Personal Libraries

[Red Queen]

Originally posted by mnmwmnm in Top 5 Books thread
Oh, and Red Queen, do you mind if I ask how long you have been collecting your "pikers worth" 1500 books for?

Not at all, go ahead.

Actually, I'm going to cross-post this to a new thread, too (Personal Libraries seems like a good name :smile: )

It's odd...I was reading a new series by Deborah Chester a couple of months ago, and I realized that she was the same author that wrote Sign of the Owl.

Sign of the Owl was the book that led me to discover that people, specifically me, could actually own books! I was in grade school or middle school at the time, and borrowed it from the library. I enjoyed it so much I had started to copy it (in my best handwriting) into a notebook. My step-mother found out, went out and found a copy of it, and gave it to me for either Christmas or my birthday. I think that was the first book that ever actually belonged to me. (As opposed to me and my sisters, or to the family, or to my dad.) And I never looked back!

So, I guess I've been collecting them for nearly, hm...seventeen years? Not seriously at first, selling back most of them to buy more...but after getting a job to support my habit--er, hobby, I only sold back the ones that I didn't like.

Of course I now have a firm rule about buying books. If I'm in a bookstore and turn a page and see the words "Chapter Two"...it's time to buy the book!

But remember, it's not the Quantity, it's the Quality!

How long have you been collecting?

RQ

 

[imported_scifimoth]

Oh jeez.....

I have surrounded myself with books since the my tender childhood LOL
I read anything that catches my interest...
I mostly read horror, scifi, fantasy as far as genre is concerned, but I do love certain historical fiction writers and also read some mystery novels......
The only thing I stay clear of is romance (Blech).
I have all sorts of nonfiction books as well....I am into herbalism, dogtraining, virology and criminology LOL
I never counted my books, but I do know that I buy more at an alarming rate

 

[Red Queen]

I had to finally start cataloguing my books when I realized I had bought yet another duplicate! Now I have a list of books I want in a notebook (that gets longer, not shorter, everytime I go to a bookstore!) and I carry it with me (well, usually)

Yeah, I have historical books, some history books, old classics, a sizable selection of Louis L'Amour and J.R. Eddings that I got from my dad and grandpa, and a ton of SF and Fantasy.

I will admit to owning a couple of romances--but they're historical romances, there's no bodice ripping, and the characters are absolutely wonderful! (I also have a couple that are the only books I will read while taking a bath. 'cause if they get wet, oh, well! I call them Bubblegum for the Brain and get them second hand from my sisters. When the characters get on my nerves so bad I have to strangle them, it's time to get out of the bath! Better than a timer!)

My Forgotten Realms books, now those are my Guilty Pleasures :smile: What can I say? They're very well written, especially the ones by RA Salvatore and Elaine Cunningham.

I also 'collect' Boys Adventure books of the fifties and sixties. From Tom Quest to Tom Swift to odds and ends I find in those really cool little used bookstores off the beaten path.

Horror--Blech! :smile: Not to my tastes at all, I'm afraid. Well, except for some Vampire stuff. Like Hamilton, and Hambly, and Lackey, and Saberhagen....but I'm picky about my King and I avoid Clive Barker!

Mysteries are okay, but I tend to only read the SF genre, or the Historical Mysteries, personally.

My non-fiction tends to be writing books, research books, history, and needlework books...Of course, research covers a lot of ground

This is fun! Talking about books in general is right up there with talking about books in specific I'm so glad I found this site!

RQ

 

[Mellian]

Book! A topic I really love to talk about.

I have numerous books of my own. Would have a lot more if I could just afford them.

One of my rules is to go to the library to try an author I haven't read before. If I really like his work then I will add his books of ones to buy.

I like a whole variety of styles with SF/Fantasy being right at the top. I do like mysteries as well if they are well written. Most of the modern ones I don't care for. (That is why I established my library rule, after I picked up a book then couldn't even make it through the first chapter).

Not a big fan of romance, certain ones on occasion but not those bodice ripping types.

Of course I have some of the old classics and a number of childrens books that where my grandmothers.

Non-ficion reading my favorite would probably be biographys or histories.

 

[DarkChilde78]

Just moved and hadn't realized how many books I had until I had to box them all up and move them. Over 700 and growing by the day.

As far as genre books go, I have mostly horror and fantasy. I have a particular obsession with vampire novels and own way too many of them. I've also got a pretty sizable mystery collection. The bulk of my book collection is actually non-fiction though. I have literally hundreds of philosophy and political theory books. I have a lot of anatomy/forensic anthropology/medicine books that I use for reference in my own writing. I also seem to have numerous biographies on almost all of the presidents. I really need to organize my books somehow. I noticed I have several duplicates.

 

[Red Queen]

I completely understand. It took a long time to go through all of my books the first time, but I'd done work cataloguing books at my school library, so I jumped right in. I listed each book individually on a 3 x 5 card, with title and author info, etc.

Years later, when I joined the computer age I entered ALL that info into my Word Perfect. Fortunately, when I upgraded, it was a snap to conver that to Word, and then to Excel. Oh, say what you want about MS and its owner, but Excel is quite nifty for keeping track of my books! You can sort by Title, by Author, by Series, etc.

Now I need to go through all my books again. I've added about 500-1000 since the last time I updated my computer files...I'm going to have to do it sooner or later!

I find that having a listing not only cuts down on duplicates, but makes it easier to answer that age old question "Do I have that one, or did I pick it up at the library?"

Dusting, on the other hand....Blech!

 

[Gater]

Originally posted by Red Queen
I had to finally start cataloguing my books when I realized I had bought yet another duplicate! Now I have a list of books I want in a notebook (that gets longer, not shorter, everytime I go to a bookstore!) and I carry it with me (well, usually)


RQ

I do that too! my Christmas wish list is almost entirely books!!!
my list that i carry goes into my rucksack cos its a huge A4 size one! and its got lots of scribbles of addresses of bookstores,websites/addresses for books and all sorts of little stories! its kinda sad really. My friends just say that i (and i quote)
"write down my thoughts because i'd run out of room otherwise"!

(Its true though-theres barely enough room for all of my personalities up there! making room for their thoughts is impossible!)

 

[rde]

After I got rid of a couple of thousand books a few years ago, I resolved never to let them build up again. I've since discovered the joy of downloading books and reading them on my palm pilot; much nicer, in terms of space.

Of course, the non-fiction and a few authors I couldn't bear to part with are increasing again; onto the third bookcase. D'oh!

 

[Gater]

:laugh2:

 

[sweetbabe]

i love reading and i have loads of books, but no idea how many...i usually but my books either from amazon.co.uk or waterstones

 

[Bayleaf48]

:blush: I don't really collect books, just get the ones that I'd like to read

 

[Krystal]

I love to read and have many books. Too many for my little room space The mayority are vampires books, the other big group are scifi books, and the other group are romance books. Many of them I have to put in shelf in other room of my house. I really don't want to get rid of them.

Krystal :rain:

 

[Bayleaf48]

A fair amount are sci-fi for me, but I do aslo have quite a fair number that are Formula One realted too

 

[BAYLOR]

Science fiction ,fantasy , horror , Action novels , detective fiction , historical fiction fiction history . But slightly mo fantasy.

Note : Personal Libraries is timeless topic . This is why I though this one stable for revival.

 

[BAYLOR]

i love reading and i have loads of books, but no idea how many...i usually but my books either from amazon.co.uk or waterstones

I know this reply is years after the fact but, you can never have too many books.

 

[Danny McG]

Good find @BAYLOR this thread looks interesting.

I've looked at all the prior posters and it's over a decade since any of them has visited the site.

About my books.... Following yet another brutal purge, I've only got about a dozen real books left.
All my other stuff is now ebooks, saved on my device and backed up on an external hard drive - maybe three thousand books.

(I've even started on them now, deleting ones I know I'll never re-read)

 

[Extollager]

My library is 4,156 books (2 more coming in the mail), some bound volumes of magazines and journals, and some unbound periodicals, etc. The oldest book I own that I bought for myself is The War of the Worlds, bought 4 Feb. 1967; I should have celebrated its anniversary yesterday. The most recently published book I have bought is a commentary on the biblical book of Joshua that arrived in the mail a little over a week ago. The oldest book I’ve bought is a Hand-Book to London from 1850. The newest book I have is Holly Ordway's Tolkien’s Modern Reading, just published (a review copy). I have one or more signed books by Ursula Le Guin, poet Ruth Pitter, fantasist Lars Walker, and folklorist Jacqueline Simpson (this last an autograph on a tipped-in slip of paper). The tallest and largest books I have are five elephant folios that make up the Mid-Century Times Atlas of the World, which are also the greatest book bargain I made, at 25c each. The smallest book I have is a 2 inch by 2 inch Book of Common Prayer, although I might have had a smaller book at one time, of some Marvel comics character, which would have been in a capsule from a vending machine. The most peculiar book I have is Coleridge’s Constitution of the Church and State, which smells very strongly of some fragrance or incense (patchouli?) that I associate with hippies. I have to keep it in a padded envelope so that the odor doesn’t contaminate its neighbors. The most notable rescued book I have may be The Red Axe by S. R. Crockett, dated 1898, which I acquired by climbing into and out of a large recycle bin. My Penguin Classic of Aubrey’s Brief Lives has been chewed by a big pet rabbit we took from a cemetery where it was living.

 

[BAYLOR]

Good find @BAYLOR this thread looks interesting.

I've looked at all the prior posters and it's over a decade since any of them has visited the site.

About my books.... Following yet another brutal purge, I've only got about a dozen real books left.
All my other stuff is now ebooks, saved on my device and backed up on an external hard drive - maybe three thousand books.

(I've even started on them now, deleting ones I know I'll never re-read)

I can't bring myself to go the ebook route.

 

[Danny McG]

I can't bring myself to go the ebook route.

I couldn't at first but I wouldn't change back now. I much prefer ebooks, just for the convenience of always having something to read on my person.
I now keep about three dozen on my phone and the rest on my kindle and hard drive.

To carry around thirty plus books I'd need a substantial backpack!

 

[Extollager]

My library is 4,156 books (2 more coming in the mail), some bound volumes of magazines and journals, and some unbound periodicals, etc. The oldest book I own that I bought for myself is The War of the Worlds, bought 4 Feb. 1967; I should have celebrated its anniversary yesterday. The most recently published book I have bought is a commentary on the biblical book of Joshua that arrived in the mail a little over a week ago. The oldest book I’ve bought is a Hand-Book to London from 1850. The newest book I have is Holly Ordway's Tolkien’s Modern Reading, just published (a review copy). I have one or more signed books by Ursula Le Guin, poet Ruth Pitter, fantasist Lars Walker, and folklorist Jacqueline Simpson (this last an autograph on a tipped-in slip of paper). The tallest and largest books I have are five elephant folios that make up the Mid-Century Times Atlas of the World, which are also the greatest book bargain I made, at 25c each. The smallest book I have is a 2 inch by 2 inch Book of Common Prayer, although I might have had a smaller book at one time, of some Marvel comics character, which would have been in a capsule from a vending machine. The most peculiar book I have is Coleridge’s Constitution of the Church and State, which smells very strongly of some fragrance or incense (patchouli?) that I associate with hippies. I have to keep it in a padded envelope so that the odor doesn’t contaminate its neighbors. The most notable rescued book I have may be The Red Axe by S. R. Crockett, dated 1898, which I acquired by climbing into and out of a large recycle bin. My Penguin Classic of Aubrey’s Brief Lives has been chewed by a big pet rabbit we took from a cemetery where it was living.

No, it wasn't Brief Lives that the cemetery rabbit chewed. It was a Penguin Classic of works of Sir Thomas Browne, including Hydriotaphia Or Urn-Buriall, which is even better for a cemetery rabbit to gnaw -- funerary urns.