Books in the house? Where is the limit?

[Anonymous]

I'm a bookworm, DH isn't. I grew up around a huge amount of books and thought it was normal. DH, for all his advanced degrees, never reads books, and thinks they're obsolete and we should all switch to Kindles or similar, even the kids (preschoolers and elementary school). I hate the intrusion of technology in my beloved paper world, and prefer to feel the different weights and formats and turn real pages. I would like a few bookshelves in the house, with a "curated" collection of favorites - the rest we can borrow at the library or read on Kindle when traveling. But not go without books altogether. DH thinks this is a slippery slope and claims our house is too small anyway.

Do you feel you have too many books in your house?

[Anonymous]

Divorce him, stat.

...kidding, but only a little. Any man who expects you to go without books needs some serious re-educating.

[Anonymous]

I cannot fathom limiting books. I mean really, I've never heard of someone having an issue with this.

Ok. Over the shock. Most people who read on tablets read regular books too. The total migration to e readers never happened and likely won't ever happen. Particularly with children's books.

I wouldn't budge in having a decent main bookshelf somewhere. This is not a ridiculous request. Does he have hobbies and gear? This is your gear....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Divorce him, stat.

...kidding, but only a little. Any man who expects you to go without books needs some serious re-educating.

Ditto this. Though my husband is also a bookworm and our home decor is basically books.

[Anonymous]

We got rid of most of our books several years ago. We have maybe 2 small shelves of books between my husband and I. Our daughter has a few books. People give her gift cards for books so she spends her gift cards and reads her books. Once she has outgrown her books, we donate them. We use the library and kindles a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Divorce him, stat.

...kidding, but only a little. Any man who expects you to go without books needs some serious re-educating.

This!

[Anonymous]

No way! Your kids need books. You need books. A home needs books.

[Anonymous]

I got rid of most of my books. But not all--we have one tall bookcase in guest room that has many of my favorites. Kids each have a bookcase in their room that gets purged pretty regularly. We all have Kindles now, so not really buying books anymore.

[Anonymous]

I think OP has identified a reasonable middle ground. I love to read, but recognize that most fiction books are not worth keeping because they will not ever be read a second time. Some books, however, are worth keeping. What I do is read most books on a kindle and then purchase hard copies of books I want to keep in my collection.

[Anonymous]

Kids books don't have the same appeal on a kindle. I understand when they get older and may not read the book over and over again, then move to a tablet. However, if your preschooler is like mine, you are reading the same book every day, all day, then you need the hard copy. Kids need to appreciate the feel of books and how to take care of them before moving to a tablet.

[Anonymous]

I'm the wrong person to ask. We have about 1400 books between the two of us. (I had to count when we moved to get boxes) But when we bought the house we looked for one with office space for lots of bookcases. There's a bookcase in every room except the bedroom and there we have our own little piles on the night stands. I do think it's too much sometimes and we donate the ones we won't read but so many are old hardbacks from his and my grandparents and parents. I grew up with those on my shelves and they are good friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a bookworm, DH isn't. I grew up around a huge amount of books and thought it was normal. DH, for all his advanced degrees, never reads books, and thinks they're obsolete and we should all switch to Kindles or similar, even the kids (preschoolers and elementary school). I hate the intrusion of technology in my beloved paper world, and prefer to feel the different weights and formats and turn real pages. I would like a few bookshelves in the house, with a "curated" collection of favorites - the rest we can borrow at the library or read on Kindle when traveling. But not go without books altogether. DH thinks this is a slippery slope and claims our house is too small anyway.

Do you feel you have too many books in your house?

I do feel I have too many books in the house but only because we own way too many and have 50 out of the library at any one time. I'm there numerous times each week.

[Anonymous]

Could you get a small cabinet with a door so that DH wouldn't have to see the piles of books but you could have them piled up? That also would serve as a built-in check on how many you have but not unnecessarily limit you. I probably have 50 or so books at any one time in my cabinet. I keep it manageable by getting some from the library and giving away others to friends.

[Anonymous]

You should have at least one room dedicated to books, like the office, and topical bookshelves in the kitchen, and kids rooms, art books or other folios on the coffee tables or occasional table and a convenient bedroom shelf for nighttime reads.

If dh can promise you a book room and topic shelves elsewhere (like cookbooks), I'd accept the offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a bookworm, DH isn't. I grew up around a huge amount of books and thought it was normal. DH, for all his advanced degrees, never reads books, and thinks they're obsolete and we should all switch to Kindles or similar, even the kids (preschoolers and elementary school). I hate the intrusion of technology in my beloved paper world, and prefer to feel the different weights and formats and turn real pages. I would like a few bookshelves in the house, with a "curated" collection of favorites - the rest we can borrow at the library or read on Kindle when traveling. But not go without books altogether. DH thinks this is a slippery slope and claims our house is too small anyway.

Do you feel you have too many books in your house?

I do feel I have too many books in the house but only because we own way too many and have 50 out of the library at any one time. I'm there numerous times each week.

I like you!