Compulsive readers/book hoarders

Myself

Me, too

But surely you cannot remember all those books? To me it would be like watching movies in a continuous stream. Eventually they would blend together.

I'm not into having that many books. I have a couple of work-related reference books, but that's all.

My brother still likes print books, though.

My favorite past time thenyear ofnpandemoc specifically early days was to spot celeb bookshelves during zoom interviews. It appeared some were going out of their way to appear smart/by posing with large background bookshelves.

^^ you had illiterate people like Reese Witherspoon witu gigantic bookshelves full of encyclopedic looking books and you had actual smart people like Obama with 3 books on a table during zoom interviews

I don't consider myself a hoarder. I have one entire wall of bookshelves in my living room, and have read 85/90% of them. Many of them I kept because they relate to my field of study, and some of them I kept because I a) loved the author and his work (e.g., Ethan Morrden, Edmund White) or b) I wanted to be able to refer back to specific books and because I love loaning them to friends (Screening Party by Dennis Healey and I'll Take It By Paul Rudnick would fall into this category).

This obsession with the printed word goes way back with me. When I was in grad school, ergo VERY poor, I used to go every three or four months and sell my platelets. I would then take that money (which I considered "found") and hit the biggest used bookstore in the midwestern college town where I lived. $50 books worth of used books would keep me occupied for two or three months (my recreational reading was limited during grad school years).

Some of those books I have moved 10 or 11 times. Each time I moved I "thinned the herd," so to speak, but those holes were quickly filled with new (and used) acquistions. And yes, I have a tablet and I've downloaded books from the local library, but it doesn't fulfill me in the same way that a real paper and pasteboard book does. I love snuggling up on the couch with a book, and letting it drop--open--onto my chest while I nap. Good times.

“If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!”

― John Waters

These needy people can only experience life second-hand.

These things in the OP's picture are like miniature, dust-collecting tombstones.

Whereas my MacBook is lively, colourful and constantly replenishes itself.

JESUS CHRIST YOU SOLD YOUR PLATELETS TO BUY BOOKS

WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T YOU JUST GO TO THE LIBRARY

DON’T YOU REALIZE THAT CAPITALISM TRICKS YOU INTO DOING THESE THINGS AND YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A STOOGE?

Get a grip R10

R9 “A graveyard of ideas… tiny coffins full of putrefying concepts!”

[quote] CAPITALISM TRICKS YOU INTO DOING THESE THINGS

It tricks naive people into doing foolish things.

I was a book collector until I realised in my early 20s that it was an impossible task.

Sad thing is that the guy at OP's link seems to have kind of crappy taste in books.

[quote] tiny coffins

R12 Hard back books resemble the miniature tombstones.

I'm not compulsive, and I don't hoard, but I have quite a few books on certain subjects.

R12 That short clip contains so many interesting ideas that it's hard to absorb.

It says as much about family relationships as a three-hour long bore-fest by Anton Chekhov.

I hoard the medical journals they send monthly even though I never read them. haha

I try to only keep books that are rare or out of print that I really want to keep. I just think it's too much clutter, even a fire risk.

R18 Why?

R19 What will happen to them when you succumb to your mortaility?

I have a gazillion copies of foreign affairs, some still wrapped in plastic from 5 years ago when I began to order them

I don't think we're hoarders, but my son and me had 100's of books. We both love to read.

I never collected books. I’ve always read a lot, though, mostly fiction. I had an entire wall of books in an apartment where I used to live. Five tiers. I got rid of over a thousand of them before a big move twenty years ago.

I gave away a lot of my gay novels to an organization that donates books to prisoners. They asked for mystery novels, paperback cookbooks, and anything gay.

Now I read on my Kindle. The type in most books is too small for me now. I’m still able to read as much as I like. Kindle is one of the greatest benefits of the age we now live in.

Two years into a surge of book bans across the United States, Florida is a hot spot in the clash over what reading material is appropriate for children, with laws that have greatly expanded the state’s ability to restrict books.

Historically, books were challenged one at a time. As bans in schools and libraries began increasing nationally in 2021, efforts were largely local, led by a parent or a group. But over the past year, access to books, particularly those touching on race, gender or sexual orientation, became increasingly politicized. With that came an increase in legislation and regulations in some states and school districts that affected which books libraries could offer.

The shift is particularly evident in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican-controlled Legislature and a rapidly growing network of conservative groups aligned to pass three state laws last year aimed, at least in part, at reading or educational materials. Among the books removed from circulation in one of the state’s school districts are Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

The policies have energized Mr. DeSantis’s supporters and are part of the platform from which he is expected to run for president.

Some teachers and librarians say the policies are vague, with imprecise language and broad requirements, leading to some confusion. But they are trying to comply. Violation of the law could be a third-degree felony; in general, such crimes are punishable by up to five years in prison

I'm embarrassed to admit I suffer from this:

Tsundoku (積ん読) refers to the phenomenon of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them. It is also used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf.

My biggest dilemma now: what the hell do you do with them? I've hundreds for sure, possibly thousands. It's ridiculous. I have read 'some' of them - I don't even want to hazard a guess as to what percentage. But probably at least a few pages from all of them lol.

Luckily I'm pretty frugal otherwise.

Oh and I've got two complete sets of Encyclopedia Brittanica - from the 70s or 80s. A complete set of World Book Encylopedias from the 1960s that I used in elementary school - and they were out of date then! And a set of the 100 Greatest Books (they're the exception - I haven't read a few pages from each of those ahem - but I'm only 67 so maybe I'll change my ways and start reading.)

[quote] Myself

Oh, dear!

If I had the space, I would keep more books. As a child of the 70s, I’d go with my mother to thrift stores digging for (book) treasures. She was ahead of her time in many ways and I see books as my connection to her. (She died in 1985.)

Unfortunately she ended up with my abusive, psychopathic father and the church told her to stay with him.

R25, I would recommend "Goodbye, Things," by Fumio Sasaki. I listened to the audio book multiple times. The author had tons of different collections, including books, IIRC.

Ditch the set of World Books, but save one of the Britannica sets, r26. That way, the cloud can’t stealth-edit facts out from under you.

Digital is ephemeral.

I can easily exhaust a library.

tho, home shelves tend to be more specialized

and use digital readers for most fiction or in print copy.