100 books or more?

[beaners]

We have around 2500 right now, but I desperately need to sort them and enter the new ones into my LibraryThing account. We also have a set of National Geographics from 1918 to present that I inherited from my great-grandfather. We have a lot of full shelves in this house.

 

We don't quite have 100 physical books in French, but combined with e-Reader books we would. We have way more than 10 actual books in French. That reminds that I need to order my daughter's French magazine before the price goes up for the new year.

[Giraffe]

We don't quite have 100 physical books in French, but combined with e-Reader books we would. We have way more than 10 actual books in French. That reminds that I need to order my daughter's French magazine before the price goes up for the new year.

 

I don't know why, since I really can't read French, but this makes me very jealous! :D

[UrbanSue]

A quicker way is to look at the last number on your Excel spreadsheet that contains your library records... :D

 

In my dreams! Because that 3000 number I mentioned earlier does not include the countless number of books loaned, never to be seen again.

[happypamama]

I have to say that I'm probably not surprised that so many houses have less than 100. Think about what our society emphasizes.

 

That reminds me of when we sold our house a few years ago -- an 1800 sq. ft. 3 BR house, so not terribly huge. The family moving in was a couple with two young children. As they were unloading, the first things they moved in were their TVs. My children were amazed that they brought in four TVs -- a big screen for the living room, a slightly smaller one for the family room downstairs (split-level house), one for the bedroom of one of the kids, and one for the parents' bedroom. We, in contrast, had two children of about the same age and were moving out one fairly old TV that had been in the family room and very rarely used. We did move out a LOT of boxes of books, though. :)

[marbel]

A quicker way is to look at the last number on your Excel spreadsheet that contains your library records... :D

 

:D Or use a program such as Readerware, to catalog books.

 

We have a couple thousand books, maybe a few more that my husband has collected while at seminary that aren't inventoried. When we moved 5 years ago, we knew we wouldn't have enough bookshelf space in our new (smaller) house, so we inventoried our books into numbered boxes. Many of our books are still in the boxes, but we can easily find them and retrieve them when we need them (and move other books back into the boxes).

 

I've gotten rid of quite a few books in the past couple of years, but have stopped being so aggressive as I've come to regret a few discards.

 

My childhood family did not have a huge number of books, though my mother was an avid reader - we used the public library. My husband's parents are not readers. But he and I and our kids are. My son's first comfort object was a book, not a blankie. I also like the look of books in a bookcase, and find it nice to have books to browse when I'm at a gathering at someone's house and have no one to talk to a few minutes for whatever reason.

 

Most people I know are moving away from printed books and using their kindles and other devices more. We haven't gotten there yet, but I'm sure we will at some point.

[stripe]

We had something similar (I'm pretty sure the name was different, but same idea) when we lived in upstate NY. We loved it! Very nice book choices.

The last time I took my youngest to the doctor, we were given "Goodnight Moon." I have multiple copies at home but my older kids keep them squirreled away, so, funnily enough, we had never read it to this one! I was planning to just leave it there, but then the baby scribbled all over the last page, so, it's ours. And quite popular, I might add!

[Maus]

:D Or use a program such as Readerware, to catalog books.

Or Librarything. DH got me a lifetime membership when he realized it would quickly pay for itself in books I didn't accidently buy two of.

 

Librarything tells me we have 862 books I chose to label "Kids", which would be fiction that isn't a Board book (296 of those) or a "Classic" (only 86 of those). So we make the 500 books in our home just in fiction specifically for the kids.

 

It tells me we have 4513 books, not counting the bag I brought home today from the quarterly library sale (I am so bad... who needs shoe therapy?).

[celticmom]

I am honestly afraid to count our books. I know without even checking that we have well over 100 physical books. Dd8 probably has well over a hundred books of her own. I have had a nook for less than a year and have almost 500 books on it. One reason I broke down and bought an ereader was because I am running out of places to store my books.

[kubiac]

It tells me we have 4513 books, not counting the bag I brought home today from the quarterly library sale (I am so bad... who needs shoe therapy?).

 

You're in a safe place here.

It's RECYCLING. It's for CHARITY. It's EDUCATIONAL. You're practically a saint. :)

[Laurie4b]

10 books would be a good guess as to how many books are on or near my nightstand at any given time.

 

We have 9 floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which are full, and shelves above each kids' bed.

 

I once had a friend who had about 10 books. She covered them in colored wrappers to match her decor. She believed in using the library.

[stripe]

I have seen any number of pictures of swanky houses in decorating magazines with spines facing in.

 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-books-turned-in-92390

[Mom-ninja.]

I have seen any number of pictures of swanky houses in decorating magazines with spines facing in.

 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-books-turned-in-92390

 

 

I love to read titles of books when I visit someone's house. Is that being nosey? Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't look.

[aggieamy]

I have seen any number of pictures of swanky houses in decorating magazines with spines facing in.

 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-books-turned-in-92390

 

That seems like it would be really hard to find the books you're looking for.

 

"Hmm. I'm looking for the Secret Garden. I remember it's a taller book and about 3/4" wide ..."

 

I love to read titles of books when I visit someone's house. Is that being nosey? Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't look.

 

Me too. I would be delighted if someone wanted to look at my bookshelves when they come over.

[Element]

I have seen any number of pictures of swanky houses in decorating magazines with spines facing in.

 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-books-turned-in-92390

 

:lol::lol: at the comments on that page!

[Jayne J]

I love to read titles of books when I visit someone's house. Is that being nosey? Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't look.

 

I always wonder about that too. It feels like rifling through someone's underwear drawer, except that it is right there out in the open. I'm not really sure why I feel that way, since I certainly don't mind if people look over my shelves. I'd be apt to join in and give them reviews of everything...:D

[Punchie]

I love to read titles of books when I visit someone's house. Is that being nosey? Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't look.

 

I do the same thing. I love to see what other ppl own and if we share any of the same titles. I will never open a medicine cabinet or cupboard, but a bookshelf....they're out in the open. ;)

 

I grew up in a household whose book boxes vastly outnumbered every other moving box in the house - we moved frequently and the movers hated us. My mom was a librarian, so that's kind of an enough said. Cookbooks alone she has over a 100.

 

My dad too had a lot of books. I remember one of the first things I would do each summer was to peruse his bookshelves for my reading materials. And he would take me to Powells. :001_wub: I think most of my spending money went there. You'd be amazed (or maybe not) at how much $50 would buy in used books in the early '90s.

 

And for us now...the lone bookshelf in our computer room has over 100 books. Then we have our living room, our bedroom, and the girls' room...

[vonfirmath]

My MIL is ALWAYS reading. She takes books on vacation, etc. When we are there, she takes the kids to the library book sale and buys books for them (some of which have become favorites). But I have to pack books to go there because I have never found a bookshelf in their house. A couple of books piled on sofa stands/night stands here and there. And that's it.

 

My husband is always reading too. and he jumps in fully into filling our existing book shelves, even with buying books for the kids. (HE is not good at getting books out of the library. he lets me take the kids and organize it though). But he didn't bring more than 2 boxes of books into the marriage. So I don't think owning books was hugely important even growing up.

 

Unfortunately, this also means he doesn't read aloud to our kids either :( He doesn't see the importance.

Edited November 11, 2012 by vonfirmath

[LostSurprise]

There are readers and non-readers. The non-readers don't think they're missing anything, but we readers know the truth :D. I don't think it's sad, or that the people with fewer books are somehow less, it's just different priorities.

 

:iagree:

 

I grew up in a house with one very small 3 shelf bookcase (18" wide) that was half filled with college Accounting textbooks and the rest was filled with 2 novels (Anna Karenina, The Sun Also Rises), a bunch of spiritual life books, and a shelf of whatever my grandmother bought us kids at garage sales. Because I liked to read I was in charge of taking care of it (ie putting books away, packing and unpacking for our many moves).

 

I'm thankful for Picture Pages. They made me ask my mom to take me to the library which started a life-long love of libraries and reading.

[marbel]

There are readers and non-readers. The non-readers don't think they're missing anything, but we readers know the truth :D. I don't think it's sad, or that the people with fewer books are somehow less, it's just different priorities.

 

Yep.

 

Sometimes when people meet my kids, they ask them what sports they play, and the answer is: "I don't play any sports." I bet sometimes the person asking thinks, "how sad." Yet we don't feel we're lacking because there are no sports team uniforms in our house. ;)

[Slartibartfast]

I have seen any number of pictures of swanky houses in decorating magazines with spines facing in.

 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-books-turned-in-92390

 

D:

 

But I wouldn't be able to find anything.

 

I am getting anxiety just from looking at that. :lol:

[stripe]

D:

 

But I wouldn't be able to find anything.

 

I am getting anxiety just from looking at that. :lol:

 

I saw a picture in a magazine like that and I thought it was inane, and, while discussing the matter with my mother, found that page. I was delighted to see that, while the author clearly thought it was brilliant ("books you can't bare [sic] to part with," indeed), none of the readers did.

 

I enjoy furniture stores where they have "distinguished" books lying around to look homey or smart. They're usually really wacky books.

[JessReplanted]

We have SO many books!! Many are packed away in bins because there is just no room for them.

[beaners]

D:

 

But I wouldn't be able to find anything.

 

I am getting anxiety just from looking at that. :lol:

 

Sadly, even with the huge number of books we own, I would still be able to identify almost everything except the sci-fi paperbacks. Books, I can find. Bills and important papers? Not so much.

[Kathryn]

I'm embarrassed by my tiny collection that Librarything tells me numbers 1,653. When we moved to this house before we knew I was pregnant, we didn't ever plan on having children. We sold/gave away probably 80% of our books rather than move them. It makes me so sad!

[PinkInTheBlue]

Sadly, every household I can think of has few to virtually no books. :( Except mine, which really needs a reducing. :)

[celticmom]

D:

 

But I wouldn't be able to find anything.

 

I am getting anxiety just from looking at that. :lol:

 

:iagree:

[somo_chickenlady]

I definitely have more than 100 books, mostly fiction. Not to mention all of my Kindle books in addition to my paper books. I have at least 100 of those, if not close to 500. I love to read! Why didn't my DS get that gene from me?? I have to take away privileges to get him to read what he is supposed to. If someone came into our house right now, though, they wouldn't see any books b/c they are all packed away from when we moved here. This house is much smaller than our last, so we had to sell all of our book shelves. I'm hoping once we move again we can buy some new ones and display our books again.

Edited November 11, 2012 by somo_chickenlady

[fraidycat]

At my parents' house, unless you were to go into my their bedroom and see the small (two shelf) bookshelf or looked on Mom's closet shelf, you wouldn't know there are books in their house. That said, Mom is an AVID reader. She reads most of her books twice - once to herself, then she reads them again out loud to my Dad. That is their evening ritual - she reads him a chapter or two of their book each evening before they go to bed. She'll also read aloud to him in the car on longer trips, if it is just the two of them.

 

Aside from being a avid reader, she is an avid purger, too. Once she's done with the books, she farms them out to my aunt, cousin, friends, or me.

 

DH and I have recently purged a large number of our fiction books as well. I've probably donated about 200, given my cousin another 50 or so, and DH just sent a box full of his Stephen King hardcovers home with my brother this summer when they visited. Hopefully they'll help him to pass the time while he's laid up with his leg this winter.

 

On the other end of that spectrum I have acquired a LOT of books for homeschooling in the past year. Good thing we purged, because we needed the shelf space!

[IsabelC]

There's an article in the local paper that states that 24% of households in my demographics have 100 books or more.

That means 76% have less than 100 books??? Really?? How is that possible? One bookshelf hold 100 books!!!

 

and 20% have 10 books or less? One household out of every five??? TEN books???

 

Gee, homeschoolers should totally skew that stats!! I'm just in shock. 10 books? really?

 

Are you sure that is correct? They don't mean books from a specific list, like So-and-so's Top 1000 Great Classics? Or is it a particularly deprived subset of the population? I mean, even when I was travelling with carry-on luggage only, I had more than 10 books in my backpack. Nowadays, we've decluttered probably 2/3 of our books and I'd still reckon we have several thousand.

[stripe]

Are you sure that is correct? They don't mean books from a specific list, like So-and-so's Top 1000 Great Classics? Or is it a particularly deprived subset of the population? I mean, even when I was travelling with carry-on luggage only, I had more than 10 books in my backpack. Nowadays, we've decluttered probably 2/3 of our books and I'd still reckon we have several thousand.

Here's one from the UK from 2011: 3 in 10 children own no books. That's 4 million kids. "The research found that 'at a crude brushstroke', young people who do have books of their own are more likely to be girls, socio-economically better off, from white or mixed ethnic backgrounds and without a special educational need."

 

I think we do not comprehend that "a particularly deprived subset of the population" is actually quite a large percentage of it. 22% of children in the US live in poverty. That means the actual poverty line. But that is extremely low. There is an even larger group that lives around the poverty line: "Some 42 percent of American children — more than 31 million — grow up in families that lack the income to cover basic needs like rent, child care, food and transportation." Many of those children DO have books and treasure them, anyway, but some have none or very few.

 

It’s often assumed that families without books lack interest in reading. But that is not necessarily the case. “When poor people, even those at low literacy levels, have a little extra money, they will buy inexpensive books,” explains Susan B. Neuman, a

professor

at the University of Michigan, who specializes in early literacy development and co-authored the study in Philadelphia. “But some families have so little disposable income, they can’t afford any books.”

 

 

Here's the shocker:

 

80 percent of pre-school and after school programs serving low-income children do not have

any children’s books, either

, largely because they lack the money to buy them.

The same goes for middle class kids. Some of their families don't value books to begin with, even if they could well afford them.

 

"A study (pdf) of low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia, for example, found a ratio of one book for sale for every 300 children."

 

These are from "A Book in Every Home, and Then Some" (2011) by David Bornstein in the NY Times.

 

Compare this with another UK statistic: "women own an average of thirty four pairs of knickers, that’s three times as many as in 1999, when the average was just 12.....58% of all those women polled admit that bright white knickers are by far their favourite"