Sunday, February 24, 2008

Keep, Toss or Share?


By the way, I'm almost finished Killing Fear and I just now noticed the little red star on the front of the book that says you can get a book free. Yay for free books!
I probably missed the words because I ordered the book online and the second I got it in my hot little hands I put it up by my computer. As a reward after writing, I'd allow myself to read a chapter :) Anyway, at the back of Killing Fear is a form you can fill in and send away for a free copy of The Prey. I think this is pure genius! Of course, I've already read The Prey but, hey, a free book is a free book and I'll gladly gift it or just keep it because it's always good to have a second copy of a book you like, right?

Can you tell I have a problem with getting rid of books? It's true. I have difficulty parting company with books. I have a LOT of books. Some of my friends joke about borrowing from my library. Truthfully, there are some books I probably could take off my shelves (ones that aren't my favorites). These are books that I've read but don't love enough to read again. Still, I just can't seem to bring myself to remove them.

That leads me to this question: What do you do with your books? Do you trade them in at used book stores? Do you pass them along to libraries, charities and/or lucky friends?

10 comments:

conley730 said...

I usually give them to friends or sell them cheap at a garage sale. There are some I won't let go of even though I rarely read a book twice.

tetewa said...

I have many autographed books that I will not part with. My other books that I've read I usually give away to friends or donte them to my library.

Chandra Rooney said...

I usually pass them around to friends, but my copy of Halfway to the Grave returned with its cover completely separated from its pages. Now, I'm rethinking about lending out I really love.

Spy Scribbler said...

I dwindled about 75% of my book collection, selling them at a used bookstore when I went through a really "tight" time.

Otherwise, I always keep them. :-) But hubby and I are thinking of living a more nomadic lifestyle, and I might have to trade my beloved books for an ebook reader and ebooks.

I'm thinking of dividing them up into genre, and auctioning them at ebay, and donating the proceeds to charity.

Dru said...

I keep my keepers and the rest I donate to the library or give to friends.

conley730 said...

Spyscribbler...I'm considering changing my name to Charity LOL! I've also donated a few to the library. Mostly I just give them to a friend and it keeps getting passed on.

Ellory said...

I have so many books. I can't bear to give them up. I'm trying to be better and keep give some away to the library book sale or see if I can trade them at my local UBS.

Some of my books I won't lend. :) I'd rather encourage my friends to get their own copy.

Amie Stuart said...

I give mine to friends or give them to charity. I'm like you. I have a hard time getting rid of but I've really been cracking down espeically since I got a ton of new books for Christmas and still haven't read all the ones i got at Nationals in July so I've gotten more active in my gifting--our cleaning lady at work is a reader so I'm passing them to her and my critique partner.

The (Mis)Adventures of a Single City Chick said...

Weeding through my literally hundreds of books that I STILL haven't read is my big project for this weekend. I still have the freebie books from last year's National sitting in shopping bags on my bedroom floor because there isn't any more room in the crates of books on my closet floor! Crazy! But what I do with those I no longer want is donate them to the library so they can either sell them during their drive or shelf them. Most of the books are brand new, too, so hopefully a good number of them end up on the shelves for others to enjoy. At least it's a tax deduction for me. :-)

Christina

Wendy Roberts said...

Sounds like you all at least have a PLAN for your books. Hmmm. Guess I may consider weeding out some of the books on my shelves. It'll be painful but maybe it's like pulling off a bandaide and it'll be less painful if I do it quick!