Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Is anyone actually trying to collect physical copies of all the 1001 books? I've been ploughing through the list for about five years now and loving every minute, but as I seem to be buying books faster than I can read them and I don't discard them when I'm done, it has dawned on me that I am by default attempting to collect all the titles.
Somebody tell me I'm not the only person whose house is being taken over by this peculiar obsession.......

You know it never occurred to me that people reading these all in DTB format would eventually have 1001 books if they read em all and kept them!!

I'm a Kindle user so my obsession is better hidden ;)

I have collected a lot of these books but after I read them, I give them away or trade them for other books.

As a university student I'm an avid kindler/audiobook lover due to space. Best of luck to you and your bookshelves, though! How many have you collected so far?

I own or have library access to about 700 of the 1305 books on the list. I have read 184 already.

I've read a total 264 books last year. My favorite genre is mystery/thriller, historical and biography. I plan on reading 300 books in 2016 (50 of them will be on the list).

When I win the lottery, I'll buy all the books on the list. And build a big fancy library in my house to hold them all.

I shop at thrift stores and library sales and spend $.50 or $1.00 for my books. I have over 7,000 books in my home library and I get rid of them as I read them but books are coming and going all the time in the mail because I do swap them also on bookmooch.com and paperbackswap.com. You don't have spend a lot of money for your books if you have time to find them at thrift stores of library sales.

As of today I have read 447 from the combined list and I own (rather embarrassingly) 177 which I have yet to read. I'm a bit of a technological Luddite, not having a Kindle and not doing audio books, so that is 600-odd old-fashioned papery things cluttering my house.
I do love the physical sensation of having a book in my hands, be it a virginal brand new copy or a pre-owned edition with a history of its own. I guess that is partly why I find it hard to get rid of books even after I have read them.

I only tend to buy books if I'm sure I'll read and re-read them. I have no desire to re-read many of the books, at least not enough times to warrant having a copy readily available.

I do understand the desire for having the 'real thing' but I don't have the space to make that very practical. Especially as I am working on the combined list plus probably the Guardian and various others at some point as well.

I get them mostly from the library. I have a few that I own, but that is because I really loved it or I just wanted to have it on my shelf OR I read it in college and I kept it.

I have been very lucky in the last year or so, I've managed to find a good 50 or 60 titles at the op-shop, library sale or $1 store, (I went to town when they got in a big lot of Vintage Classic titles). There's only been 3 this past year I've bought full price, (Therese Raquin, Ulyssess and Catch 22). I haven't read C-22 yet, but it was only $9.

I'm inclined to keep the books I buy/read, unless I don't like them. So far there hasn't been anything on the list I really haven't enjoyed so I've kept them all. I may need to build my own library to house them, but that won't be such a bad thing.

Same for me. I try to read everything I have once and if it doesn't rate at least 3 stars I get rid of it. I've got about 1200 books I have accumulated over the years so this list is deadly since I only own about 20% of it already...

I only have copies of maybe 20 books on the list, mostly owned before I knew of it. I live in a largish city with good libraries and mostly borrow from them, sometimes as audiobooks or audio-ebooks. If they don't have one that I really want to read I generally buy a used copy via internet. I have an iPad; don't yet have a Kindle but am considering it.

You should be able to get the Kindle app on your ipad.

Yes I already have the Kindle app on the iPad but the Kindle seems to be better for reading than the iPad.

I prefer the real book and only read Kindle if I can't get a physical book or if it's too expensive.

I buy them second hand then give them away to the charity shop as soon as I have finished, I don't keep anything.... My family are very good, second hand books make cheap birthday presents, and because I have given them the list to choose from I have no idea what I'm getting which is nice! Wouldn't you end up with an incredibly cluttered house if you kept the whole lot?!

I give my books away after I read them too because I own 7,000 books. My kids are grown and I use their bedrooms for my library and yes my books do clutter up my house at times but what a marvelous clutter to have. Love them all!

If I can get them on project gutenberg I'll do so, the rest I usually can borrow at the library. The rest is from a second hand bookshop. I'm a student, what can I do? The couple of 1001 books I do have are pretty beaten up paperbacks from garage sales and such XD

Whenever I see a cheap one at a thrift store or second hand bookstore, I end up buying it. I own a TON that I still need to read (Mountain TBR is up to 283 books), but at least I get rid of them when I finish them.

There are a lot of 1001 readers who bookcross, so I often send them to another bookcrosser :)

I like collecting physical copies of books. I doubt I will collect the entire 1305, but I am probably going to wind up with a fair number of hard copies, even though I love my ebooks. I already have a library of at least a thousand books, so...

I'm going to need a serious bookshelf solution.

Jenny wrote: "If I can get them on project gutenberg I'll do so, the rest I usually can borrow at the library. The rest is from a second hand bookshop. I'm a student, what can I do? The couple of 1001 books I do..."

In this case, please take a look on my lists - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die That Are Available From Public Domain

https://lnatal.wordpress.com/2012/11/...

https://lnatal.wordpress.com/2012/11/...

https://lnatal.wordpress.com/2012/11/...

Laura wrote: "Jenny wrote: "If I can get them on project gutenberg I'll do so, the rest I usually can borrow at the library. The rest is from a second hand bookshop. I'm a student, what can I do? The couple of 1..."

Thank you! That is very usefull :) I usually just pick something written before 1910, chances are big that anything written before that date is in the public domain :)

Jenny wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jenny wrote: "If I can get them on project gutenberg I'll do so, the rest I usually can borrow at the library. The rest is from a second hand bookshop. I'm a student, what can I do? T..."

My pleasure Jenny. Most of the books published until 1923 belongs to the public domain, depending of the country.

Laura wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Laura wrote: "Jenny wrote: "If I can get them on project gutenberg I'll do so, the rest I usually can borrow at the library. The rest is from a second hand bookshop. I'm a student, wh..."

Yes, though the date of death of the author seems to be able to change the exact date somewhat for some reason. I noticed I can download the epub directly from the list in your url. Very convenient!

Laura wrote: "Most of the books published until 1923 belongs to the public domain, depending of the country."

The 1923 date only applies to works published in the USA. Most other countries go by the date of death of the author, with terms varying between 50 and 90 years.

David wrote: "Laura wrote: "Most of the books published until 1923 belongs to the public domain, depending of the country."

The 1923 date only applies to works published in the USA. Most other countries go by t..."

That explains it. I think the rules here (sweden) are a combination of both somehow. The death of the author plus 10 years or something around those lines. I don't know. I just find the "before 1910" a good rule of thumb so I don't end up looking for books that cannot be found. ^.^