Book Hoarder

I have been collecting books my entire life, and I won’t tell you how many decades that covers. I still have illustrated nursery rhyme books my great-aunt gave to me in pre-school days. You do not want to pry out of my hands that tattered volume with words underlined by my three-year-old self as I painstakingly figured out how to read on my own.  Up until this last move, I still owned the torn and yellowed paperbacks from my teen years of Bradbury, Asimov, and of course, Erich von Daniken with my treasured ancient alien theories.

When I first started earning money with my writing, I collected beautiful boxed and illustrated classics.  My intent was to pass on to my grandchildren the library that I had wanted when I was a child. By the time I could afford to buy those expensive  volumes, I’d already read most of them, but over the years, I’ve read and re-read treasured stories. The complete collection of Shakespeare alone has been invaluable.

Then there are the first editions from my friends in the romance genre, and the book-of-the-month classics like Catch-22, and the autographed books from various booksignings spilling off the shelves. Skipping right past my ten-thousand favorite mass market books filling up entire walls, moving on to my reference books, costume books, research books...  I don’t think that sentence can possibly end well.

Every room in my house has at least one wall of books, and I have a very large house, with very large walls. Therein lies the difficulty. We are leaving this very large house and moving to one half its size. Not only that, we are moving everything ourselves in a 16’ truck. No professional movers spending weeks boxing up all those books and toting them in and out and up and down as they have been for decades.

A line has to be drawn somewhere, and it has been drawn over my books. We can buy a new bed and a new desk and a new sofa when we get there, so I’m limiting my furniture to heirlooms. But even I realize I cannot fit this many books into a cottage. So these past months I’ve been surveying my shelves through tears, carefully choosing old favorites, and boxing them. My garage is almost full. The rest will have to go. I have one entire shelf of costume books. How do I pick the one to take? I have an entire towering section of illustrated classics—I cannot possibly give up Austen. Or Twain. Maybe Defoe?

Consider your own collection... What books would you take with you? How would you start sorting them? And just to be mean, I'll send a book to the first person who names a favorite that I have in my collection--that I haven't already packed. Go ahead, give it a try, name a favorite  book. If nothing else, we'll all acquire new reading lists! 

 

(a hint, those aren't my shelves, so you can't peek!)

Comments

[Anne Gracie]

Pat, I completely sympathize with your dilemma. I'm in much the same situation -- bookshelves in every room of the house and still I can't stop myself from buying more.

I need to reduce my collection, too, so I can rebuild/renovate, but I can't bring myself to cull very much. I need my books. i like to reread them and even those I don't reread, I know the minute I've given one away, I'll need to look something up in it.

it's a hard, hard thing you do.

[HJ]

I can't do it. I've tried. I had to move somewhere where I can keep my books, indeed I hope to unpack some which have been living in boxes!

[Betty Winslow]

Beauty, by Robin McKinley

[Clay Rylee]

I sympathize with your situation and I would hate to be put in a place where I would have to get rid of some of my precious friends. As for a favorite of mine? It's not really a single book, instead it is a series of books, The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

[Lil]

Getting rid of books? It can't be done. Amputating a limb is easier.
Have you considered deep shelves on the bookcase walls? That way you can put the books two deep. Or you can. like me, have cartons of books up in the attic. This actually has advantages. You can go up there occasionally and find mysteries you haven't read in so long that you can't remember who dunnit. There's nothing like finding a John Dickson Carr that might as well be new!

[Margot]

As college student, I really don't have much room for books. I only brought one box with me when I moved, mostly books I hadn't read yet. (The rest of my books are currently languishing in my mother's basement, although obviously I haven't had nearly enough time to actually build that large a collection.) Fortunately, I suppose, I read mostly ebooks these days, and so I can fit thousands of books on one tiny flash drive.

Nonfiction books don't seem to work nearly as well for me digitally, though. Especially ones with lots of color pictures, like costume books. So my stash of reference books is sadly lacking.

[Patricia Rice]

Amputating a limb, yes! By gnawing it off. Isn't our connection to paper and print insane? We know we can buy these books or check them out at the library almost any time, but we want them where we can grab them at any hour.

And yes on the e-readers for fiction. Sigh, but one entire wall is nonfiction hardcover and there's no double-stacking those. Or fitting them into the POD.

A hint--outside of my nonfiction collection, most of my books will be romance-oriented and very few will be horror or suspense. So maybe we won't expand our reading lists very far.

[Janga]

I too sympathize, Pat. I also have childhood favorites on my shelves along with several decades of keepers, including paperback keepers that literally have been read to pieces, held together now only by binder clips and rubber bands. I still can't bear to trash them.

I have given away boxes of books in significant numbers twice. When I retired from teaching, I had sixteen packed shelves of books in my office that I had no room for at home. I kept only a few treasures such as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and Cyclopedia of Literary Characters; the rest found new homes with colleagues and graduate students. When I moved to a much smaller house five years ago, I gave away more than a dozen boxes of books. It was painful, but knowing other booklovers benefited from the giveaways helped.

Now even with quarterly book purges of non-keepers and a Kindle full enough that I have to delete books from the device every month, I still have overflowing bookcases everywhere.

[julie barrett]

i try hard not to get a lot of print books because they do take up so much room and i like to give my books away to others. if they then fall in love with the authors as i have then they will go buy all the books themselves. i have thousands of ebooks but i love holding a book in my hand. something i've not done is hold any of ernest hemmingway or john steinbeck books in my hands. those would be the ones i'd take with me when we move.

[MJ]

I had to cull my collection when we moved to Malaysia in 2005 and everything went into storage. It was a treat to bring those keeper books "back into the daylight" when we returned and built our retirement home in 2009.

One of my longtime favorite authors was Jan Cox Speas (Bride of the MacHugh, My Lord Monleigh) who wrote in the late 1950s. Apparently Avon brought her books back out in the late 70s and her stories were just as fresh then. Unfortunately, she died of a heart attack in 1971. She had a third book, My Love, My Enemy that I've always searched for but never found.

[Susan/DC]

My goal when we renovated our house was to be able to unpack the cartons of books that I'd collected over the years. I've (mostly) succeeded, but the remaining books are double-stacked in the bookcases and on my dresser and nightstand and elsewhere in the house. I've continued to be somewhat ruthless about pruning the collection, but I volunteer at my local library's UBS (for those of you who live anywhere near the Chevy Chase neighborhood in Washington, DC, we are open every Saturday and have lots of romance, not to mention reference works, literary fiction, and just about anything you'd want -- we are definitely a neighborhood of readers and donaters). As a result, for every two books I donate I seem to bring home at least one at the end of my shift. I do try to buy recently published books new so that the author gets the royalties, but I've found lots of OOP books for which I feel no guilt buying used.

[Mem Morman]

I was faced with this last summer when our family had to evacuate because of forest fires. We own about 10,000 books - there was no way to even make a dent in moving them in the few hours we had, so we didn't even try. I took my presentation Bible from when I was 6 years old, my Allen and Unwin first edition Fellowship of the Ring, a boxed single volume LotR that needs to go to my son, the two books I was currently reading. I fully expected never to see any of the others again. We were lucky and the fire was controlled a few blocks from our house, but the experience has made me think differently about my entire book collection.

[Kate]

I have done it. I understand your pain. We moved twice in one year. We moved to a smaller place and then back to our old house. We both gave away books at least 3 bookshelves full about the size in your picture. When we moved back we had to move ourselves, so we left more behind for the return trip. We also had to leave behind some of the bookshelves that we had.
I think the one I couldn't leave behind would be my collection of Robert Frost poems.

[Jo Banks]

Definitely akin to amputation to part with any book.Living in a small bungalow I have tried all manner of ways to hang on to them !!Cartons in the roof ,double stacked bookcases,heaps on the floor over flowing sideboards mantel pieces windowsills !But every now and then he who must be obeyed (or at least thinks he is -must humour him!)demands that he should at least be able to get to his side of the bed!So with the pace of a snail I have had to relinquish some !The sneakiest way is to lend some to the daughter until her other half complains and they come flying back!Some I would never part with.I have a complete set of Georgette Heyers historicals some having been read so often the pages are getting very dodgy!Then there is Sir Walter Scotts Ivanhoe and the Talisman not to forget Jane Austen!If I ever had to move I dread to think I would probably have to have a van for just my books!

[Patricia Rice]

I feel all your pain. Fire! I had not even thought about the destruction of all these wonderful books. I'm in such lovely company here! We are so fortunate to have so much at our fingertips. Can you imagine what it must have been like in earlier centuries when books were a rarity?

I suppose it's good that our libraries can be added to digitally, but will our grandchildren know the pure physical pleasure of holding that rare illustrated volume in their hands?

[Barbara Elness]

Since I'm a single lady, I get to make the decision on what to pack and I don't care if I had to leave all my clothes and furniture behind, most of the books would go. I might be able to whittle down the pile a small amount by going through some of the older books in genres I don't read much any more, but that's it. I still have several boxes of books in one of the closets in my house that I'm trying to go through now. These are books that wouldn't fit on the many bookshelves I have in every room. I managed to get rid of a few, but it's very hard to do. The favorite I'm going to name is Jo Beverley's A Lady's Secret.

[Sherrie Holmes]

Sherrie here. One day, I'm going to hire a high school student to catalog my 5,000+ books by author, title, and subject matter.

I love books. Love to read them, look at them, and decorate with them. I think a bookshelf full of interesting books is the perfect decor for any home. Most of my books are hardbacks, an eclectic mix collected from library book sales over the years. If I want to learn how to juggle or perform magic, I have books on that. Shipwrecks or natural disasters? I have books on that. Regency architecture? Animal husbandry? History of clothing? Dinosaurs? Gold mining? Cooking? Survival in the wilds? You name it, I have one or more books on it.

I've lived in this house for over 40 years, but if I ever had to move, my books are coming with me.

As to naming a book you have in your collection, I'll bet you have The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue - Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. However, I'll also bet that you have already packed it into a box! *g*

[Jana]

Both my husband and I are bookish, and our 3 year old is acquiring an impressive library as well. We have books in most rooms of our house and our shelves are double stacked (some of my romance paperbacks are triple stacked!). We have bins of books in our basement and can't imagine purging them. On a recent visit my mom looked around our house in mild disbelief and said "don't you think it's time to get rid of some of these books?" My husband, dad and I were stunned by such sacrilege. I can't imagine purging, although I do know there are books here that won't be re-read. It's strange what a hold books can have on a person!

[Mary Jo Putney]

MJ==

Jan Cox Speas's MY LOVE, MY ENEMY is listed as available from Sourcebooks in a 2011 reprint. Go for it!

For myself and my book collection--I rather fancy the "dying in place" option.

The other MJ

[Jenny]

I had to get rid of loads of books over 20 years ago, and I still suffer withdrawal from the experience. However, I have managed since to aquire an impressive number to replace them, so it hasn't been so bad. A number of years ago a friend moved to a single bedroom cottage with his wife, but made sure there was enough room at the back to build a shed which he proceeded to fill with his books (he is a retired University professor). I always thought it was a good solution.

If I had to grab a book or books, I believe it would be my 1st edition of Napiers Peninsular War - all six volumes. Just holding them makes me happy.

[nancy]

Been there done that. Moved from a 5 bedroom 2 story house to a 3 bedroom condo. Gave away 10 book cases and 60 boxes of books-- mostly paperback fiction. Have had to buy 3 bookcases since I moved. Kept my reference books and added to them. When I was looking at places before I settled n the one I bought, I confused the agent showing the place. I looked at everything -- even linen closets as potential book cases( and have filled them all with books. )

[LynS]

I found that case size box from Girl Scout cookies was perfect to store my children's books. They didn't get too heavy and could be easily carried up the pull down attic ladder. My father in law was a book hoarder. We couldn't take the time to sort so had the lot packed up and shipped here. The books alone were 8K of the moving expense. We are still wading through the complete writings of George Washington as well as all the other founding fathers. We sent 63 linear feet of Civil War books off to a book dealer. As for keepers it is my collection of Tolkien books and Anne McCaffrey. I had one bookcase of keeper romance but they have flowed over and are mixed with non-keepers (no wench in that lot though). Maybe some disgustingly hot summer day, I will crank up the airconditioner and sort. Nah, I would rather pull up a lawn chair and read.

[Betty Hamilton]

Every great romance colletion must have: Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice.

[Patricia Rice]

Book hoarding kindred spirits, I love you all!

Sherrie, yes, my 18ll Vulgar Tongue is already packed.

I had to choose my favorite of each wench's backlist to keep and hope to eventually buy the rest again as ebooks.

Jana, encourage that 3-year-old and maybe he'll want to keep your collection!

Barbara, if you need a copy of Jo's book, I've got it! Although I'm starting to think it was pretty silly to ask a group of book hoarders if they need a copy of their favorite book. Duh, what was I thinking?

[Janice Hougland]

It would be so hard for me to choose, Patricia. But I know of one old book that I have that I would not give up for anything...it was my very first romance novel from my mother's collection: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. That reminds me, I need to rent the movie if I can find it, starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde (1947). [email protected]

[Isobel Carr]

I gave up on having fiction in paper when I bought my house. It’s a cozy bungalow and not really laid out for a massive library (even the bedroom that is now my office is mostly windows and doorways). So my bookshelves are devoted entirely to research books. And even with those I’ve had to pare down. All my 16thC stuff from my years of re-enacting are boxed and in a closet. I get rid of new research books that don’t say “KEEPER” via RWA’s Beau Monde chapter’s silent auctions at National. But even then, my shelves are overflowing ... the things I know I won’t ever part with though are my costume books. They’ll pry the giant Tashen edition of Kyoto’s FASHION from my cold, dead hands!

[Ella Quinn]

I know what you mean. Our house in Germany was large, unusual I know, and had not only my bookshelves, but built-in ones as well. I managed to make the hard choices, but my husband did not. We moved to a house less than half of the size of our German one, with 200 boxes of books, and thee bookshelves. When I moved to St Thomas the only thing that saved me was my Kindle. I still have books stashed everywhere.

[Patricia Rice]

Forever Amber, yes, that brings back memories! I don't know what happened to my mother's copy of that. That's probably a good thing.
And my new place is pretty much a bungalow. Windows, doors, no walls. No closets. No yard for adding on booknooks. It will be an experiment.

[Kay]

I have books all over the place, bookcases, boxes. I have numerous oversized books on movies and costumes. I have the first books certain people at this site have written. How can I possibly give any up? I, Claudius would be one I could never part with. And then there's...

[theo]

Oh, Pat. I so feel for you. When we moved, I was promised a wall to wall bookshelf on my vaulted wall in the den. That was 10 years ago. I'm still waiting. In the meantime, I have books in every room and boxes of them in the attic and basement and can't bring myself to part with any of them.

I'm guess you haven't packed What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew only because you probably already know it cover to cover. But I could be wrong...

[Janice]

I know the books I couldn't live without because I have them in all different forms - hard cover, paperback, ebook, copies in the glove compartment, all that. Fortunately they're so common that if something happened to my home I could walk away without them and never fear that I couldn't replace them: Jane Austen's novels, HG Wells' War of the Worlds and The Time Machine; The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit; Secrets of the Heart and a few other titles by Mary Balogh. Well, Secrets of the Heart is out of print but there are still copies around. The others every bookstore would have.

[Patricia Rice]

My beloved built me a wall of bookshelves for this house. If I can find a wall in the new one, he'll build me another. But I suspect it will have to go over the TV.
And yes, Theo, I've packed What Jane Austen Ate despite it's inaccuracies because it has some useful lists. I probably shouldn't have because I do have several others more accurate, but I guess I love the title.

Janice, parting with those early Balogh's had to be my first decision! I debated if I ought to try selling them on Amazon since they're so rare, but decided friends deserved them more.