Book Haven discussion

Other than keep them, I mean ...

Do you hand it off to someone else you think might like it, or leave it in some random place (like bookcrossing, with or without registering it), donate to a charity shop?

While I much prefer to keep my books, I'm overrun. The last time I moved I made the Painful decision to donate 10 boxes full to a charity shop. Lately I've been trying to either give them to friends, leave them in my office in hopes a cow orker will enjoy the books, or I leave them on the "free to a good home" table in my apartment building.

Library, usually. Then you know another reader will appreciate them. ;) And they need them for their sales anyway.

They all (well almost all) live with me and my house shows it--I need to get a separate home for just my books!

I keep all the ones I like. The ones I don't like I wil try to trade them at the used bookstore or give them to the library or Goodwill. If I can send them off to a book friend, I'll do that also.

I donate them to the troops. You can find all the information on operationpaperback.org You ship the books using media mail, military address rates are the same as US rates no matter where in the world you are shipping to. It is not expensive.

well I keep unread books in my bedroom and when finished i move them in to a spare bedroom. I let my family borrow books.... the good books get the phrase "i want this back" when i give it to them. I trade or sell books that i didn't care for at a used books store.

That's a really good idea, Elena. Thanks for the info.

Operation Paperback doesn't accept romances unless specifically requested by a service member, so since that's all I read, I can't do that much.

If no one in my family or at work wants to read the books I don't want to keep, I list them on Paperbackswap

Generally right when I'm done reading a book I'll keep it, maybe lend it to a friend. I need to have time to think about how I felt about any book before I get rid of it. Some books I think get a little bit better once I take the time to think about them, such as Wuthering Heights, which I wasn't fond of right after reading or discussing in class, but now I think it was quite an interesting story.

However, I'll generally go through purges of my bookshelf where I'll realize books I thought were great in my teenage state really weren't much more than fluff at best and a waste of time at worst. Those books I'll usually donate to second hand shops. Went through two purges in the last year of all the trashy romance novels I had accumulated in my high school years. Now I think I only have a half dozen or so left at best.

Corrine wrote: "Operation Paperback doesn't accept romances unless specifically requested by a service member, so since that's all I read, I can't do that much.


Well that's pretty silly that they don't accept romance novels.

I'm a borrower from the library so I don't own much except some Dresden Files, Anita Blake, and Merry Gentry. It's no cost to me and no clutter. Don't get me wrong...I would LOVE to own all of these books I read but I can't afford it so the library it is! :)

I am mostly a library person too. However, since discovering some pretty good booksales in the area and getting some books from co-workers I've been forced to purge. Usually, I donate books to the library, give them to people I have met through GR, or give them away to someone who I know reads and wants it. Mostly though extra books go to the library.

Horde them. But I found this one website several years ago that's cool. You can put stickers in the book and you're supposed to leave the book some place for someone to find. That person can look the book up on the website and then review the book themselves. Then they're supposed to leave it someplace else. Kinda cool concept. Think it's bookcrossing.com. I might have to set some books free since my shelves are over full!

Other than the ones I keep...

I usually take them to a used bookstore for store credit. Although, if it is a book I think someone I know will enjoy I will give it to them. I have different taste than most of the people I know who read...so I usually end up taking them to the used bookstore.

I keep all of my books...even if I despise them. It's the reason why I'm steadly running out of room for them. I started out with 1 bookshelf about a year ago and now I'm up to 3, and in need of a 4th.

I just can't stand to part with my books, and the ones I did give away a few years back I feel bad for doing so. They were only old goosebump books but I want them back...lol

I'm a very selfish person when it comes to my books. I have only given away one book in all the years of buying them, yes it was that wretched I had tried to read it five times and failed each time. Anyways, like Michelle and Roseann I keep everything and I'm a book buying addict, like right now I have seven books from the library and 86 just sitting here waiting to be read, some I bought years ago but have yet to get around to them and I'm planning on buying several this week.

I like swappping. Most books I don't feel I will re-read so I'd rather "share the love". Plus with swapping I get a new book for the one I swap.

My ID is always Daalmonette
paperbackswap.com
bookcrossing.com
bookmooch.com

and I mod an Erotica Swap Group on Yahoo groups called the Sizzlers.

I have started a small collection b/c there are some books I like discussing as a group and want to re-read.

I will keep a book if I like it, because I like to re-read. Otherwise I usually donate books to thrift stores. When I lived in Georgia there was a used bookstore where people could trade their books in for credit and use it to get other books, but I haven't found anything like that here yet. Maybe I should check out bookcrossing.com.

If I like them I keep them, if I hate them the library or charity (thrift) store gets them.

I usually list the books that I don't want to keep on paperbackswap or swap them here on goodreads with another user, or I resell them. But if I like the book I will keep it on my bookshelf forever.

I have 5 rooms of double-shelved bookcases. I have had to be ruthless about getting rid of them over the years. I have huge trading credits at several used bookstores. I give my friends first pick over everything I am getting rid of. I donate books to hospitals and libraries. Last year I sold fifty shelves of cookbooks to another collector. It was either that or get a bigger place.

It has never been easy for me to get rid of books. It feels sometimes that I am tearing away parts of my soul, but a lot of classics and poetry are now available online and I generally get rid of books that I would rate less than 4 to 5 stars.

As I get older, I am unable to physically handle the books I have always collected. I am now disabled and even the act of finding a particular book is difficult. But, don't feel too sorry for me. I still have more books than many used book stores.

I put allll the books I have yet to read in piles around my apartment. A practice my husband LOATHES as the piles sometimes end up on the floor...when I finish a book I catalogue it, write a brief review on the back cover and then file it accordingly on the approriate shelf. If the piles of books start to become a bit too hard to navigate then I usually stack them (spine facing me) on my piano, on my desk, under lamps etc...obviously I need a bigger place...to accomodate my books...does that sound wrong to anyone?

If it's a book that I don't want after reading it, I donate it to the Salvation Army. Now, if it's a book that my buddy has on her wish list, then it's most likely that she will get the book.

Any book that I think I will read again, I keep. Consequetly, my house looks like a library. If I am not going to keep it, I either give it to my mom to read, or I post it on Paperback swap. This way I am giving them to other readers and I get to order more books that I want to read and don't have yet.

Hmmmmm...this may sound like gambling or mean or just plain fun but i consider it money making. *evil laugh here....but if there's this book especially a really touching book..i bet on it especially with my guy friends that it's going to make them cry but they for some reasons, dont believe so i tell them if they cried they would have to pay me 300...but they always cry. HAHAHA! I dont do this to all book but after reading most of em I stack them properly on the shelf. I like looking at books and making my room look like a library.

Mostly I keep all my books.... I am embarrassed to say that I am reluctant to part with them. However, I am kinda over-loaded and guess I should donate to some good cause... Old Age home sounds good. I am considering de-cluttering certain areas of my home, so I guess my collection of books would be a good area to begin!!!! Oooh the thought gives me goose-bumps, but ja, I know I can do it. Baby steps.....

I keep all of my books. I don't let people borrow them anymore because no one has ever returned them. I know it sounds kind of mean, but eh. They are like a little piece of my soul. Like my own personal horcruxes. Plus, I am notorious for re-reading.

I'll only keep a book if I loved it and I know I will re-read it at some point. I usually give them to the library, post them on PBS, or bookmooch.com

Jo wrote: "I hate it when you lend a book to someone and they take forever to give it back or they don't give it back at all!"

I KNOW! lol. i feel so unease but i constantly remind them i have to they're my book and i take care of them. :D

My boyfriend was reading a book a bought for him and I actually watched him bend the page in half where he was. I mean, dog earring MAYBE... but IN HALF!!! AHHHH!

lol Barbara! That would freak me out too! My husband is better than me at using actual book marks so I've never seen him even dog-ear any pages.

Jo wrote: "Jessica wrote: "I put allll the books I have yet to read in piles around my apartment. A practice my husband LOATHES as the piles sometimes end up on the floor...when I finish a book I catalogue it..."

Brilliant idea! Perhaps I shall! :)

Jo wrote: "Lol! I got one back today that i let my friend borrow about 4 months ago. She told me she had read it after about 3 days. "

see? haha. like if we dont remind them constantly they actually forget about it. good thing u did.

I lost my whole Nicholas Sparks collection when I was 18. Well, now four years later my "friend" has gone off with her boyfriend and became a crack head. Literally. Isn't life a duck?

I only lend my books out to people I trust. I used to keep them all but lately I've been giving away ones I don't want to the Goodwill book store next to my husband's work. I really should look into swapping.

Jaimie wrote: "I only lend my books out to people I trust. I used to keep them all but lately I've been giving away ones I don't want to the Goodwill book store next to my husband's work. I really should look int..."

Go to paperbackswap.com
That's where all the books I no longer want end up...and then I get books I reeeeally want and it's free! Well, you pay to ship out your books, but it's waaaaay cheaper.

I belong to a couple of websites. 1 is called Read It Swap It, its a UK based site where we swap books that we have finished reading. Another site I go on is Bookmooch, where we send books for others to enjoy when asked x

Jessica wrote: Go to paperbackswap.com
That's where all the books I no longer want end up...and then I get books I reeeeally want and it's free! Well, you pay to ship out your books, but it's waaaaay cheaper."

That was the one I was looking at the other day. Plus I really like the idea of getting two book credits for joining. One question. Do you really just wrap it in the sheet you print out and mail it? No bubble wrap? I would be afraid something would happen to the book during shipping.

Yep, just wrap it up. You can use your own packaging if you choose, and if I remember rightly, you have an extra option of buying their insured shipping or something along those lines.

Not everyone does, but I use a layer of plastic under the printed wrapper. It's something PBS wrapping guidelines highly recommends, and it helps keep out the moisture if the book is heading for a rainy climate. I've never had any trouble with a book I mailed arriving safely, although I did have a couple of books that were mailed to me come unraveled because the shipper didn't use strong enough tape. I always wrap hardcovers in bubble wrap and strong brown paper or a bubble mailer though.

Wow! I posted four books today and one has already been requested and another put on hold. I like this! :-) It's a shame I already got rid of all those books two weeks ago.

I'm going to have to look into this site. I don't have LOTS of books (I'm a library girl) but I do have a few I don't want. Would love to exchange them for ones I want instead. And u get to keep the books?

Julie (Mom2lnb) wrote: "Not everyone does, but I use a layer of plastic under the printed wrapper. It's something PBS wrapping guidelines highly recommends, and it helps keep out the moisture if the book is heading for a ..."

I was actually thinking of something along those lines. I have pallet wrap at my work I can use.

Yep, Elvia. You get to keep them. :)

I'm definitely looking into this site when I get to work.

Jaimie wrote: "Jessica wrote: Go to paperbackswap.com
That's where all the books I no longer want end up...and then I get books I reeeeally want and it's free! Well, you pay to ship out your books, but it's waaaa..."


I usually wrap it in an envelope with bubble wrap in it but I have received A LOT of books with just the print out covering it. They usually come SUPER TAPED up so no harm comes to the book but I have had maybe three or four where the package has ripped a great deal but still no harm came to the book. How you ship it is really up to you but as long as you tape that bad boy up the books seem to make the trip just fine. :) You should totally join! I have gotten over 26 books this way! The site keeps tally for you. And I have gotten rid of SO many books I did NOT like or want to keep around! And if you don't have books you want to give up you can just buy credits for like 3.50 apiece (I think) and just buy books at a discounted rate! I've done that a few times myself!

The wrapping part was actually pretty easy. I took some of the shrink wrap that is used to wrap pallets of material (think heavy-duty saran wrap) and then wrapped the two pieces of paper I printed out and taped it up.

Jessica, I saw that you could buy credits. That's going to get me in trouble! LOL! I already buy a lot of used books from half.com and this is cheaper. :-)

I finally signed up for pbs. I only have four books so far so I need six more to get my credits. I don't know if I have 6 more to give up lol so I may be purchasing my credits too.

Elvia, all I had to post was four books too. You'll be surprised how fast your books get picked. Another one of my books was chosen today. :-)

Jaimie wrote: "The wrapping part was actually pretty easy. I took some of the shrink wrap that is used to wrap pallets of material (think heavy-duty saran wrap) and then wrapped the two pieces of paper I printed ..."


Yes, sadly buying credits has gotten me into a lot of trouble as well. Let's just put it this way. I am expecting eight books in the mail in the next couple of weeks and I have no where to put 'em...ooooer....

Still, I feel justified because I'm saving money since I am not paying full price!