How Many Books is Too Many?
I have a stash of “to reads” and I confess, I keep them under my bed, waiting for their turn.
How many is enough? This question I pose a lot to clients. I am starting to wonder about the answer to my book situation. I do love to read and carry a book with me just about everywhere I go. But, I am not the fastest reader, so this many in the backlog will take me a long time to enjoy.
I still love the feel of holding a book and flipping the pages, even though I have migrated somewhat to e-books as well.
I have declared a moratorium on book acquisition for the time being. Maybe in a few months, I’ll be able to lift the moratorium, but for now, I am living with the idea that enough is enough.
By the way, I don’t save books after reading them. My entire collection of “read” books is less than 30. It’s just the “to read” that gets me.
Do you love to read? How many “to read” books do you have?
I have declared a moratorium on book acquisition for the time being. Click To Tweet
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Mine all all on my Nook, but my current count is almost 40. It’s actually fewer “books” than that, but four of the books are omnibus editions. That’s a bit high for me lately, but I’ve had a lot of library books on hold suddenly become available, and there’s been some good free books released lately. My actual monetary investment in those 40-odd books is less than $30.
Fortunately, I’m a fast reader.
E-readers and public libraries are a great way to be able to have a big assortment of books without a space commitment.
I personally don’t like to have on hand a lot of books set aside to read. I love to read but often can’t find time and I fall asleep reading in bed at night. When I have more than three or four books either in my bookcase or on my kindle, I feel pressure to read them and move them on. I prefer to keep my want to read list on Goodreads and then just get one at a time when I am ready for a new read.
Waiting to purchase your to-reads is a great system. That way you can enjoy them without pressure, like you said, and not have to store them in the meantime!
I have 2 professional books on my ‘to read’ list and 1 for fun book. I love to read and am a fast reader. I, like you, always have a book with me. I tend to keep my ‘for fun’ books on kindle and the professional books in print. I can’t donate some of the professional books because I highlight sections and turn pages down that I want to come back to. Books are one area where I think I never have enough.
You have a great system. I like that you distinguish between the ones you’re able to donate and not so you know which format to purchase which type of book.
I am lucky enough to have a wonderful library in town, so I rarely buy books. Sometimes I get them as gifts, especially devotionals, which I do love having in paper form in my home. My favorite way to read is audibly, and I love the Libby app for this because I can get books from my library for 3 weeks for free!
The Libby app is great and living in an area that has a library with a big array of books is wonderful! Also a great way to keep the stock of books down in your home. I agree they do make great gifts.
I have several hundred tangible books: 95% is non-fiction. Other than my Jane Austen and a handful of favorite books from my favorite genre (most of which are gifts), I don’t usually keep fiction. But non-fiction? I revisit favorite quotes, compelling descriptions, great approaches, etc. and use them as jumping off points for blogs, articles, and presentations. My rule is that I can only keep as many books as I have bookshelves for; when the space gets tight, the oldest and least-referred-to books get donated or sold.
A great alternative would be ebooks, but I literally never read the e-books that I have unless I’m stuck on a plane without internet access. I can borrow ebooks from library, and since I generally have more than 20 tangible books out of the library at any given time, those get all of my attention. My to-be-read pile of books I own is probably about the same as yours, not much more than 30, but I’ve always got a mountain of library books and an incentive to plow through those first! I just don’t enjoy reading books on a screen; the tactile experience is important to me.
I’m usually reading three books simultaneously: an easy book I can dip in and out of (like a memoir), an organizing or productivity book, and a deep book, usually history or essays. I can easily get rid of most things, but books keep my life cozy.
Julie, I like your rule about the books having to have a home on your shelves. It sets a limit.