what did you do with your real books
 

If you have an eeader - what did you do with all your books from before? I have a ton of books sitting on my shelves that I know I will probably never read again/read because of having the kindle. I'm kinda sentimental though and I do like having real books out but I mean they are sorta just wasting space.. so maybe I should just sell them?

I sold them to half price books. I had quite a few hard cover books so I got like $75 for it. Otherwise I dont think you get much for paperback. I should have kept some to do some craft projects with too.

If I think I will read them again, I keep them. But an awful lot of books have gone into boxes and on their way to Half Price Books for sale or trade. I figure that if I take tons of books in and get a small credit for them and buy just a few new(er) books (it is overstocks and used books) then I have come out ahead and have more space!

I tend only to buy craft books now and only when they are on sale. I have gotten to the point where I can walk into a bookstore and walk right out without buying anything. I feel terrible because I know we need bookstores, but I honestly don't have the space. And I am WAY more likely to read an e-book!

I donate all my read books, hardback and paperback, to Better World Books. I like knowing they are supporting literacy programs around the world. :)

I donate to a library

I stroke them and love them and call them my precious :D

Laugh out loud funny!

Sold some to Amazon Trade In -- If they take them, you get a gift card credit.

Otherwise, donated the ones I'm not keeping.

I have kept some and continue to buy books in those series in paperback, the rest I have sold, donated to the library, or still have and am waiting to get rid of when we move.

Ditto. One, I haven't read them yet so they're staying in the shelf. Two, even though the Kindle is cool I still love an actual book more.

I love the idea of using some for craft projects!!

I donated all mine..

Even before the Kindle, we rarely kept fictional novels around unless they were exceptional (and we could see ourselves reeading). We sold most at our garage sales or donated them. I still have a dozen of so of my favorites on the shelf and won't get rid of those.

A dozen! Wow! I really don't want to confess how many books I still own, but we have bookshelves in nearly every room! :eek:

my DH has a thing about keeping all his books....so very very few of his got donated, we just went through our garage and they are now waiting to find a home on a bookshelf....the only books I kept were my Patricia Cornwell books and a few sentimental books from school, and now that you girls mention it, I may take mine to the library and see if they want them and if not donating them to the school :)

LOL! :D Just a dozen novels. Don't think I'm not a book hoarder, though! Because I kind of am. :o We have a book shelf in every room... non-fiction books, lots of art books, science books, how-to books, homeschooling curricuclum books, Bible study books, cookbooks, books about making books, etc. :wub: Also, I kind of collect children's books. I'm so drawn to the old ones with amazing illustrations. :o Those are the kinds of books we use for reference, but when it comes to fictional books I don't have a problem passing them on to someone else or getting rid of them.

Even before I got an eeader, I only kept favorite books and series. All the others I sold at a used book store or donated to the library. I still have a half bookshelf filled with those favorites, and since I'm too cheap to re-buy digital copies I'll keep them.

Whew! I feel better now! I think the only fiction book that is really on my list to purchase is "To Kill a Mockingbird." Harper Lee refuses to allow it to be published in ebook format and so I am going to buy a nice copy of it sooner or later to put on my shelf. It IS a book that I'd read over and over.

Since we are getting ready to move, we just sold/donated them to a local used book retailer. We still kept our favorites, but got rid about half or our books. My DH doesn't use an eeader, but I really enjoy my Kindle.

We haven't gotten rid of any. They are still filling our bookshelves. My youngest won't get rid of any of his (he's 20) and has two book shelves FULL of books, my room has a bookshelf full and I have one downstairs in my office too. I've given LOTS of young reader books to my nephews and friends...but some I want to keep for grandkids (someday). Even though we all have Kindles now...we just can't get rid of them.

Good one, Darcy. :-)

Kristin, if you're really sure you're not going to read them (maybe wait for some time whether you are really sure), I'd say try donating them to a library. This way they still get used, and books should be read rather then sit on the shelves, so that's a happy solution.

Or maybe get rid only of those that you are really SURE you're not going to read again and those that don't mean anything to you sentimentally.

Or maybe wait. Maybe in time the Kindle enthusiasm will fall a bit and you'll re-discover your collection.

ETA: Just to answer your question - I don't own an eeader, so I kept my paper books. ;-)

Well I must admit I wasn't a huge reader until I got my Kindle so I only have around 10 books, I used to borrow them from the library if I felt the need to read.

I gave a lot to my sister to read. But I kept a lot too..they're still on my bookshelves. I get way to emotionally attached to books lol and even though I read mostly on my kindle now I still love to go to the bookstore and just get lost in all the books. I have favorites and series that I've loved that I don't know if I'll ever get rid of. But the good thing is that I haven't added to my real book collection in a couple of years. And that's good b/c I have no room for anymore lol.

I keep mine because I do a lot of reeading & after I did a big book purge about 4 years ago I feel fairly sure the ones in the house now are just the ones I will read again. I sold some of the purged ones on ebay in lots if they were a series or half.com if they were selling for a decent price. Some I donated to the hospital for the chemotherapy & dialysis centers and some went to the library.

Oh..you'd be surprised LOLOL It's a matter of priorities. Do you NEED a photo on that wall when you could put a bookcase there instead? Do you really need a side table when a stack of books will do? How much room do you really need on your nightstand to put anything but a couple of stacks of books that still need to be read. And did you know you can double stack books in most bookshelves?

Snicker. Our house is filled with bookshelves and books and other than getting rid of non fiction that we no longer need or aren't going to use for homeschooling now, and culling through cookbooks periodically, we love our decor :D It's a library in this whole house!

I have only kept my favorites... and I have to admit, I haven't bought those books for the kindle - unless it's something trashy and I don't want others to know that I really liked that book... :o

Now, children books and other books to be used for homeschooling... yeah, my house is overflowing and kiddo is only 5!!! - I JUST purchased another 40 some books yesterday at a used book sale... :D Kiddo loves to read... so I'll keep buying too keep that love going... :thumbup:

Oh, this is my dad! His room is lined with bookshelves as is the living room... he has joined a number of book clubs to get those fancy leather bound books from England... 99% have never been cracked open - my dad is a collector of his favorite subjects - history and classics - not to read, just to collect... haha... boy, when kiddo is older and we get into those areas for homeschooling, we'll be seeing Grandpa a lot more! ;)

I am BIG on like the nostalgia factor. When I was little - I'd say around 9 or 10 I thought it was all grown up and so I gave away all of my childhood books (except for my disney collection and another collection about manners and such - good books btw haha) anyways I gave them away to neighbours (who I don't think ever appreciated it) and I regret that SO much. I would have loved to have all my books for my kids to have and read so I am not giving away the kids books I have just incase you never know right? Maybe one day my grandkids would want them..

So then I wonder about my books now. I have been really big lately on wanting to simplify my life and house and so I just want to get rid of the clutter but then the whole nostalgic thing has me wondering. Maybe i'll just save my favorites and box them up and the rest I'll see about donating to the library :)

I have a ton of them and haven't read most of them.... but I don't think I could part with them. I'm a hoarder of books, okay..my secret is out! LOL!

I admit to hoarding children's books but adult books... nope. They come in, they are read and they leave. I don't reread books. I haven't been one to really buy books for me to read (and DH doesn't read books, he's a magazine or internet reading type of guy). When I do 'buy' them its only because I got them at the thrift store. I read them and donate them right back. Mostly though, I've used the library my whole adult life. I hate having books laying around. I have too much clutter without adding book clutter to it. I'm loving the kindle because I don't have to worry about a stack of books taking up residence on my nightstand. :) However, I hate that books I've read are still in the same archive with books I haven't read. I need to go through and make a special category for books I've read, I guess... or delete them. I really hate going through my list of archived books and finding ones I've already read because I know I won't read them again, they're just wasting space.

This is so my decorating scheme - books first, other stuff later.

I've gone through and donated ones I don't like to the library. The rest I am keeping for now because as much fun as the eeader is, books on paper with different fonts, layouts, and sizes are fun!

I'm pretty nostalgic myself. That's why we hoard kids' books. Right after I graduated high school we moved from Arizona to Kansas. I had to get rid of all of my books. I hated that and it wasn't long before I started recollecting the same books I had gotten rid of. My daughter reads them now. :)

I am also nostalgic about the kids' stuff. Over the years when I was young we moved a lot and we didn't have a lot of room at times to keep things so I had to purge pretty often (or it was done for me) and there are things I regret getting rid of so I have a tendency to hold on to my kids' stuff far too long because I don't want to regret getting rid of it or have them be upset about it.

Truth is though, we can't keep everything and I am trying to be more simplistic with my approach so I am trying to get rid of more and more.

I'm keeping my favourites, but most will get donated to Salvation Army or the likes. I LOVE my kindle, but sometimes I just want a real book so keeping my faves works for me :)

I still have mine on bookshelves. We have a ridiculous amount of books between both me and Chris' love for reading, and all the children's books, plus all the books we've collected through homeschooling. I'd get rid of them, but I love lots of them, and I don't want to re-buy them for my kindle. Plus, I do like the look of them on bookshelves too - a house without bookshelves would look sad to me I guess.

As a family I think we have half a doz. As pdfs/ereader versions, we have thousands. I couldn't imagine moving them every time. So we sold what we could and used that to buy more books in itunes. :)

I haven't done much with them. I still want to keep some of them. Some I love, but know I won't read again. I tried to give some to some friends, but I guess they don't read as much as me, and I couldn't bribe them into taking them. I think I'll look into that Amazon Trade-In; I hadn't heard of that before. I also like the idea of using them for crafts.