I have often dreamt of owning a house with a library. It would be a huge expanse of a room with enormous, comfortable sofas and lots of space to wander around choosing a book or two to read. It would have great windows overlooking a beautiful garden and I would drape myself on the sofas and immerse myself in my chosen book, enjoying the peace and the only distraction would come from the occasional sip of chilled white wine.
The reality is quite different. The house is full of stuff. Yes, there are lots of books and whichever room you are in, there will be books, but there are so many other things too and I haven’t got one single place to keep all of our books. And there are so many.
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Cicero
We have amassed quite an impressive collection over the years. I kept a few favourites from when I was young and quite a few that assisted me through my years of teenage angst. Then the books that I studied at university were added. Baby books that were the teens through to his collection of books that have grown with him; many of which I kept for the boys. My husband arrived with a large collection of sporting autobiographies. Dictionaries and reference books, my ongoing collection of chick-lit and now blogging and writing related books. Let’s not forget my ridiculous collection of cookery books. The three younger children have a huge collection of books between them and I cannot bear to be parted with any of them. Not even one. Just looking at our various bookshelves brings back so many memories; not just of the stories that they hold, but the times that I read them.
I even find myself going around in circles as I keep spotting old childhood favourites in shops and buying them for the children as they didn’t survive the many moves that I have made in my life and I hope that they will love them as much as I did (or of course I might just reread them).
So what do you do with all of these books?
Now that A is four, there are lots of books that she no longer likes to read but every now and then, she will pick up one of her old favourites and read it to herself. I have the same thing with the boys, they may not look at a book for months or even years, but they will often ask to look at a book or ask me where it is; whether it be for a school project or it has just popped into their heads and they want to read it again. Even at their young age, books hold memories for them and always will.
Maybe the answer is to stop buying books? Honestly, that will never happen. I have curbed my enthusiasm for cookery books but I will always buy books for the children as I love to encourage them to read. There will always be a pile of books on the table of mine too.
Book swapping is a nice idea and I do swap books with adult friends. I know that a lot of the adult fiction that I read will just sit on a shelf gathering dust and as a lot of us have similar tastes, we swap a bag of books every now and then and this is a great way to save money and to find something new to read.
It is good of course to donate books too. I know instantly which of our book collection are the favourites as they look worn and dog-eared. The books in pristine condition that look as though they have never been read, probably haven’t been and I have sometimes taken a few away to donate to school fetes or charity.
In spite of swapping and donating, the majority of books will stay put and I know that during my big summer clear out this year, the books will remain; they hold too many stories and memories for me to part with them. Toys and games may come and go but the books are staying.
Oh my this is my house exactly, books in every room and I can’t stand to get rid of any. To add to our dilemma, up until recently, my mum worded in school library services and was always bringing unwanted books for my boys. Both my husband and I love to read and I just love a beautiful book full stop. One of my weirdest and most wonderful is a photographic collect of dancing cats. Now that’s a keeper.
I could have written this post! I love seeing other people’s book collections. I’m a huge book lover, as are the rest of my family and my children’s bookcases look very much like yours.
I’ve started to add all of our books to Good Reads and after only doing 2 bookcases (I still have 2 floor to ceiling, double stacked bookcases by the fire, 2 others on the stairs and 4 children’s bookcases to do)in the living room, I’ve added 410 books already. The husband think s we must have close to 3000 or maybe more. I can’t wait to see how many we actually do have but I think it’s going to take me a very long time until the job is done!
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Yes I was looking at Goodreads and it looks great, I would love to catalogue our books on there, maybe a job for the summer? 3000 is an impressive number, I would love to know what your final total is.
Love looking at all your bookshelf pictures! I used to be terrible for keeping every book but I’ve had a couple of good clear outs over the last few years (just last week was most recently!) and got it down to a much more manageable number. When I got my Kindle a few years ago I was able to download so many of my favourites on to there, and it also made me realise how many more books I want to read, without going back over ones I’ve read. So I now have just 40 fiction books, all of which I’ve read at least twice and I know I’ll read them again. They are a bit of a random collection, but I know that I love them all. I have some non-fiction too but a lot less than I used to have.
Children’s books are another matter though. I was so glad that I kept a lot of the books that I read as a child as my son is now just starting with the Enid Blytons which are harder to find nowadays. We still have all the first picture books for my daughter, and although some will be easy to get rid of I’ll find it hard to pass on the favourites that we’ve read over and over!
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That is a good idea with the Kindle, I may seriously invest in one for me as it would also allow me to read at bedtime when my husband wants to sleep. I gave all of my Enid Blytons away to a friends sister when I was a teenager and I so wish that I had kept them, I did keep a few special books and I love rereading them with the children, it makes it even more special if you read them when you were young
I thought we had a lot of books, but you beat us to it! I had quite a big clear-out before and after moving and sent books to the Scouts jumble sale, but, like you, I will hold on to the majority of them. We also pile them on top of each other on shelves to fit just a few more in. We have bookshelf in the lounge, in each of the bedrooms and the landing! And they’re all mine and the kids’ as my husband doesn’t read at all!
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No my husband doesn’t read much either, he likes sporting autobiographies but not a lot else. And we double up on bookshelves too, I often find lost gems hidden behind other books that I had forgotten about
I tell my OH that hoarding our books is the safest kind of addiction we can harbour. We stayed in a house at the weekend that only had a few books in the spare room upstairs. There were no books downstairs! It felt very strange. We have books piled everywhere and I can’t bear to part with them either. I don’t have a kindle and am happy to surround myself in paper and print x
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Yes no Kindle here yet but I am starting to think that it might be a good thing for me but I agree I find it strange when people don’t have books in the house, especially when they have children.
Too many books? What’s that?! I do cull books every year though, because we just don’t have the space. I think we have about 2000 books, but that’s a guess. I know we have over 700 picture books because I put them all on Goodreads! It is hard parting with books, but if I’d kept all the books that I’ve parted with over the years then we’d be living in a tent in the garden 😉
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2000 books!! that is so impressive. I must have a look at Goodreads it sounds really interesting and yes I am with you as I think the tent in the garden may well be the next step for us if I don’t clear a few out soon.
I do book swap with my friends …. I am also terrible for dropping them in the bath, so my collection is no where near as impressive as yours!!
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Oh no! I have never dropped a book in the bath but it is the best place for some quality reading time
LOVE this! And I’m with you. I get beyond excited when I happen upon a book from my childhood. I recently got a classic Ladybird Cinderella in a charity shop which I hadn’t seen since I was about 6. I remembered EVERY picture! Magical! too dream of a house with a library! And one of those huge ladders of course – so I can shimmy along the shelves! *sighs
Ooh yes one of those ladders is a must!
When you’ve got kids, I don’t think you can ever have TOO many books in the house. It encourages a love of storytelling and reading. A solution? Possibly a Kindle or some other kind of tablet for reading? But honestly, it’s not the same as a dog-eared copy of a well-read and well-loved book.
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No I know exactly what you mean, I might get a Kindle for me, but the children will have real books for as long as possible.
Is there such a thing as too many books? Not for me, I love them and I have tons too although I must admit to liking my Kindle for easy reading too.
I have already given some of the girls books away but others I can’t bear to part with so I’ll have to make a nice display for them
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I am slowly coming round the the idea of having a kindle, but there will always be real books for the children.
Oh how I love books. I hate the idea of getting rid of books and it makes me sad to see them piled up outside charity shops.
And like you I would love to have a house with a library. One day….
What I find amazing too is that at school fetes there are so many books that are like new.
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I have EXACTLY your problem. My son age 9 now has 4 book sheleves full. But you know how blooming fabulous they love to read!
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Books are a staple of a child’s childhood, from the stories we tell them as they are babies and toddlers to those first reading days where they have a thirst for more and more books. I always hate parting with books, and nearly always end up buying another two to replace the one I donated to the school etc.
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My bookcase looks pretty much the same. So hard to give up books though.
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