Personal Libraries

[lolly_loisides]

100 books--that's a lot to weed out at once. What were the subjects?

I used to read during the daily commute to work. Lots of thrillers, crime, romance and biographies. For quite a while I kept everything I read. If I got through perhaps 2 books a week over the course of 10 or 15 years, that's a lot of books to accumulate.

 

[Hatter4]

does anyone save old newspapers? Its getting to be alot to have them bound. I have years (18) of one paper unbound . and (10)years of another bound. the best ones are the first four years of the hat worker (1938-1941) the untied hatter's union newspaper.Also save magazine's. do you catalog your books?

 

[Captain Nemo]

I collect mostly history, bio's, religion, nature, hats, archeaology, architecture, art, literature, and pop-up books.

That sounds like a neat collection of interests!

 

[LizzieMaine]

does anyone save old newspapers? Its getting to be alot to have them bound. I have years (18) of one paper unbound . and (10)years of another bound. the best ones are the first four years of the hat worker (1938-1941) the untied hatter's union newspaper.Also save magazine's. do you catalog your books?

I have an entire closet full of various New York and Boston tabloid papers (mostly the NY Daily News, Daily Mirror, and Boston Record) from roughly 1927-40, many of which appear in the This Day In History thread. I find that keeping them in tight stacks away from sunlight and air circulation keeps them in good condition -- light and oxygen are the enemies of newsprint.

I keep various bound volumes under my bed -- they're out of the way and out of the sunlight.

 

[Nobert]

I have an entire closet full of various New York and Boston tabloid papers (mostly the NY Daily News, Daily Mirror, and Boston Record) from roughly 1927-40, many of which appear in the This Day In History thread. I find that keeping them in tight stacks away from sunlight and air circulation keeps them in good condition -- light and oxygen are the enemies of newsprint.

I keep various bound volumes under my bed -- they're out of the way and out of the sunlight.

Now that the American Newspaper Repository had moved to Duke University, maybe Nicholson Baker can come over to your house and stand in your closet for awhile when he's in a sentimental mood.

 

[Hatter4]

I keep my newspapers in boxes unbound, the bound ones I lay flat and stack them on the top of my bookcases.

 

[Bushman]

Here's my small personal library that I keep in my bedroom. I have other, smaller bok cases spread out around the house.

 

[Rumor Control]

When raising my kids I told them the rule is no limit on the number of books I would buy them. Any book they want. They are now 33, 30 and 23. The rule still stands.

 

[Old Mariner]

I tend to prefer to have most, if not all, of my library in ebook format. This is mainly because I can then carry it anywhere on my phone or kindle. It's really helpful when one is stuck in a hospital and recovering from a big surgery (which I had done in February 2019). It also makes it easier to move when one moves. I enjoy the ability to have a search function as well.

There are downsides though - I do like larger sized books (coffee table type books) where it is easier to go through the material.

Most of my library is in ebook format only because certain books are not yet converted, or, the ebook format is cheaper than the print format.

So for me - I tend to go with whatever is most practical for me and my needs.

 

[Bushman]

My my how my tastes have matured in only 4 years...

 

[LizzieMaine]

I won't comment. I have an entire small shelf of scholarly works on "Star Trek."

I actually counted my books last winter on a day when time hung heavy, and I lost track at about 1200. That's books on shelves in the living room, hallway, front (enclosed) porch, office and bedroom, but doesn't include dead-storage books in the attic, or books I might have left behind at my mother's house.

There's also a tall stack of books in the bathroom. I keep adding to it until they tip over in the night.

Probably 95 percent of these books are various types of nonfiction dealing with broadcasting, popular culture and cultural studies, twentieth-century history and journalism, baseball, religion, and 1930's left-wing agitprop. Most of the fiction is made up of 20s/30s murder mysteries of the Ellery Queen-Philo Vance style, and collected editions of newspaper comic strips. There's also an entire shelf of Sears catalogs, which actually come in pretty handy as reference books, and a 1937 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

I have given away a few books over the years, to people who really were interested in reading them, and I've usually ended up going out and getting a replacement copy for myself. I've never in all my life ever thrown a book away. How could anyone ever do that?

 

[AmateisGal]

I finally got my personal library all done. I sold my house and moved to an apartment, and wanted a "wall of books." I got my wish largely thanks to my boyfriend who accidentally broke one of my bookshelves during the move (and it was crappy to begin with) and generously bought me replacement shelves.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I also approve of the cat.

 

[AmateisGal]

I also approve of the cat.

That's Kathryn. She's been with me since early 2009. Still going strong!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I had a cat who looked very much like her -- Nancy, 1986-2001. A very fine girl with that same "dilute calico" coloring.

I also approve of human names for cats. My current's named "Carol."

 

[Tiki Tom]

I have an entire bookshelf of European travel guidebooks that I have accumulated over the course of living here for almost 20 years. A couple of years ago, the son of a friend (approx age: 20) from the States stayed with us for a few days as he was backpacking across Europe during a gap year. One evening we were discussing his possible next destinations, so I showed him my bookcase and said “feel free to borrow a book”. He laughed and said he had never even touched a guidebook in his life because it is all in his phone. I felt sorry for him.

btw: great bookshelf (and cat), Amateisgal.

 

[Old Mariner]

This is all I can offer since most of my books are ebooks.

 

[ChazfromCali]

I don't know why I've never wandered over to this part of the Lounge before tonight.

Hi, my name is Chaz and I'm a book person. ;-) I've collected books and magazines since I was 14. Still have that 1911 Machu Pichu edition of National Geographic that started it for me, found it in an antique shop. The roto-gravures entranced me for some reason, lol.

At the moment I have nine boxes of books packed on the shelf in my garage as well as maybe 500 or so in the house in several small bookcases, so my collection total is probably only 12 to 1400. My oldest is Blue Laws of Connecticut which irrc, was published in 1780's, still have it.
Unfortunately, at times in my life I've had to sell many of my books. (Biggest regret: selling my Samuel Johnson editions from the 1810's. Not specifically into old books per se, just whatever interests me.

I went thru a phase of collecting older "self help" books, Sam Smiles, Wallace Wattles, etc. then self help and pop psychology books from the 1930's, 40's and 50's which surprisingly to me, I found "was a thing" - even back then decades before Dr, Wayne Dyer, lol. Sort of an odd niche but I find it fascinating.

My main interests are history, monetary history (Alexander Del Mar: highly recommended), and esoteric subjects. Collected Works of Charles Fort is one of my faves. And of course anything that needs rescuing from the Goodwill Bin Store, found an 1880's book on Shakespeare that would have been a CRIME to not save it.

I'm "retiring" in a couple months and moving to Peru (I love it there). I'll finally have all my boxes of books up on an entire wall together where they belong. It'll be glorious.

 

[AmateisGal]

I don't know why I've never wandered over to this part of the Lounge before tonight.

Hi, my name is Chaz and I'm a book person. ;-) I've collected books and magazines since I was 14. Still have that 1911 Machu Pichu edition of National Geographic that started it for me, found it in an antique shop. The roto-gravures entranced me for some reason, lol.

At the moment I have nine boxes of books packed on the shelf in my garage as well as maybe 500 or so in the house in several small bookcases, so my collection total is probably only 12 to 1400. My oldest is Blue Laws of Connecticut which irrc, was published in 1780's, still have it.
Unfortunately, at times in my life I've had to sell many of my books. (Biggest regret: selling my Samuel Johnson editions from the 1810's. Not specifically into old books per se, just whatever interests me.

I went thru a phase of collecting older "self help" books, Sam Smiles, Wallace Wattles, etc. then self help and pop psychology books from the 1930's, 40's and 50's which surprisingly to me, I found "was a thing" - even back then decades before Dr, Wayne Dyer, lol. Sort of an odd niche but I find it fascinating.

My main interests are history, monetary history (Alexander Del Mar: highly recommended), and esoteric subjects. Collected Works of Charles Fort is one of my faves. And of course anything that needs rescuing from the Goodwill Bin Store, found a 1880's book on Shakespeare that would have been a CRIME to not save it.

I'm "retiring" in a couple months and moving to Peru (I love it there). I'll finally have all my boxes of books up on an entire wall together where they belong. It'll be glorious.

There is nothing quite like the anticipation of knowing you're going to have an entire wall full of books!

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's a true fact -- a wall of books is excellent insulation. Keeps a cool room cool and a warm room warm. In the ideal home, all walls are walls of books.