Can you have too many books?

[hellison]

This is a long standing Bone of Contention (one of many :p) between my mother and I. She is constantly insisting that I 'thin out' my books so I'd have room on the shelves 'to put some nice things'.

They're BOOKshelves ffs, thats whats meant to be on them. And I don't want to fill them with twee wooden/ceramic cats, horses or other assorted tat. I have real cats, I don't need fake ones. Ditto horses.

Anyway rant aside (because it could go on A Long Time), can you have too many books?

I certainly don't think so. I am very much an avid re-reader of books; very rarely do I only read a book once, favourites get read and re-read til they fall apart.
There are probably a few I could get rid of, eg the crappy free ones that come with magazines, but the vast majority I have no intention of ever parting with.
I don't even like loaning them out in case they don't come back (HI littlebluefish).

Hmm might be time for another trawl through Amazon...

ps Almost forgot amid the ranting, mivvvv has the FLU and is very ILL so send him happy messages to cheer him up!

Comments

[reuss.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I am an avid re-reader too, and I have a lot of books too. But I've been thinking that there are some that I could thin out: the trashy books that I've accumulated along the way. I've read it (you have to read it at least once before you do anything with it) and put it down... and I could probably give it away.

But... most of the books I have I can't imagine ever getting rid of. The only problem now is that we simply don't have the space :S

[reuss.livejournal.com]

Stealing Heliotic's Black Books quoting:

Customer: Those books. How much?
Bernard: Hmmm?
Customer: Those books. The leather-bound ones.
Bernard: Yes, Dickens, the Collected Works of Charles Dickens.
Customer: Are they real leather?
Bernard: They're real Dickens.
Customer: I have to know if they're real leather because they have to go with the sofa.
[Bernard looks confused]
Customer: Everything else in my house is real. I'll give you two hundred for them.
Bernard: Two hundred what?
Customer: Two hundred pounds.
Bernard: Are they leather-bound pounds?
Customer: No.
Bernard: Sorry. I need leather bound pounds to go with my wallet. Next.

[evilfluffy.livejournal.com]

There is definitely no such thing as too many books.

My parents are beginning to regret encouraging this firm belief from a young age (my father told me that he was happy to buy me _anything_ as long as it was a book - an offer I took up wholeheartedly), as I still have several boxes of books cluttering up their garage/attic/spare room.

In order to appease them I regularly have to go throw out other junk in order to continue reassuring them that at some point the house will be free of my clutter.

I will be reclaiming them all at some point, but segvee and I just don't have the space yet :(