How many books do you own?

[$200k]

On the floor in my living room of my apartment is a stack of books about thigh-high.  I probably owned four times as many books before I started donating, selling, gifting away the books.  Part of the reason was to earn extra cash to pay down high interest debt, but mostly, it was a desire to reduce things I owned, and certain books that I once thought were meaningful, now meant nothing to me. 

The thigh-high stack now represents the books that mean the most to me; or ones that I return to constantly.  There are probably 20 books in total.  I rely on the library for everything else.  How many books do you own? 

[1967mama]

I own hundreds of books <sigh> ... working on selling some of them. We homeschool, hence the large number of books. However, since becoming Mustachian, I'm seeing that sooooo many of our book purchases are redundant. We could have easily borrowed most of them from the library .. grrr.  And the textbooks? I could have bought them second hand. Trying to recoup some of those losses by selling the ones we no longer use. Its a long process, getting them listed and packaging them up to mail, so I'm at a standstill right now.

[Rural]

We have a couple thousand catalogued, and many more not in our library system yet. This is after I did a monumental purge about eight years ago. We both teach and we designed a library into our house. When I retire and have to schlep my office home, there will be more.

None are on the floor, though many are still packed in boxes from our time in The trailer. Our shelves are  reclaimed from an old school that was about to be torn down and rebuilt -- eventually to fit the library, though for the moment we just have big shelves scattered in the rest of the house and 24 foot boards stored in the barn for when the library gets to the top of the to-do list. Old maple from the turn of the last century, 1" shelving boards that are actually an inch thick. This is one of the things we do.

But we don't even have a line item for books in our budget. If we buy, it's used, and it's usually antiques at thrift store prices. We have pretty much everything else, and one of the curses of being a college professor is that publishers just won't stop sending books... Though those are (almost) never the books you want.

Anyway, yes, we have books.

[Eric]

Counting digital?  Or only ones that take up space?  I probably own about 6 or 7 physical books, but maybe 40 or so if you count digital as well.

[2527]

500-1000.  I'm tired of owning books.  My main source is the library and interlibrary loan.

[SJS]

Not many - less than 25!  I use the LIBRARY!! Or, I do the next Mustachian thing - I borrow from friends (and am good about returning) or I find them in thrift stores! 

[Russ]

46! I've been slowly getting rid of them... I gave away 30 or so when I moved last fall, and now about half of the ones I still own are in the "to donate" pile

[Frankies Girl]

Hundreds and hundreds. The husband and I both love to read, so we've got one bedroom that is floor to ceiling, wall to wall books. We've done a few purges over the years, but there are so many out of print (especially pulps and mystery series) that we'll never get rid of most of the ones we have now. I've never taken to the idea of the digital books since I like the tactile experience of actually reading as well as the reading itself.

[deborah]

In our house, we measure by the length of bookshelf required, rather than the number of books. 250 yards.

[Ascotillion]

I have about ten books. All but two are cookbooks and those last two are constantly lent out to friends because I don't have a place for them! All my reading is done on my Kindle now, it's a lot more convenient and mostly cheaper.

[wtjbatman]

A fraction of what I used to have. I've both gone digital (bless you little Kindle) and donated/sold hundreds of books. Future plans to move combined with reducing clutter and earning some money. I'm really only set on hanging onto my textbooks.

[iris lily]

Probably 200 - 300 volumes.

 For 20 years I collected illustrated children's books as my art collection. I rarely buy other books, probably 1 volume every 10 years.

edited to add: I use the public library. I've got ten books here form the library at any one time.

[BikerSaver]

We have around 500 or so plus maybe 100 cookbooks.  We've been weeding and reading through them.  Since I found this site, I stopped buying books.  My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

[EK]

Hundreds, probably over 1000.  But fewer than we used to and fewer than my husband would like to own.  In my ideal world, our collection would be more like ~100 favorites. In my husband's ideal world, there would be no library in the world big enough to house his perfect collection.  It's a compromise.

[Travis]

Books are my weakness.  Between my wife and I we probably own around 500.  Some of hers are textbooks from high school she needs to get rid of, but most of mine are college and grad school textbooks, professional books and publications, and pleasure reading (all non fiction).  I can read books on a tablet if I'm reading front to back, but if it's for research and I'm flipping throughout the book I have to have paper in my hands.  A number of my books are specialized and don't exist in Kindle form.

[deborah]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

[former player]

About 45 (although, like Deborah, I am counting by the yard there).  It's a thirty year collection, and by the end of this year I will have converted my useless garage into a study with shelves for them all.  (I'm FIREd, so I'm spending a bit of it on something I think will be useful/beautiful/pleasurable, without affecting my financial security.)

I do utilise the local mobile library (I'm a fair distance from the main library, and don't go that far regularly enough to change books) and ebooks.  But I grew up in a house with books, which shaped my education and life in a lot of ways, and love having them around.

[wtjbatman]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I've been reading all my life (ok, except for the first few years when I couldn't really read), and I love reading more than almost anything else. But even if I had the time to read that much, I'm not sure I would want to read three books a day (!). Do you take time to decompress? Think about the book? Join in any discussions about the book, either in person or online? Or just on to the next?

[deborah]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I've been reading all my life (ok, except for the first few years when I couldn't really read), and I love reading more than almost anything else. But even if I had the time to read that much, I'm not sure I would want to read three books a day (!). Do you take time to decompress? Think about the book? Join in any discussions about the book, either in person or online? Or just on to the next?

Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC Gallipoli landing in WW1, which is one of Australia's 2 national days  - our day of remembrance of those slain in battle.  It is also celebrated in New Zealand, as both countries joined forces in the landing (hence ANZAC). Something like 57% of the people on some of the boats were killed during the landing, and the percentage wounded and killed in both countries during the first world war was very high. At the moment I am reading quite a number of books about the campaign, and researching the history of my family in the war. So far, I have found more than 25, of whom only 1 was unwounded - 7 died. The complete records of each person are on line (unfortunately I have yet to find the records of two who were seconded to the British forces - one as a pilot, and the other (who was killed) was in the army.

I find that quite often, one book leads to another, so this has gone from war to the Ottoman empire to Turkish cookbooks...

[wtjbatman]

I definitely agree about one book leading to another. And some of the most interesting things I've read, I found by accident through another book, author, subject, etc. It's the ultimate form of networking.

[agent_clone]

Physical - about 800, ebook - almost 440.

[Travis]

I find that quite often, one book leads to another, so this has gone from war to the Ottoman empire to Turkish cookbooks...

This happened to me a couple years ago.  I was doing research on the German Army from 1900-1918 and then bought a book about the Wars of Unification.  After that I bought a book specifically about the war with Austria.  After that I bought a book about the history of Prussia.  This all happened within a 2 month period.

[Nickyd£g]

About 400 real books, 200 e-books.  I love them all and will re-read books often so will only get rid of a book with extreme reluctance.  I did sell about 200 a year ago but a lot of them were my ex's, not mine (I did have his permission to sell them, he had emigrated to New York!).

[lizzzi]

Approximately 800, with around 600 in hardcopy and 200 on the Kindle. That is following a massive purge when we moved out-of-state. I try very hard to use the library, to not buy new books unless carefully considered, and to do ongoing assessment and donation of what I have.

[plainjane]

There are 4 full bookcases, one which is double wide & mostly double shelved.  Plus a couple of shorter piles and a milk crate or two.  Plus a shelf of cookbooks.  There is a pile of about 30 books upstairs which are to be sold back to a second hand bookstore when I have the right kind of weekend (i.e. one that doesn't first include walking 30 minutes to the market).

We've managed to stay with the four bookcases for seven or eight years, but it's starting to get tougher.  I am a great believer in cycling out the books that I thought would be reread and weren't.  The SO, not so much.  Which means the proportion of "my" books goes down on the shelves, and we might need to look at double-shelving another bookcase. 

I'm being more adamant about library books for both of us when it comes to new or inconsistent authors, but the number of books does keep creeping up.  Also, I need to get better around the cookbooks that only have one or two recipes used.

[Thegoblinchief]

Likely well over 1,000 physical books and over 400 e-books. My DW also uses the library a lot. She just likes to own things as well. I don't get it, but she acquires most of them quite cheaply used (many times ex-library tomes) or on sale (the e-books) and it's all from her personal money so I can't care too much.

I read a lot too, don't get me wrong, but I don't feel a need to own many books unless it's something  I want to annotate.

[fallstoclimb]

I'm going to guess maybe 40 - we've been purging.  Books are such a pain in the ass to move, and while I do like being able to loan/give them away, I've been trying to embrace minimalism so I've gotten rid of all I could bring myself to donate.  I'm a big library patron, and I expect my digital library to grow as well. 

[CommonCents]

This question has come up before and I’ve observed people tend to end up in one of two camps:


• Books are clutter.
• Books are an enjoyable hobby, and physically possessing them provides some advantages.

For the first: This side of the spectrum embraces a minimalistic philosophy, whether just in books or in all aspects of their life.  Folks in this camp believe a true mustachian would only check books out from the library and see selling books as a positive to recouping some of the money spent on books.

For the second: This side gets positive, not negative feelings from seeing the books around the house and often has, or would have in a dream home, a library just dedicated to books.  While these people may (and often do) check books out from the library, they are happy to own books.  Some reasons include:

• Need for immediate (and irregular) access to textbooks in one’s career.
• Desire to reread books on one’s own schedule, not dependent on waiting to get it from the library (particularly if waitlisted), library hours (e.g. deciding to read in the evening), or library lending timeframes (e.g. want to travel Asia for 6 weeks, or a slower reader).
• Desire to financially support authors by purchasing their books.

Let me say upfront: Neither camp is right or wrong.

I fall into the second camp.  We are thrilled to have a part of the basement be our library with built in shelves.  I read a lot so despite the below book total, I am fairly discriminating in my book purchases.  In the past year I have bought one book (on this past Saturday, used, $1, My Sister’s Keeper), and ok’d DH to buy two more (one, Words of Radiance, not yet out in paperback).  On April 2, I posted in the “What are you Reading right now?” thread that I was reading Game of Thrones.  Since April 2, I have read: Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, Feast of Crows, Dance with Dragons, Way of Kings (reread), Words of Radiance, Divergent, and Acts of Faith.  The first 5 were owned by DH that I had never read before, the 7th and 8th library books (7th is the one I ok’d to buy later in paperback, before I read it), the 9th a mini trading library at the train station (a reread, I had read it years ago, my mom owns it).  I may be leaving a book out as well from this list.  Total pages: 7385 in one month or akin to a book a day because some of the above are so meaty.

We own approximately 500-600 physical books.  About 150-200 of those are textbooks.  Both DH and I went to grad schools, so we likely have more textbooks relevant to our field than those who didn’t.  I recently went through my textbooks and gave away four and listed three more on half.com.  I asked DH to do the same two weeks ago and he refused because he does not believe we should ever let go of books once they are in the house.  Approximately 100 more (not listed in the count) are over DH’s mom’s house and we’ll bring them over our house (now that we have one) at some point.  I also own about 200 digital books.  Although I like my (gifted) kindle, and definitely has it's place in when I prefer to use it, to me it is not the end all be all replacement for books because:

• It’s harder to get good quality cheap books on it.  There are no thrift shops for this and I’ve discovered a lot of free books are pretty crappy.  This is why I haven’t read a lot of my books on the kindle I’ve downloaded. Libraries don't tend to have very many electronic books and it takes longer to read the "backs" of the e-books than in hard copy.
• The battery will die on trips where you are away from plugs (e.g. sailing, camping).
• You can’t easily flip to “that page” to reread something.
• I worry more taking it near water than a book.  A book can dry out and is much cheaper to replace than a kindle.

To the question of “Do you think about the book?”  Well, it depends on the quality of books.  For the series of Song and Ice, I enjoyed the books and checked the tv series out from the library (watched first two episodes last night).  For all that it’s a meaty book, there’s not a ton that’s “hidden” in the books to catch.  For the Stormlight Archive (Way of Kings & Words of Radiance), I have spent quite a bit of time researching online various nuances from the books and reading forums, as he weaves a lot in from his other books and there’s a lot of details and theories to catch and piece together.  (I’m quite impressed by his skill.)  I’ve also spent time reading the author’s blog as well.  For Divergent, I’ve already reread parts (and read her guide in the back), but it’s not as dense material.  For Acts of Faith, no.  It was pretty light and straightforward, no “special” or extra digesting required.  I don't join book groups, but will absolutely discuss if a friend has read the book.

If you made it through the tome, congrats!

[Ascotillion]

I've also made it through every single Sanderson book on my Kindle - your tome is tiny by comparison! I take it you immediately ran to the Seventeenth Shard after that last chapter of Words of Radiance? Took me by surprise, that's for sure!

[starbuck]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I think reading 26 books in a year (1 every 2 weeks) is an admirable and sensible goal. Obviously, reading 3 books in one day is insanely outside casual reading speed. Reading is not a contest.

We technically have a separate library in our house, but only have enough books for probably 2.5 floor to ceiling bookshelves. I typically get everything from the library, including cookbooks, ebooks, video games, and graphic novels. The only books my spouse purchases are reference books for wood working and furniture making, or foreign language books. And even then he tries to get library copies first to see if it's worth purchasing. It's been probably 2+ years since I last bought a book. And I think it was a field guide for hiking in New England.

[samburger]

Hundreds, but that's down from thousands! I used to be an academic who did book-heavy work. I legitimately referenced hundreds of books on a regular basis, so it wasn't the face punchiest thing.

The face punchy thing was collecting recreational books because I liked them... As if I couldn't visit them at the library?

I've purged hundreds of books over the course of three moves in the last 18 months.

We now have a $0 book budget, and that's firm. If we can't get it at the public library, we head over to the university library. If they don't have it, we request it. If they won't fill the request, we accept that there are millions of other books we could be reading.

The only exception is when a friend publishes a book.

[CommonCents]

I've also made it through every single Sanderson book on my Kindle - your tome is tiny by comparison! I take it you immediately ran to the Seventeenth Shard after that last chapter of Words of Radiance? Took me by surprise, that's for sure!

Haha!  Yes, I read a bunch on there, looking things up and that would just lead to more questions.  (For example: Why is everyone so convinced that Szeth's blade was Jezrien's?  Ah, ok.  Wait, that was Vasher?  Missed that one, but oh yeah, now I see it, etc.)  I looked up the different surgebingers to try figure out for myself what everyone was and then started editing a google page that was wrong and it went downhill from there...   Yeah, spent a lot of time thinking about this series.  I cannot imagine reading those books on the kindle though! 

Have you read Patrick Rothfuss's books?  It's very similar quality I feel.  Also rated as on the very slim list of books we've bought full priced in recent years, along with authors like Ken Follett.

[CommonCents]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I think reading 26 books in a year (1 every 2 weeks) is an admirable and sensible goal. Obviously, reading 3 books in one day is insanely outside casual reading speed. Reading is not a contest.

Why do you feel the need to put down what someone obviously enjoys doing?  Some folks read faster than others or are introverted.  I'm not up to 3 a day, but if it's something they enjoy, more power to them.  It's better than vegging out in front of the tv.

One reason my husband are well matched is that we both love reading and even discovered we both read books during high school classes.  (For the record, this didn't hurt our academics any - we both went to Ivy schools.)  One reason I love my husband is he understands me when I get caught up in a book, rather than annoyed at it like my family.

[norabird]

I must have a few hundred. Many are old friends given to me by my parents when I was young, others I picked up off the street or from my career in publishing. I have some that were just dead weight which I'm planning to sell soon--books I vaguely intended to read but don't have a connection to.

I love having them around and while I don't really buy new anymore except as a gift (use the library instead), I just wouldn't feel like myself if I didn't have my favorite books around me in my home. (Nevermind that many of them are in storage right now while I wait to move into a new place...I'm looking forwrd to being reunited!). In some moods they're like comfort food. I think paring them down sensibly doers make sense though.

[centwise]

Thousands. :(
I don't even want to try to count them. Bookshelves line the walls all over the house, and in the basement as well.

I used to have an intractable cheap-book habit. I would acquire almost any book from "deep discount" tables or free give-aways. Fortunately I reformed about ten years ago and am now a devout library patron, but I haven't done much to downsize the book collection. It would be great to sell them online, as many of you have done, but I'm in Canada and the shipping costs are so high, it's hard to make any money that way.

[Thegoblinchief]

For e-books, you can rarely get stuff for free unless you're a book reviewer (check out NetGalley).

What my DW does is wish list every e-book she wants and regularly skims the list to check for sales. We own very few e-books purchased at full price (certain authors and pubs just never, ever went on sale). A third party service like CamelCamelCamel (I think that's what it's called?) could also help.

As for books like Sanderson's, we're super fans and own both electronic and physical. Physical because the art is so good, but electronic as well so I don't break my foot if I drop the damn thing :P

[oldladystache]

Probably 200 - 300. Most of them given to me. I've bought maybe 50 books in my lifetime. Plus of course the huge box of paperbacks I bought for a dollar maybe 40 years ago. I gave or tossed almost all of them eventually.

They aren't worth selling, and I have enough space for them, so I just let them sit there. Now and then a visitor will see one and ask to borrow it. I make them promise not to return it.

[CommonCents]

As for books like Sanderson's, we're super fans and own both electronic and physical. Physical because the art is so good, but electronic as well so I don't break my foot if I drop the damn thing :P

True!  Loving the Sanderson love.  And to think I hadn't heard of him before Wheel of Time (which I had just about given up on).

Forgot to add that in my reasons to read a hard copy.  Much easier to flip to look at artwork, maps or character lists (Song of Fire and Ice, I'm talking to you!) in hard copy, plus the artwork really loses something in e-book form.

[SwordGuy]

Thousands.  And that's after several purges.  Most are not available via the library unless I want to wait 6 to 18 months to get them via interlibrary loan.

[mm31]

Hopefully less than 80. I've been purging since I read most books now via the library and I'm planning a move.

[SnackDog]

A couple bookshelves of mostly reference and signed first editions.  I don't like keeping many - it is just clutter because they never get read again.  We give them away.  Same goes for paper anything - if you need it (you probably don't unless it is for tax or legal reasons) make a scan and upload it to the cloud.  Same goes for most digital media, especially CDs and DVDs - rip and give away. The home office is long gone, too, along with the desktop PC, the printer, and then the laptop.

[Cassie]

WE used to own hundreds-now about 20.  Also when one comes in one leaves.   It just ended up being too much clutter. I love to read and like to hold a book. 

[Amanda]

I'm at about 5000 now. Down from 80,000 at my peak (I owned a used and rare bookshop). I love them, don't spend too much per year on additional books and I read, re-read, and re-re-read, and have them decorating the walls of my home.

[starbuck]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I think reading 26 books in a year (1 every 2 weeks) is an admirable and sensible goal. Obviously, reading 3 books in one day is insanely outside casual reading speed. Reading is not a contest.

Why do you feel the need to put down what someone obviously enjoys doing?  Some folks read faster than others or are introverted.  I'm not up to 3 a day, but if it's something they enjoy, more power to them.  It's better than vegging out in front of the tv.

No put down intended, just defending those that read slower than others. I interpreted the 'Only 26?' feedback as sort of a put down on BikerSaver's reading goal. I think it's cool that some people can read that fast - it sounds like a handy skill, but it's not a reason to judge those that read slower, or less volume. 

Also it sounds like I need to check out more of Sanderson's stuff from this thread! I enjoyed his WoT work, but haven't read any of his original stuff.

[edit: in hindsight i'm probably projecting a bit. it's been known to happen.]

[dantownehall]

I would reckon my personal library at around 1000 volumes, though I've never counted.  Most were bought for $2-$3 at a Goodwill bookstore near my parents' house, and there's no filler or fluff, just good stuff.  I like books. 

[Villanelle]

I used to own way more but I had to do a major purge before the first international move.  I probably have ~50 with me, and ~200 in storage back in the States.  That was probably trimming my collection by almost half.

I own hundreds on Kindle, too. 

[CommonCents]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I think reading 26 books in a year (1 every 2 weeks) is an admirable and sensible goal. Obviously, reading 3 books in one day is insanely outside casual reading speed. Reading is not a contest.

Why do you feel the need to put down what someone obviously enjoys doing?  Some folks read faster than others or are introverted.  I'm not up to 3 a day, but if it's something they enjoy, more power to them.  It's better than vegging out in front of the tv.

No put down intended, just defending those that read slower than others. I interpreted the 'Only 26?' feedback as sort of a put down on BikerSaver's reading goal. I think it's cool that some people can read that fast - it sounds like a handy skill, but it's not a reason to judge those that read slower, or less volume. 

Also it sounds like I need to check out more of Sanderson's stuff from this thread! I enjoyed his WoT work, but haven't read any of his original stuff.

[edit: in hindsight i'm probably projecting a bit. it's been known to happen.]

Ah, gotcha.  I see that now.  Well, I support the slower readers too - and put that as one of the reasons above for why borrowing from a library may not always work!

[CU Tiger]

About 400 physical books, about 25 ebooks, and also the entire catalog of the BC Public Library at my disposal.

[deborah]

My 2014 goal is to read at least 26 books that I already have.

Only 26? I average more than three books a day including library books. However, I am currently weeding out our books, and I find I am reading at least two from the shelves at home each day (mostly culls), so my reading has gone up!

I think reading 26 books in a year (1 every 2 weeks) is an admirable and sensible goal. Obviously, reading 3 books in one day is insanely outside casual reading speed. Reading is not a contest.

Why do you feel the need to put down what someone obviously enjoys doing?  Some folks read faster than others or are introverted.  I'm not up to 3 a day, but if it's something they enjoy, more power to them.  It's better than vegging out in front of the tv.

No put down intended, just defending those that read slower than others. I interpreted the 'Only 26?' feedback as sort of a put down on BikerSaver's reading goal. I think it's cool that some people can read that fast - it sounds like a handy skill, but it's not a reason to judge those that read slower, or less volume. 

[edit: in hindsight i'm probably projecting a bit. it's been known to happen.]

Sorry, it definitely wasn't meant as a put down, or even a boast. It certainly sounds like both. I was just surprised - I couldn't imagine reading only one book every 2 weeks - it would seem like book deprivation! Even when I worked, I read at least one book a day. Maybe I am an addict. However, we have a happy household because we both read a lot.

[Ascotillion]

Is anybody else on Good Reads to track their reading? I mostly get blank looks when I ask other friends but the sort of people who meticulously track budgets might be the sort to track other things with the same vigor!

I cannot imagine reading those books on the kindle though! 

Have you read Patrick Rothfuss's books?  It's very similar quality I feel.  Also rated as on the very slim list of books we've bought full priced in recent years, along with authors like Ken Follett.

I'm used to reading on the Kindle by now! I know how to lie in bed with it in a comfortable position, and the only thing more important than that for a good reading session is how to make a cup of tea the way I like it :)

I have read the two Rothfuss books. I wasn't the biggest fan of some aspects of it (like anything to do with sex-fairies), but it's a good series. Something about magical universities/schools just hugely appeals to me!

Also it sounds like I need to check out more of Sanderson's stuff from this thread! I enjoyed his WoT work, but haven't read any of his original stuff.

Definitely! I wouldn't even have considered myself a fantasy fan before I picked up the Mistborn trilogy - it single(triple?)-handedly converted me to an entire genre.