Why do you keep so many books (if you do)?

Scott, I know, I try to keep the twee under control but then I start thinking about books and kids and transcendence and I start crying at work and I really oughtn't to be allowed out some days.

Tep's childhood thing rings a bell -- I had way more books than my small-town library had back then. And the thought of one day having kids, it'd be great to have more books in the house for them than I had available -- about six.

That crosses my mind more than once (though I'm thinking much more in the very long term). I think it will be interesting to see how the concept of what is needed in physical space in the home plays out more and more as the Internet is more entrenched. What could have been room set aside for physical intellectual products will become something else for many people.

But Raggetude, you're so nice about Joyce on amg

I am, it's a nice disc. I might finally read all of Ulysses instead of just the bits and pieces I have; maybe one day I'll finally read all of the Bible as well. As I can't get around to everything I'll enjoy what I can as I go.

I love this idea; it is beautifully put.

I didn't have a lot of books when I was little (just Mom's box of old Nancy Drews and Cherry Ames, etc.) and I didn't have a lot of guidance as to what would be good to read. Contrast that to my husband, who grew up surrounded by books and who didn't have a tv growing up, and I have a continual conversation in my life of, "what you've never read that? REALLY?" So I love buying stuff for the kids and having A.'s input on what they will love - plus I finally get to enjoy it myself.

This is how my cousins were raised. I remember being befuddled by that when we were young! They're not doing that for their own kids, FWIW -- don't blame them at all.

Also, selling them on Amazon = cash for other things = great. And it somehow eats into my messing around on the internet time, rather than my work time, so it's like a 2nd job which reduces the amount of crap I own.

On the other hand, I suspect that I own 100s of books that I will be completely unable to make myself get rid of (and that's excluding the maths books).

That being said books >>>>>>>> tv (to the nth power)

a) I like owning a lot of books
b) It means I'm always going to have something to read
c) Who in their right mind gives away their books, unless they have to?

Which you make up for by writing, so it all even out.

(But no, I wouldn't give my tv up either... I like even some of the dumbest stuff on it. Trust me when I say this; I still occasionally watch the soaps that I watched as a kid!!!)

As for being book deprived, don't feel bad for me; now I am Totally Not. Plus my 8 year old is a much better reader than his nephew is, which I'm pretty sure has something to do with the fact that I keep all these books around and my sister doesn't (so I get to feel superior, and who doesn't secretly love that?!)

Lately all I want to do is let my kids watch tv, but they are both sick and driving me nuts right now. If I didn't have the tv (and the computer), I'd be locking myself in the bathroom to hide. With a book, probably.

The surprising thing (or not?) is that it led to me loving awesome literature, too.

and yet i'll take my gazillion books over my gazillion records any day when it comes to moving.

Likewise, though my father kept mentioning the possibility of forbidding certain comic books etc, and I was part of the generation-within-a-generation that wasn't allowed to play Dungeons and Dragons.

I believe in limiting and to some extent supervising television intake, depending on the kid's age (though I think it's key for children to enjoy things their parents find stupid), just not in doing so in favor of reading (past the age of "practice makes perfect"). Especially these days. My parents tried it at one point, but I was reading hundreds of books anyway and my brother has a learning disability, so a uniform policy was too tough to cobble together.

(My parents don't read, watch TV, watch movies, or listen to music, so in this case this stuff all came out of my father's suspicion of Evil Influence and my mother's New England eyebrow-raising at anything that Doesn't Serve Some Practical End.)

2. Continued lust from an adolescence of looking into Manhattan brownstones where the walls were lined with endless curious tomes.

3. A tendency towards obscurer reading, and a tendency towards only buying things on sale, meaning if there's any chance I'll want to read a book someday, and I find it cheap enough, I'll grab it, because when that day comes, I will not be able to find it again.

Um. What exactly do they do for spare time?

My mother quilts and plays bridge, and town politics are sort of a spectator sport here. Sometimes she knits sweaters for upcoming birthdays. Bridge is kind of an indulgence, but it doesn't cost any money -- she's horrified at the number of movies I own. My father, well, he's got his own recreations. (He's Very Religious, along Pat Robertson type lines.)

I keep the ones I keep because I like having them to open and read from. About 160 of them are volumes of poetry. About fifty are various reference works. The rest are just damn good books.

this is pretty much the reason why i have so little vinyl. freaks me out. feel like i need more stability for me n vinyl to happen.

I have kept a running list of every book I've read since January of 1992. Seriously! This may seem obsessive, but sometimes I'll think of something from a book but won't remember where it came from - or need to figure out a title or author - and it really helps.

(I also have a running list of books I want to read, but that is so out of hand that it should never be discussed.)