a box outside my office door and I put them in there for anyone to take. Some people have started putting books into the box, so I've been able to add to my stash as well as lower it. I also have a friend I trade with,and sometimes I bookmooch them.
ReplyDeleteI usually donate to the library. I use Paperback Swap, but the postage was getting expensive, so I don't send books through there unless I need the credits.
ReplyDeleteWe just took almost 50 books to Goodwill in preparation for our move. Might have some room on the bookshelves when we get to the new house now but I doubt it will last long. lol
ReplyDelete