Can You Ever Own Too Many Books?

Image by Ben Oh via Flickr

     
           Last Monday's post stimulated some interesting discussion about whether or not most of our writing is done in vain.   The over all consensus is that it is not so long as we enjoy what we are doing and if others derive some kind of benefit or entertainment value from what we write.   I want to write and so I do.

          Today I ask can we ever own too many books.   At what point do we have too many books?

          My wife probably is thinking that I am approaching hoarder mentality, especially where books are involved.  I haven't counted what I have in my house, but I would estimate within the view from my office desk I can see about 300 books.  Then I have several in the closet that I can't see.  In other rooms of the house there are at least another two or three hundred scattered about.  Add to that another few hundred that belong to my wife (she shouldn't be pointing at finger at me!).   And did I mention the I don't know how many hundred that are out in our garage on shelves or packed in boxes?   I even still have books from my younger days at my mother's house.

          Let's face it--I probably have more books than I will ever read in my remaining lifetime at the rate I'm reading now.   And I seem to keep acquiring more to add to the collection.

           Over the years I've amassed many of them through book club memberships, purchased several for school classes, bought them during sales like the Borders clearances, and had them given to me.  I rarely get rid of any of them because I like having a library in my home.

          Even the ones I have read I would probably not want to get rid of since I tend to forget what I read and think that I may one day read them again.   That might not be possible since I've got so many left to read for the first time.

           Maybe I have too many books.   That could probably also go for CDs, DVDs, and other recorded media.   I look around the house and see all the stuff and realize maybe we have too much of all of it.  Where does it end?

            Recently when I helped my sister move from Phoenix back to Tennessee, we loaded a rental truck with a great many things she would need in her new home and a lot of personal possessions that she wanted to keep.  The rest of what she owned she left behind to be sold by an auction company.  As I looked around the house before we left I was amazed at the sheer quantity of material goods that she and her late husband had acquired over the previous decade and a half.   Most of us own so much that is just there but rarely used for anything functional and often not even noticed that it is there.

           That is my book collection--untouched for the most part, but are there any books I would immediately want to give up?  I guess I would have to think on that for a while and it might prove to be a difficult decision.  Maybe when they start stacking up, threatening to fall over and crush me, then maybe I'm starting to own too many books.  Perhaps I need to slow down and start reading instead of accumulating.

          Do you own too many books?   What should be the point at which you stop accumulating books?   When do you decide to get rid of books?   How do you get rid of them?


          If you'd like to add more books to your collection be sure to see my post coming up on Wednesday November 23rd where I'll be talking about the big Chronicle Books Give-Away.   Oh boy!  More books.



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The Soul of My Office

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
-----Cicero

           Last week I took you on a tour of my office.  But you really didn't have the opportunity to peruse through some of the books that are there.  If you're anything like me, when you visit somebody you like to check out what kind of books they have.  It's not so much that I'm nosy, it's more like I want to know what their interests are.  It's a conversation starter or stimulator.  As soon as I see books, CDs, or DVDs I check them out to see if they have anything like I have at home or what it is they like.  You can tell a lot about a person by the books they read, the music they listen to, or the movies they enjoy.  It's not a perfect indicator, but it's usually a pretty good indicator of a person's nature.

         This week I thought I'd give you a closer look at my primary office book shelf.  These are the books that I've put closest at hand as books to which I might refer or might inspire me as a writer.  We have many other books in other rooms and many of those are also highly treasured by me, but the books on this shelf are my writer's office library.  On the top of the bookcase you can see some family pictures.  I have many family pictures throughout my office.  I like to stay reminded of the family that I love so much.

      

 

           My top shelf contains my books about writing.  These are at my eye level and though I have read or plan to read these, they are not books to which I refer on a regular basis.  These are my trade books to remind me who I am and to inspire me on my journeys.  Many of them I have purchased through Writer's Digest and contain much of the same helpful information I get on many writing blogs.  The way I see it is you can never read this information too many times--it's always good to be reminded.  The main book on this shelf is probably the WRITER'S MARKET.  I'm sure most of us have this or some other similar book to help guide us when it comes to moving our works out into the marketplace.

    
 

         The next shelf has my reference books.  These are kept the most easily accessable because these are the books I use more than any others.  These are the word books and encyclopedic style reference books.  There is even a rock and roll encyclopedia that was out of date before it hit the store shelves -- that's the hazard of any reference book, especially dealing with pop culture.  I love these kinds of books though--always have.  I used to read the encyclopedia and dictionary for fun when I was a kid and I still do every once in a while.  We've got reference books throughout our house which to me is a very good thing.                              The next shelf has Bibles and religious books.  Since I lead a Bible study class at church, write about religion, and like to study religion I tend to have many religious related texts.  They are not just about the Christian religion.  In other places in our home we have texts for other religions and books about those other religions.  In another larger office we have a great many religious books,  but these are the ones I might use with greater frequency.  Some of these belonged to my father.   He used to study the Bible and write about the Bible.  I take after him in many ways.

                          Further down I have some books that have special meaning to me.  These are mainly short story books.  Most of these I started buying back in the 1960's when I was in middle school and high school.  My first real reading passion was science fiction, but it quickly expanded to other genres.  Sometimes I go back a reread some of the stories in these books.  Good stories are worth rereading.

          On the bottom shelf are some other miscellaneous books with various purposes. Some are other types of reference like finance.  Others are novels that I have enjoyed.  There are even some of my old high school yearbooks--I pick these up every once in a while.  These are all books with special meaning to me, but books that others would enjoy seeing as well.

          This is one of two bookshelves in my office.  We have many other bookshelves in other rooms.  I am vitalized by the presence of books in the home.  Sometimes it is comforting just to go to part of my home library and pull down books from the shelf to just thumb through.  In our guest room I keep a nice selection of books in case a guest would want to read.  It's something I enjoy when I visit someone-- I always bring my own book, but if a place I'm visiting has books I'll give those preference.  There's that strange thing about how books can make you feel at home while they take you away at the same time.

         Do you have special places for books in your home?  What kinds of books are the keepers for you as opposed to the ones that you sell at your yard sales?   Do you have a special book memory that illustrates how books can breathe life into a home or some other place?