How Many Books Do You Own?

[HRAAB]

The pictures of the library room in the other thread got me to thinking. My dh (who does love to read and does his fair share of it) thinks we own way too many books. He detests clutter, and most of our clutter is stacks of books or paper and pens. At last count, I had around 2,240 books. He was shocked, and took this as proof that he is right. Too many books. I told I'm sure that there are many, many homeschoolers who own more books than I.

 

So, help me prove to him we don't have too many books. How many do you own?

[Mrs Mungo]

I've never counted the number of books I own. However, I have 14 bookshelves in my house.

[Desert Rat]

I haven't counted either but I would say, school books included, maybe 1,500.

[mcconnellboys]

I'm guessing about 5000.......

[Renthead Mommy]

Like most people, I've only got 2. A left one and right one.

 

Oh wait, we'er talking about that other kind of books aren't we? :lol:

[KristenS]

No official total (I'm behind on cataloging, and don't keep track of the kids' or dh's books), but I'm betting we're at the 5,000 mark. But for sure a couple thousand fiction titles in my collection, and at least a thousand non-fiction. Maybe more.

 

Yeah, I'm obsessive. :D But they're all good stuff and I do re-read them. :)

[Tap]

33feet of Billy bookshelves full +. LOL How is that for a guess? I would say 2-3,000. But I have everything to homeschool from k-12 in there and at least 100 books for birth-4. It isn't as many as you would think! I have started to purge books that I don't really care for, or were ds's from when he was little that I don't think the girls are going to be reading like his Bionicle books or other such things.

[JudoMom]

Like most people, I've only got 2. A left one and right one.

 

Oh wait, we'er talking about that other kind of books aren't we? :lol:

 

:lol:

[HRAAB]

Like most people, I've only got 2. A left one and right one.

 

Oh wait, we'er talking about that other kind of books aren't we? :lol:

 

Now, those are two books dh has never complained about. ;)

[Jen in PA]

We did a major purge last time we hit 5,000. I'm thinking we are close to that number again even though I do small periodic purges of 100 - 300 books a few times a year. I don't know how they all get here, but we are always overflowing with books.

[Julie in CA]

Probably around 4000. I started to catalog books once, but stopped at about 1700. I know I was less than halfway finished when I quit.

[Hedgehogs4]

is that counting or not counting chewed board-books and the very hungry caterpillar? :lol:

 

just wondering.

[HRAAB]

is that counting or not counting chewed board-books and the very hungry caterpillar? :lol:

 

just wondering.

 

I didn't count board books or any that the girls slept with and look like they've been through a war. I did include most of our textbooks.

[Carrie12345]

I've never cataloged more than 200, because I just haven't found the "perfect" software yet. If I had to guestimate right this second, I'd say... Well, I was going to say 2,000. Then I remembered the stack on my desk and the box in my closet. Then I remembered the bin in the baby's toy corner. Then I remembered the box next to my bed, the two dozen books floating around the car, the extra box in ds's room, and the hidden box of curricula.

 

I know it can't be fewer than 2,500, but it wouldn't completely shock me if it were as many as 4,000.

 

Find me great software that syncs to BlackBerry and I'll count 'em up for ya. ;)

[duckens]

Just children's books: over 865 when I quit counting. I needed to know for a childcare training class I took last year. I won the prize for the most, but I've been collecting children's books since I was a babysitting teenager.

 

I purged a lot of my adult books when Loverboy moved in. I had to make space for him (and baby on the way) in my 3-rooms-and-a-bath apartment (490sq ft includes the stairs to walk up).

 

In this class, one detail was that poverty level is linked to the number of pieces of text within the household. Text can be books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Under 30 is a bad number. I assure Loverboy that my number of books assures us that we are not below the poverty level!!! If anything, we must be super rich!!!:D:D:D

 

--Laura in Iowa

 

P.S. We are lucky to have a Raising Readers group in our county. They fundraise for children's books; then supply our local pediatricians with the books to distribute at check-ups. For some kids that receive the books, it is their first and only book. :crying:

[rainforest mama]

I think there's 3500 to 4000 here. We did a major purge a couple of years back when we did a move and got rid of about a third. I think the shelves have been repopulated though and we have at least as many as we had before.

 

At times we have lived in areas with poor library service and have had to stock more to meet our homeschooling needs. Plus, I never really buy much for myself except books, so I never feel guilty for having them. The only challenge is finding wall space for the bookshelves. We're all full up!

 

Lana

[RoughCollie]

We have about 1400 books here at home. When we moved, we could not take about 3600 books because there was no room for them in this house.

 

I do not catalog anything. DH's books are in his bookcases, and the kids' books are in their bookcases in their bedrooms. We have another bookcase for educational materials, in which the books are categorized by subject.

 

My books are sorted by category in my bookcase: Christian material, cooking, home & garden, and fiction. I don't like owning a lot of books so make sure I don't have more than can fit into my bookcase.

 

I guess I am booked-out. I love to read, but I packed, unpacked and shelved over 32,000 books last summer (with some help from my family), which belonged to our business. I have spent years (until we moved into this small house) living in a library in which virtually all free wall space was covered up with a bookcase. This meant I could not hang many pictures or put much furniture against walls. The bookcases took up a lot of floor space, too.

 

I'm a big fan and user of the library, though.

[tonya in sc]

"How many books do you need to buy?!?!" in exasperation every quarter or so. I started answering, "All of them!"

He quit asking.

[Daisy]

I have over 3,000 cataloged on my Library Thing, but we have more than that.

[joannqn]

Including school books and craft books, all the books we own could fit into two bookshelves...the kind that are about 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall.

 

We have so little space, I've been getting rid of everything but the bare minimum and using the library more.

[Mergath]

Last time I counted, I had well over a thousand. That was a few years back, and we've expanded our collection since, so I'd estimate at around 2,000 or so.

[DarlaS]

I really have no idea, but they're everywhere.

 

You can see books from every place in this house. Some of them are even on the bookshelves. :D

[2cents]

Oh my! We used to have thousands in the first hs'ing years. I was book crazy. In the last few years I've systematically worked through and sold the books on Ebay. I'm down to 3 large bookshelves and working on getting those trimmed down. It is part of my declutter masterplan. :)

[Laurel]

I have about 2200 on LibraryThing, and that is most of our books. I think I missed one bookcase while inputting them, and then there are some random ones that haven't made it on there, but 2200 is a good estimate.

[mommylawyer]

We have between 3500 and 4000, I would estimate. (As my mother likes to point out to people who visit my house, we have thousands of books and only 1 television!)

[TrixieB]

I have no idea what the actual number is... perhaps I'm better off not knowing.

 

Six full height 3' wide bookcases.

Four half height 3' wide bookcases.

Multiple shelves of books in two closets.

Boxes of books in another closet and in the garage.

Books stacked on the floor because the bookcases are all full.

 

I gave away at least 400-500 books in the past few months and I don't see any difference. I think that means we have too many books.

[helena]

I think that with the right shelving you can never have too many books!

[elegantlion]

I donated a great deal when we moved several years ago. I'm up to at least 1500 now. We're planning a move this year so I'm trying to keep the numbers down, but as of today I have 4 more on their way. :lol::lol:

[IsabelC]

W have 6 bookcases full, but that is after a major clear out of at least half of the books we had before. I don't think your 2400 is at all excessive. To me, books don't actually count as clutter, so long as you have enough storage for them all.

[Jean in Newcastle]

11 floor to ceiling bookcases. Don't know how many volumes.

[Mejane]

Probably less than 100 at this point. I've been decluttering and have donated hundreds over the past few years. I don't feel the need to own (read store) them when we have a great library system.

[happyWImom]

I haven't done an exact count, but I'm betting it's over the 2000 mark.

 

I know it's terrible, but sometimes I worry about having a fire, and my first thought is "How will I replace all of my books?":blushing::blushing: I know, it's bad.

[PeterPan]

About 4,000. I hope to hit 10,000 by the time we're done. I say keep buying! You can be messy with or without books. :)

[mrsrevmeg]

We have between 3500 and 4000, I would estimate. (As my mother likes to point out to people who visit my house, we have thousands of books and only 1 television!)

 

My mother in law has given a tv to one of the boys for their rooms and has offered to give us other tvs for bedrooms. I keep trying to explain to her that it is more relaxing to NOT have a tv blaring in the bedroom and we would rather have books. She, on the other hand likes to get rid of books and has a tv in every room (Except the bathroom, but in one bathroom if the door is open you can see the tv.)

[Ritsumei]

My mother in law has given a tv to one of the boys for their rooms and has offered to give us other tvs for bedrooms. I keep trying to explain to her that it is more relaxing to NOT have a tv blaring in the bedroom and we would rather have books. She, on the other hand likes to get rid of books and has a tv in every room (Except the bathroom, but in one bathroom if the door is open you can see the tv.)

 

Yikes! I'd tell her that the house rules don't allow for TVs in the kids' rooms... not enough parental control on the content they're watching! I know I'm probably in the minority on this, but there it is. I totally agree about it not being terribly relaxing.

 

This thread makes me want to get back to work on cataloging my books. I've got 175 on Shelfari, but it's a drop in the bucket. However, a whole bunch of our books are in boxes because we thought we were going to move. A year ago. I periodically toy with the idea of getting them back out, as there's some read-aloud material in there that I want. And some dictionaries. And... But DH is still job hunting, and you know that sure as I start unpacking someone will hire him and we'll finally move!! :glare: Still. It'd be fun to know exactly how many there are, plus a list of what we've got is something that I've wished for more than once!

Edited March 16, 2010 by Ritsumei

[WTMCassandra]

I have over 3400 books on about a dozen full-size bookcases. (I spent the last year cataloguing.)

[Hannah]

My children like to quote me as saying, "You can't have too many books, only too few shelves". Foretunately my dh agrees.

 

We have around 3500 altogether.

 

I guess that around 2000 are childrens and you adult books from 2nd hand bookstores, bookmooch.com, library sales, free from other sources and online. We've not read all of them (yet) as I've been collecting recommended books from the SOTW, Veritas, 1001 books etc lists for years and we've now got enough to take both dds through high school school! We have a very poor library sysem and I'm

 

Dh likes to read about history and over the years has gathered a collection of over 500 books. He orders new books every month.

 

The rest are reference books and a few novels. I very rarely keep a novel and belong to a book club so that I have a few from there in the house each month.

[LaissezFaire]

Thousands. We had even more but I did a purge just because we really ran out of room and I went on a "quality" kick and dumped a bunch I did not consider quality. We have bookshelves in every room even the bathrooms.

[SonshineLearner]

Why get rid of books when you can get more bookshelves. Honestly, the largest amount were Mel and Norma Gabler, when we lived in Longview, TX. I was young and still remember. They were textbook critics who had books on bookshelves all around their house, their extra bathtub, on every surface where they wouldn't slide off.... Everywhere!! What an exciting place to visit!!

For me, books are friends.... good thing cuz in Real life... friends and I aren't around each other much...

:-)

[mellifera]

We have about 3500.

[Kim in Appalachia]

but we have 8 full book shelves. Sometimes I think we have too many books, but most of the time I don't.:D

 

My mom saved all the early and beginner reader books that we had owned (like Dr. Seuss and the likes), and was able to pass them to me. I would like to be able to do the same to my kids.

[MBM]

We have many, maybe too many.

 

My youngest collects and resells old or unusual books to dealers in the Chicago area. They're always surprised when they meet him the first time because he's young (twelve). The most interesting item he's purchased so far has been a page from an old manuscript. He's getting it checked out by someone at the Newberry Library in Chicago this spring. For a while, he was intrigued by old books on the occult, but that's where I draw the line. No occult. Too freaky. The biggest problem for him (well, me, really) is storage. :tongue_smilie:

 

Years ago, my husband was given two incunabula as presents from a friend at U of Chicago who happens to be an Egyptologist... and book collector! They're sitting in a special box somewhere collecting dust.

 

[Renthead Mommy]

A maybe 200 -300 I guess. But that's including all the soft cover picture type and up books for my 7yo.

 

Once he's done/aged out of that book, it's GONE!

 

We do not save things. I've got one kid. If he ever has kids, we'll just buy new then. I'm not saving stuff and hualing it all over the world ever 2-3years for grandkids, I may have someday.

 

I don't buy books for me, I get them from the library and then they go back. Plus I swap paperbacks with friends, get them at garage sales and then re-donate.

 

My husband has lots of text books and things. But as he moves up or out of a speciality he tends to donate those to the clinic library. He tries to get as much as of his stuff electronicly. So much cheaper than $300-$400 text book and so much eaiser for him to use on computer. (He's in oral Pathology now, so all pictures need to be in color to show different stains and things on the slides.)

[PeterPan]

Not sure why tv and books are such a dichotomy. I have 4 tv's in my house and 4,000 books. We just try to keep tv in its place. I watch tv while I'm cooking, sewing, etc.

[Dawn in OH]

Wow, I've never counted them. Just from a quick count on the book case next to me (multiplied over the other book cases and the unpacked boxes of books in the closet) I would have to say close to 1,000, maybe more.

[HRAAB]

Not sure why tv and books are such a dichotomy. I have 4 tv's in my house and 4,000 books. We just try to keep tv in its place. I watch tv while I'm cooking, sewing, etc.

 

:iagree: We also have 4 TV's. Plus all our books. As I thought, I'm pretty average when it comes to book ownership among homeschoolers. Now to convince dh that I need another bookshelf.

[Tap]

Not sure why tv and books are such a dichotomy. I have 4 tv's in my house and 4,000 books. We just try to keep tv in its place. I watch tv while I'm cooking, sewing, etc.

 

:iagree:

[TravelingChris]

I don't have any idea. Probably thousands but we are getting rid of a lot. My youngest is going into high school and I don't need lots of homeschooling books anymore. However, a lot of our books are my husband's physics and math books which take up more than two bookshelves alone. I believe we have thirteen bookshelves and lots of books not on them too.

[mom2denj]

Not sure why tv and books are such a dichotomy. I have 4 tv's in my house and 4,000 books. We just try to keep tv in its place. I watch tv while I'm cooking, sewing, etc.

 

 

:iagree: I have probably 1,000 books and 5 tv's. I do not watch tv very often, but we all have one.

[Jenny in Atl]

I don't have any idea. Probably thousands but we are getting rid of a lot.

 

This is us as well. The chance of us moving or downsizing has gone up over this last year. I've move the all those books once, and I don't want to do it again.