Do you regard books as a commodity item or treasure?

[Hannah]

Do you regard books as a commodity item or items to be treasured?

[RoughCollie]

I used to view all books as treasures. I've become a lot more ruthless in my old age.

Edited March 4, 2012 by RoughCollie

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

You'd have to be more specific. Sweet Valley High paperbacks are a commodity item, although that's giving them a lot of credit :tongue_smilie:.

 

A first edition Jungle Book or something like that would be a treasure.

 

In general, I think most books are commodity items. But, I do treasure certain books and place more than a monetary value on them.

[Word Nerd]

Both. It depends on the book.

[Twigs]

:iagree:

Both. It depends on the book.

[DarlaS]

Books are a commodity, unless maybe it's a collectible. Stories and knowledge are what is to be treasured.

[kathymuggle]

I view them mostly as a commodity.

 

I work in a library, and handling so many of them has taken away a bit of the mystique for me. I am also well aware that about 90% of the books in our collection are not my or anyone else's treasure. They are book that are fun or somewhat useful to read - but will not be passed on, spoken about with friends or family, learned from in any meaningful way, or contain information (in the case of non fiction) that isn't laid out better in other books.

 

The other 10% are treasure, and I argue for buying a replacement copy passionately when they eventually die of old age or over handling.

 

The above applies to my personal collection as well. I treasure some books, not most. I am not keeping all books - I have clutter issues.

[elegantlion]

Both. It depends on the book.

 

:iagree: My 1890-something version of Dante's Inferno is a treasure, the .89 copy of a 1954 Hardback Complete Shakespeare I bought at a thrift store is a treasure, and there are many others.

 

Commodity is some of the books I will purge once ds graduates.

[myfatherslily]

Agreeing with the others. Individually, some are a treasure and most are a commodity. I do believe that, as a whole, they are a treasure. The ability to write our language, to read the works of those who've come before us, to produce books so they can be read (and treasured!) by anyone, to dive into worlds of imagination or learn something we wouldn't otherwise know... those things are the true treasures.

[Amira]

I have a few books that are treasures because of the specific circumstances surrounding those books. The rest weren't, so I switched to ebooks. The words are what I treasure and now I can take them anywhere.

[AngieW in Texas]

Both. I just went through the reading corner where all the kid books are and got rid of 5 boxes worth of books. Those were all books that got read once or not at all.

 

I kept a lot more than I gave away. Many of the books are childhood favorites. My kids want to hang on to them.

 

I definitely have books that I treasure. I have several books that I've had to replace more than once - Alas, Babylon and Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. They are books that I read at least once every year. Actually, I have a lot of books that I read at least once every year.

[melissel]

You'd have to be more specific. Sweet Valley High paperbacks are a commodity item, although that's giving them a lot of credit :tongue_smilie:.

 

A first edition Jungle Book or something like that would be a treasure.

 

In general, I think most books are commodity items. But, I do treasure certain books and place more than a monetary value on them.

 

This. I voted other for this reason.

[SailorMom]

Books I love and will read again, reference books, books passed down through family = treasure.

 

Most other books - commodity. If we won't read it again - why keep it??? Fun to read, glad to have them - not going to keep them and dust them.

[KungFuPanda]

I used to hoard books. I considered every book I purchased an item I'd house for a lifetime. I just bought more bookcases and turned my family room into a library.

 

I've completely changed my tune in the last few years. I now purge the books I KNOW will only be read once. If I'm not sure if anyone will read it again, but I know I can get it at the library, it goes. There are some treasures that are irreplaceable, and I still have an obscene number of bookcases, but I have reduced the collection by at least a third. My library is now a dance studio and a lot of my newer purchases are electronic.

[Rose in BC]

Depends on the book.

[sassenach]

Both. It depends on the book.

 

:iagree:

[Lizzie in Ma]

Depends on the book for me.

[pqr]

The Classics and much non-fiction can fall into the treasure category. Much of the vapid stuff being produced today is in the commodity/trash category.

[In the Rain]

Depends on the book. I voted other.

[Mrs Mungo]

Both. It depends on the book.

 

:iagree:

[Night Elf]

All books are commodities, IMHO. Even valuable books are bought and sold. But I'm assuming your question is asking if people highly value books in general. But I might be wrong.

 

I would venture to say that treasure is in the eye of the beholder. :D

 

Books are good things. I'm all for them. But no, I don't think a pile of books in general is a treasure.

 

I've got a few books I will always treasure. They are the books I read to my children so many times that they are falling apart. I put them in their boxes of baby things. I don't know if I would even call them a treasure, but I most certainly hold them dear to my heart.

[Robin M]

Treasure. They are to treasured and valued and read and very much an indelible part of my life. I simply can't get rid of them...unless it's a horrible bad detestable story and just don't want it in my house. We have bookshelves in every room. There are times, I just sit and stare at them, thinking about the stories I've read and musing about the ones I want to read.

 

 

"I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things." ~George Robert Gissing

[nukeswife]

Both. It depends on the book.

 

:iagree:

[chepyl]

It depends on the book. I have a few treasured books. Curriculum books are a commodity.

[Daisy]

I agree it depends on the book.

 

Though I would tend to say that physical books are a treasure. I hate ebooks. I love to physically hold a book.

 

I hope they remain treasures.

[Mama Geek]

It more depends on the situation of how I got the book. A friend of mine wrote a book and autographed my copy of it. That is a treasure. There are a few others like that as well. Anything I can get online or in a bookstore are commodities.

[MHowell]

I voted other. They are both, depending on the book.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Books are something I treasure, generally speaking.

 

There are some books that I do not feel that I need to be the conservator of and others that are old friends and will always have a place in my home.

 

While I find the content of many books to be so lacking in redeemable material that I have no desire to own them I am unwilling to consider them mere commodities akin to other paper products. They are just poorly crafted attempts at what I treasure.

[KidsHappen]

Books are items to be treasured. I personally might not treasure a specific book but I am sure that someone else might. I would find it extremely difficult to throw a book away. Donate or pass along to someone else, sure. But to consider it garbage, something to be used and then disposed of, no I could not do that.

[ereks mom]

I voted other. They are both, depending on the book.

 

:iagree:

 

Me too.

[angela in ohio]

I think the material in a book is a treasure, though not necessarily the physical book itself, so I voted the first option. We have had multiple copies of some classics, because we literally read them to pieces, and I am okay with that.

 

There are exceptions, such as collectible books. We have very few of those, and they are treated much more carefully and not read.

[SKL]

In modern USA, they are a commodity. In some other places, they are more of a treasure. I think it's slightly sad that we have gotten so spoiled that we don't remember what a privilege it is to read a book, let alone a new book every time we want to.

[Mama2Many4]

Both. Living books are treasures. Twaddle is a commodity.

[helena]

My books are pure treasure! :001_smile:

 

I collect vintage children's books, vintage children's poetry books, vintage nature studies books, vintage sets (I'm crazy for sets), and a "mini book" collection. Our mini books are little to teeny-tiny vintage children's books. Ah! I also collect old Peanuts books and vintage Peter Pauper Press books. :tongue_smilie:. There's more, but I don't want to sound crazy. :D My husband also collects books.

 

 

Even our regular and history chapter books are treasure to me. I'm always buying and weeding out. I live very close to a second hand book store and many books are only $.25 each. I also love to buy for other people. I've been buying vintage French cookbooks for my mom, it's been a thrill to find those. As I upgrade books I already own, I fill a box to take to my girlfriend's house. She has 3 kids who love to read. She's not from the states and isn't familiar with a lot of well loved children's books. I feel like the aunty with the key to all those magical childhood places...

 

So, yes! It is the BEST kind of treasure!

 

Some of my treasures from today are:

My Book House, In the Nursery #1. So exciting, it was the only one I was missing.

Ronia The Robber's Daughter (for my girlfriend's kids)

 

Two days ago I found an old hard cover of The Cossacks by Tolstoi. It has really cool art on the cover, but the real thrill was the two Russian postcards that were tucked in the book (dated 1966).

 

And, fitting in with the title of this thread A Treasury of Verse for Home and School (children's poetry book from 1926).

[2_girls_mommy]

You'd have to be more specific. Sweet Valley High paperbacks are a commodity item, although that's giving them a lot of credit :tongue_smilie:.

 

A first edition Jungle Book or something like that would be a treasure.

 

In general, I think most books are commodity items. But, I do treasure certain books and place more than a monetary value on them.

 

This. We have a shelf in the girls room of their "good books." These are the high quality hardbacks that they get as gifts of classics. They are their Bibles and old children's Bibles that dh and I have passed down to them. They are not allowed to get these books down and carry around and read in bed without permission.

 

But all other books except school books can be read by anyone anytime. School books we are a little more careful with. I keep separate shelves for them as well. They have to be passed down to little sister, and some which are good quality encyclopedias and such we will keep forever, and I want them in good shape.

[*********]

The only book I consider a treasure is the Bible.