POLL: What do you do with books after you read them?

9 years ago

Do you keep the books you've read to read them later or maybe you just love to keep them close by after absorbing the contents? Some of you may opt to donate them or give them to friends.

VOTE and tell us about it in the comments!

Tiny House · More Info

Keep them forever

Lend / Give them to friends

Donate them

Other - Tell us below!

Featured Answer

feeny

9 years ago

All of the above, depending on the books.

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Comments (291)

Melanie McNamara
8 years ago
What a fabulous idea. Maybe my book club would be interested in doing something similar but without the food.
Double D
8 years ago
I used my ereader for a couple of years and have since gone back to reading books which i prefer. I recycle my books through a second hand bookstore its great and much cheaper too.
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David Cavanaugh
8 years ago
Return them to the library!
PRO
Abbie Jacobson Design&Decoration
8 years ago
Sell to used book stores & donate & give to friends.
PRO
TheFurnitureCollection
8 years ago
Aside from our book club which is a lot of fun, we keep books we are very attached to (too many!) we lend, donate them to hospitals and similar institutions and take them to second hand bookstores. When we have a sizable credit there, we buy more books for our little grandson.
Winnie Carey
8 years ago
I keep them and lend them
PRO
Social Light
8 years ago
I keep and lend them. I have almost every Piers Anthony book published and started reading Xanth over from the beginning. We have a Claire Burk pine wall unit I snagged from a store I worked at.
Stella Mengels
8 years ago
good books are like old friends, you never get tired of them. Some books I have read more than a dozen times.
EiDesign
8 years ago
Read, read, and re-read!! :)
ljdcom
8 years ago
Hard cover and paper back are donated to veterans and senior centers .. however most books now are now digital,which we can cloud share.
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RL Morton & Associates, PC
8 years ago
I luv finishing a book. How could I give it away!
Valerie Jackson
8 years ago
I read them again. And again. Some have been here for years. Others go to Goodwill when I'm tired of them. And where I pick up some more.
Valerie Jackson
8 years ago
I read them again. And again. Some have been here for years. Others go to Goodwill when I'm tired of them. And where I pick up some more.
Norma
8 years ago
I keep all my books and now I have a whole wall of them. No room for more so I now have an ereader.
Stella Mengels
8 years ago
is a book ever finished?
lynnscott37
8 years ago
I donated bags and bags of books to the Friends of the Library. It feels really good to recycle them so others can enjoy them and I have less allergies. I have a Kindle but don't really enjoy it much. I like having a physical book to thumb through. I do like listening to the audio books while driving or working around the house, but haven't figured out how to carry the Kindle around easily. Need a big pocket, or hook it into some speakers, somehow. Not sure I'm that clever.
Jenny Harris
8 years ago
It depends on the book. If it "speaks" to me I will keep it forever. I have my favorite childhood book and over the years have amassed quite a collection. I donate most to my church library (we have a large collection of Christian fiction), and thrift stores. If they aren't worth keeping or passing on I put them in the recycling bin.
Muriel Kuri
8 years ago
Most of them are kept, because I only buy books that I really want. Other books and magazines are donated when I am done with them.
Ben Hart
8 years ago
I am loathe to publicly admit this, but I have all but completely forsaken physical books. :/ At one time I had over a thousand. Now, maybe 50. We live in a small house and keeping them makes things too cluttered. We have built a little free library to house our loved books that we want to share with our community:
havingfun
8 years ago
oh i could not afford to keep all the fiction i have read in my life. until recently, i read 4-6 books a week. but i do have a large collection of nonfiction and even as i think about weeding it out, there are many that will stay. many the information does not even exist online. and often not off line any more.
Bev
8 years ago
I keep them and lend them to friends and family! I also re-read them after a few years has gone by.
artsyphartsy_home_maker
8 years ago
After I read them I keep them because they double as art/décor. I also have a lot of unread books I have not yet gotten to such as cookbooks containing some yet to be tried recipes. I don't think I would be physically able to make every recipe in every cookbook that I own in just one lifetime even if I were to make a new recipe every day! I have SO MANY COOKBOOKS!
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I keep my favorites, my research books too. We have a room in our small house now donated to them, because Mom is the same. The rest we donate or give to friends. Books are meant to be shared. I have a Kindle too , I mean come on a hundred books right there in my hand. :)
havingfun
8 years ago
i have begun weeding through cook books artsy. i still like to read some, i have my favorites, but everytime someone sends me a new i get rid of one. and whenever i have not read one for years it goes too.
luvourhome
8 years ago
It depends on the book. If it's non-fiction and still relevant or useful to me, it's still around. If it's not? I will donate it to charity or a church or educational centre. If it's fiction and I enjoyed the book after the first couple of pages/chapters? Then I'll finish the book and maybe re-read it once or twice down the road if I really enjoyed it and then donate it.

I read quickly and I read a lot. I'm no longer buying new hard-bound books if it's available as a paper-back. I'm really getting away from the weight of the books. We don't plan to move anytime soon, but books are heavy to move. I'm trying to read more books on my e-reader, but I really love turning the actual pages of a book.

And I miss flipping through old library card catalogs with hand-typed (with ribbon type-writers) subject, title or author cards and the glorious old wooden oak drawers that held so many hidden treasures! Or the grey metal drawers that squeaked just a little...
Lori
7 years ago
I'm 60 years old and an avid reader. After our house became flooded with books, I switched to a Kindle in 2007 and never looked back. Now I can keep my books forever, and they take up no room.
Muriel Kuri
7 years ago
All of the above!
Carol Tecchio
7 years ago
My husband keeps every book he reads. We started in 1968 with the SciFi book club & it has "bloomed" since then. I'm sure he has duplicates, & maybe triplicates, including paperbacks & hardbacks. Every time we move, I pack them up. Most of the time, they don't get unpacked, he just buys more to fill up the bookcases. (we had the boxes in the basement when we first moved. We lost 2,000 +/- when it flooded) I know we have at least 8,000 (when I stopped counting) in boxes right now in storage. I'm guessing we have about another 2,000 in the bookcases in this apt. Once the house is done, we intend to to finish the basement which will have floor to ceiling bookcases on all four walls.(I hope that will be enough space) I told him he can keep ONE copy in hardback & ONE copy in paperback. All other dups go either to the library or to the VA hospital. NOT looking forward to unpacking & alphabetized these....lol
havingfun
7 years ago
is there a prize for all that?
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123 Remodeling Inc.
7 years ago
Always happy to lend a book to a friend I think would enjoy it! But otherwise, full bookshelves have always been one of my favorite decorations!
Carol Woolf
7 years ago
all of the above
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JayMarc Homes
7 years ago
We put Little Free Libraries outside some of our homes! They are becoming very popular and it's a great way to share your old books and you can also take one to read for yourself. "Take a Book - Return a Book"!
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Mega Builders
7 years ago
The ones I really like, I keep.. others I give away...at least I try to..
macyjean
7 years ago
"And I miss flipping through old library card catalogs with hand-typed (with ribbon type-writers) subject, title or author cards and the glorious old wooden oak drawers that held so many hidden treasures! Or the grey metal drawers that squeaked just a little..."

I was smiling as I read that luvourhome.
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Stronghold Wood Floors
7 years ago
We have to admit we are hoarders of books. I believe books have the ability to tell someone a lot about your personality, be it an adventurer, philosopher or creative. A good book becomes a part of you and such is to precious to simply throw away.
Carol Woolf
7 years ago
keep them
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123 Remodeling Inc.
7 years ago
I have donated most of my old books that I felt I wouldn't read again, the ones I'm keeping I prolly will never let go as these have Sentimental Value.
havingfun
7 years ago
macy, oh you bring back great memories. I miss those little side trips we always did. you are in a dictionary or an encyclopedia and you end up reading all these things you discover on your way to the intended topic. same with library. you go in the card catalog look up one book, go there and this wealth of others and similar smile out at you. now, you have to hunt and peck for each one. the library is no longer fun.
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Design Studio West
7 years ago
Our neighbor made a Neighborhood Library box at her curb. I put in books I have read and take books I'd like to read
Ann Smitt
7 years ago
I LOVE books. I only keep books that I want to re-read or have special meaning to me (a gift from a loved one, favorite author, belonged to my parent) and I use them as part of my decor. All of the other books I buy or receive I DONATE to local book clubs, schools, and libraries. Nice to see so many book lovers comments here.
Stella Mengels
7 years ago
if you have books to spare...here's an idea

https://www.facebook.com/Little-Free-Library-Runkst-1012507788789291/?fref=ts
susanalanandwrigley
7 years ago
I would have to say all of the above. I am trying to limit what I keep to books that I might want to reference or reread, or that I just loved so much I want on hand to lend to family or friends. Really working to reduce the clutter. It is hard though because I love books and love being surrounded by them.

Anything I choose not to keep, and don't have anyone to pass it on to, I donate, usually to a local library that uses the books for book sales to raise money. We also have a number of new little free libraries as referenced in Stella's post so I will have to consider that as well.

These days I buy a lot fewer physical books ... I do a lot of reading on my e-reader, and use the library heavily (for borrowing e-books or actual books).
Maria Privat
6 years ago
We have our own semi-public library, where the books go to. We think it is a shame for all to buy so much and then just store it. We have a big department for Christian books (etcetera) and also one small department for children with 'also nice' books/movies.

Our aim is to save money in our community for good projects.
athorne1
6 years ago
We have a book swap as a sideline to a party. What is left over gets donated. Some books are too precious to ever give away.
Stella Mengels
6 years ago
Retirement homes, love to have 2e hand books. They also need people to read for the elderly or help them pick out the right books. Specially for elderly people who cannot leave their room anymore it is the highlight of the month. It is a sort of Little-free-library, but on a serving trolley going from room to room once or twice a month. If you can spare some time, they usually have readings once a week (well most homes in the Netherlands have)
stillanntn6b
2 years ago
Fiction? Return it to the library

Non-fiction? onto our library shelves (the room is 17 feet wide and thirty some feet long with four windows and three doors and the walls are floor to ceiling book shelves. It passes as our living room when our clubs have meetings here.
graysondorothy
2 years ago
Keep most of my books especially Texas history, Native American, and archaeology related. Like to also keep Edward Curtis photography books as they are great examples of Native American genetics/physical appearance. Keep several cook book for sentimental reasons and give away others to friends since I don't cook much anymore.
Rosefolly
2 years ago
I do a mix. I often re-read books, sometimes more than once, so I keep the books I like well enough for that. I also keep books on my interests so that the information will remain available to me. The rest I give away to friends or donate to the library.

The thing I never do is lend them. Too many people do not understand that a borrowed book is supposed to be given back. If a book is not returned to me, it ruins the relationship I have with that person. To preserve friendships dear to me, I don't lend out my books.
Brandon Gray
2 years ago
I am rereading some of them.
Briggs Murphy
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I love to give away books that I have read to my friends for free. But I really like to re-read some books several times, because I constantly find there some new meanings that I have not seen before. You can find this become about how important the theme of materialism is in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. I never thought so deeply about this book when I read it.

POLL: What do you do with books after you read them?

Comments (291)

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