Too many books?

Liz Seymour, deputy editor of the Washington Post Home section, is struggling with the clutter in her house. Among her dilemmas is what to do with the 600 books she and her husband have accumulated.

This is a dilemma? 600 books??

In our house, we call that the dining room.

I don't know how many books we have -- we purge all the time, including a huge cull several years back when we moved -- but it's a lot. At least a couple thousand, I'm sure.

How about you? Do you have way too books in your house?

Comments

[J. Kingston Pierce]

There's no such thing as too many books in one's house. You just need a bigger house.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Todd Mason]

You mean, do we have too many books...yes, I do. I have to move too often (at all seems too often at this point in my life), and having a collection topping 20K items makes for some serious energy expenditure.

But pity the poor souls who want their places to look like ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST layouts, with 600 books.

[Michelle Gagnon]

This is particularly timely for me since the box filled with twenty pounds-worth of new books from BEA just arrived. And I was officially out of room before I left, swore I wasn't going to take any but proved to be constitutionally weak when faced with new, free books written by authors that I enjoy. I really need to cull the herd, just never seem to have the time...

[Elaine Flinn]

Sigh. I had to purge not too long ago. When the Edgar books started coming in last year, my husband very nicely said he'd like to get the car in the garage one of these days.

Our local library was thrilled though...

[Tim Maleeny]

I lost count after 5000. They are in storage, on shelves sideways and double-stacked, in the trunks of cars, and even on the kitchen shelves. OK, I'm an addict, but there are worse addictions to have...

[I.J.Parker]

I bought this house because it has an enormous room with floor-to-ceiling book cases. I have additional book cases in three more rooms. Besides, books are stacked in tables here and there.
But purging is good. I count on Elaine's experience this year myself.

[Cosmo Vittelli]

All my books are in my pants.

[Sarah]

We just moved to our new house, which has a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. my husband and I's combined collection is probably under 1000, but not by much--the realities of living in a 700 square foot apartment kept the addiction in check. in addition to the library, we each have bookcases in our offices that will each hold 2-300 volumes when full. I'm a librarian by trade, so every spring when we do a purge I take the ones with scholarly merit to the university where I work, and the more popular stuff to the public library. Most of them wind up on the shelf, so I can always check out old friends if I have a hankering, and I'm also sharing the intellectual wealth.

[Elaine Flinn]

I'll be sure to remember your name and not buy any of yours Cosmo.

[DMC]

I ran out of room on the bookshelves years ago. Now I have piles of books all over the house, except for the kitchen. The kitchen has magazines.

But the piles are still low enough that, if some fell on me, I wouldn't be hurt and could dig myself out pretty easily. So I figure I'm fine for now.

[Phyllis Zimbler Miller]

I love your description about how many books you have. My husband and I (as well as our two adult daughters, most of whose books we still have) buy books on vacation while other people buy trip souvenirs. I have to control my impulse to click BUY on Amazon every time I read about a new book. Whenever I finally make myself give books away, I try to give them away to worthwhile organizations, such as the SOVA food pantry in LA. (I found your blog through www.scobberlotch.blogspot.com)

[Patrick Balester]

At my last rough count, between 800 and 1000...which means I need to stock up.
Maybe I should have gone to BEA. Oh well, there's always Bouchercon in October!

[Karen Terry]

Oh do I. My husband and I both like to read. My husband gets most of his books from Goodwill. Sometimes he has to hide some of his books from me. I don't mind too much. I normally get my books from the library.

[spyscribbler]

Definitely. I now donate them.

It's just, there's more books I want to read than I can read in a lifetime. So I'm not really going to do a whole lot of re-reading. So ... off they go.

[BV Lawson]

I think the hubster and I are up to 2,000 or so right now. That doesn't count the thousands of magazines in the basement in plastic bins, either. Still trying to figure out a way to clone myself so at least one copy of me can spent her entire time reading.

[Marcus Sakey]

Giving away books is like giving away limbs.

[David J. Montgomery]

I know what you mean. And I hate doing it, although it's gotten a little easier in recent years. I give them by the boxload to the Salvation Army or whoever. Most of them probably end up in the trash, but oh well. It's better than me throwing them away directly, which I've also had to resort to on occasion.

The amount of interest the public has in used books is so low as to make one weep.

[krimileser]

"The amount of interest the public has in used books is so low as to make one weep."

No wonder, when they discuss at crimespace whether readers and traders of used books are criminals or something worse.

[David J. Montgomery]

I agree that such discussions are counterproductive nonsense. However, I don't think they have any effect whatsoever on the habits of the general public. Sadly, the truth is far more depressing: people just don't care very much about books.

[M.J]

This is really a problem for us. We ran out of space at about 3000 books. Now there must be 4000 – too many double shelved, in boxes the basement and the attic, under and on top of every surface. I can’t find anything anymore and in the last six moths I had to rebuy two books I know I have but couldn’t locate. It’s getting to the point its almost an illness.

[V]

I think you should make a pile called Keepers and ones that you certainly aren't going to read anymore.

But good for you for reading so many books.

I'd like to recommend Jacqueline D'Acre's new horse mystery 'Foreclosure'. It's brilliant.

[Terry Weyna]

Um, we have 10,000 to 12,000 books, and are constantly buying more -- and watching with envy as various bloggers post pictures of their new hauls.

You can never have too many books. It's simply philosophically impossible.

[mj anderson]

Sigh...too many. Children are adults, so walled their rooms with books. The trunk of my car, shelves and stacks in the garage, under beds, on every table top...I am incorrigible/

Books are like children--you cannot abandon them.