How many books do you own; how do you shelve them?

fewer than i once did, had a major clean out in the last couple of years, sent boxes of books to various sales organized to help local charities (food bank and raise a reader children's book initiative)

the ones that are left (100+) are mainly arranged by subject an author, but not alphabetically

I have a hundred plus books. To avoid being drowned in a sea of books, I do freecycle few of my books I've acquired over the past several years. I've also donated countless of books to the Webster Branch of the NYPL. The ones I no longer want.

I have a 3 shelf bookcase. On the bottom case are my art history and assorted reference books. On the shelf are my history books (on the left) and m science books (on the right). They're coincidentally separated by a dozen or so poetry books.

My favorite shelf is the third shelf where my fiction collection resides.

Interspersed into the whole potential alphabetical organization are misplaced books and magazines (most of the magazines are on the reference/bottom shelf). Oh yeah. A defunct Dell laptop as well.

The top of the book shelf are books I have yet to, my framed college degree, an autographed NY Yankees baseball I'm holding for a friend, a Russian nesting doll from Moscow (from Marietta's trip to Russia), a porceline reproduction of the Arc de Triomphe and a sewn Halloween pumpkin head attached to a wooden pedestal (up on my shelf 365 days a year).

I knew you were the kind who would do that.

Before I moved, I donated almost 2,ooo books to our local Cat Rescue organization. I still had 40 boxes of books to move. About half of them were excellent cook books, which brought the shelter a lot of money. I still have at least 100 cookbooks for Butrfly's use. I have good strong tall and short bookshelves, that won't sag, all over the house.

BBB

I have 3 books, the Bible by King James, The Tao of Winnie the Pooh and The Wit and Wisdom of Adolphe Menjou. I don't have any shelves.

Those books would be lonely if they had a bookcase all to themselves. One book per cabinet would make a book want to jump off the shelf and into a paper shredder.

You need more science fiction books. That's my official diagnosis Dys!

ordinarily I'd agree with you tzar, but over the years I've come to realize the collecting/amassing of books in one's home is a neurotic behavior indicative of a poor self image and inferiority complex, books should be re-destributed so that more readers may enjoy them. I only make exceptions for reference books/materials that are likely to be needed/referenced in the future. most books are not in that catagory. most books seen in someone's living room library are egocentric decorations.
I assume the above statement will piss off my quota for the day but as they say, "Truth Hurts"

I agree with the dys. I have culled my kept books to just the ones I repeatedly go to, plus the few I hope to read.

Hardback egocentric decorations* go on the shelves in the living room.
Paperbacks worth keeping (including travel books) go on the shelves in the master bedroom.
Favorite reads go on the small shelf in the guest bedroom.
Art, museum, business and writing books go in my office.



*That didn't hurt at all, Dys. I freely admit it.

I own hundreds of books. I have close to 200 cookbooks which are on a shelving unit that my former husband built for toys that was used in our old television room.

I probably have more than 1,000 books, with Celtic studies and Medieval history making up the bulk of my collection. At the present time, they are in boxes in the closet of one room, stacked around the perimeter of the guest room and stacked in the living room.

My gardening, quilting, sewing and craft books are in a 19th C Danish armoire in the room that was to have been my sewing room but is now my son's bedroom.

I desperately need bookshelves.

Oh yeah. I forgot cookbooks. A couple of dozen of them in the kitchen.
And SonofEva has a couple of full bookshelf units in his room.
We even have some books as egocentric decorations in the dining room.

I wonder if there is any room in our house that doesn't have books? I'm going to walk around the house and see.

Dyslexia wrote: "over the years I've come to realize the collecting/amassing of books in one's home is a neurotic behavior indicative of a poor self image and inferiority complex"

Plainoldme, does that make you a neurotic behavior with poor self image and with an inferiority complex? I don't think so.

BBB

I gave away hundreds of books before I moved to Vancouver. Now I'm back in Edmonton and my measly collection sits in two sm. Ikea cases and the recipe/cook books are over the stove. I have a few fictional books that I reread every couple of years, books on art/decorating, a whole shelf of dictionaries, webster, oxford and english/spanish/italian/gaelic/latin/etc.
I have a few local and Irish history books, my collection of folk fest bibles, maps of all the places I've been, some beautifully illustrated children's books and photo albums. C'est tout.
I borrow all others from the library or from friends and family, and yes, I always return them in a timely fashion.

Eva, I like books as egocentric decorations. In fact, I loan many of my books to young and older people in my neighborhood. They call them their library.

BBB

Probably better than mirrors anyway.

Oh wait. I have a bunch of them, too.

Eva, do those mirrors make you a narcissist?

BBB

I stand confirmed with my hypothesis. the very nature of the OP more than implies a value, indeed a positive value associated with someone who owns many books when, in fact, owning many books can only imply that someone own's many books and says nothing whatsoever about the qualities of the book owners. many people I have known with large "libraries" were functionally illiterate while I have know many people who owned nearly no books who were highly educated. The use of "books" to self-describe oneself is a trivial and trite mechanism intended to enhance ones esteem albeit invalidly. One does not become more intelligent or better educated by ones garish display of books.

I just knew you would have The Wit and Wisdom of Adolphe Menjou!

At the age of 55, more like a masochist.

Actually, I just like a lot of light.

I spent a great many years collecting the books I have. There is no way I would give them away or sell them. I was thinking of what is going to happen to them when I die. My kids might want the literature and perhaps some of the Celtic and Medieval books but I can't see them keeping the Simone de Beauvoir collection!