Thursday, February 25

To Keep Or Not To Keep, is the question?


I was having a discussion with a friend of mine last night and I was wondering what everyone else does!

Do you keep books after you read them or pass them onto other people by donating them, trading,etc? If you do keep books, how do you decide which ones to keep or do you keep them all? Or do you let them all go on to new homes after you've read them?

If you keep them, what determines them to be put on your keep shelf? The plot? How much you enjoyed reading it? If you will reread it? The cover art?

Opinions, comments, thoughts?

35 comments:

Julie said...

I do keep pretty much all of my books, though I am always willing to loan out. There are a few exceptions for books I didn't really like, which I give to anyone who wants them among my friends.

Orchid said...

I keep most of the books that I get. If I didn't enjoy reading it I'll pass it to one of my friends if they want it, but if they don't I'll trade it away. :)

Natalie said...

I tend to keep pretty much all of my books. The only exception are for those that I really didn't like, which I'll usually drop off at Goodwill or a resale shop. Sometimes, I offer them to other bloggers.

Julie@My5monkeys said...

I will save books that I loved or good plots/covers..but other times I end up sharing the books with friends or donating them to goodwill or library.

Kris said...

Ditto what Julie said....and some I donate to the library.

Just Your Typical Book Blog said...

I keep a lot of my books and I'm always loaning them out for other people to read. Books that I don't keep are ones that I know I'll never re-read again or ones that I didn't really like.

Which reminds me, I really need to do another sweep of my bookcase, lol

LibraryGirl said...

I used to keep pretty much everything but we just don't have the room to do that anymore.

If I will re-read it or it is part of a series that I love, I'll keep it. If not, I'll give it away.

This year I started doing a monthly giveaway on my blog to help clear out some of the books that I know I'm just not going to go back to. If it isn't an ARC I will also donate to the library sometimes.

Unknown said...

Great question!

I tend to keep them, unless I did not like them much, or dont think I might pick them up again. If there's even a chance often times I keep...though I would lend them if asked! :)

Gina said...

At this point, I pretty much keep all my books. What would determine if I giveaway, donate, or otherwise gift would be my desire to reread a title at some point or if I have a duplicate. If I like it, I'm probably gonna keep it. =0)

Diana Dang said...

I am keeping all of my YA books atm. Maybe I'll change my mind later on. The only things I'm giving away right now are my elementary chapter books from a few years ago.

Katie said...

I keep my books since I re-read a lot of them. However, if it was a book that I knew I'd never pick up again, I'd probably do some sort of giveaway for it. I never keeps ARCs though unless they're personally signed to me. I think ARCs should always be passed around (if they're not personalized) so more bloggers/people can promote that book. So I usually trade/give away my ARCs if I get any.

Zia said...

I keep them.My friend keeps joking that I need to make her a library card. I do lend them out to friends.

Unknown said...

All of my books find new homes through blog giveaways or donations to a local library.

I'm not a re-reader, so I couldn't begin to imagine how I would pick and chose which ones to keep.

Angela Ackerman said...

I keep some and pass some on. I tend to keep the ones that I learned something from or really, really enjoyed. Those I don't part with (unless I have extra copies!) :-)

KHCPL Staff said...

The ARC's I giveaway usually to teens who I know like to read and will recommend the book to others. As far as other books go, I only really keep the ones that I know I will reread. The others get passed on to friends, teens, or others.

Lisa Richards/alterlisa said...

I pass on pretty much all of the books I read as if I didn't there would be no floor space left in my house. I trade most of them at BookMooch or PaperBackswap( usually for missing books in a series I've just "discovered") and give most of my YA's to a friend that has a "library" in her classroom . The only exception is if it's the first in a series(I generally won't start a series till I've got at least 3 or 4 of the books) and I'm planning on rereading it after book 2 or 3 comes out. I'd love to be able to hold on to all that I read but with the size of my TBR pile, realistically I'd never reread any of them so I pass them on.

loreleimarsh said...

I try not to keep any. This year I am going to do either 2 medium sized giveaways or one HUGE giveaway with the books. If I get one that I absolutely LOVE, I will usually buy the finished copy anyway. I love to donate any interested for ARC tours as well. :)

Robby said...

I have this weird habit where I almost always buy every book I read. I keep it on my bookshelf and never reread it again.
I'm constantly handing my books to friends, telling them to read it read it read it, but I almost always keep books after I read them.
It's different for everyone though. :]

ifigenia said...

I would like to keep all my books, but i live in a flat and i buy a lot of books, so i haven't enough space.
Finally, i have decided to give away my books to the library, so i will able to read again.

Andrea said...

Sometimes I keep them...sometimes I pass them on!
Hugs,
andrea

Anna said...

I use to keep every book, but my bookshelf got full real fast. So now I keep books that I know I plan to read again. The all important "keepers". :) Every few months or so I purge both my bookshelves and my TBR shelf. I split them between paperback swap and contests on my blog.

Anonymous said...

I always keep my books. I just can't part with them. I'm sure eventually this will be a problem seeing as I'll run out of space but for right now, it's okay. ;P

I did however recently part with my Gossip Girl series. They just didn't hold my interest & I hadn't acknowledged them since I was in the eighth grade. It was still difficult to decide that I was going to give them away. I guess I just have a weird attachment to my books.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to keep most of my books, but I really don't have the room.
I keep books that I loved, any that are signed, and any that have sentimental value.
I swap the ones that I don't think I'll read again.

Unknown said...

I used to keep my a lot of my books, but then I ran out of room for new books. The question I kept asking myself was Am I going to reread this book? And the majority of the time, the answer was no. So I just decided to give up and post most of my books on PBS. :) Almost all of the books I have right now are unread. I have very few keepers.

CeeCee said...

I keep the majority of my books though I am a re-reader I think that if it's on my shelf then I plan to re-read it again general with in a year. I had to recently cull books because they had to go into storage, I gave them to friends who I knew would appreciate them and then they aren't too far away.

Seahn

Kathy Martin said...

I keep most of the adult books I read if I plan to read them again, if they are part of a series, if they touched me in some way, if they are by a favorite author. I donate most of the YA and MG books I read to the media centers I manage (and claim a tax deduction).

I only get rid of books I don't like or don't plan to read again.

LinzReads said...

I keep almost all of my books. The only time I give them away or sell them is if I didn't like them, but that doesn't happen too often. I'm quite selfish with my books. I don't like giving them away.

Catie S (Book Bound) said...

I keep mine. All of them. Unless I hated it. Then I'll give it to someone. I have been known to let my friends borrow books, but I rarely get rid of them.

Donna (Bites) said...

The books I find wanting to read more than once go on my shelf. That isn't very many. Usually I like e book enough, but reading through once is good for me.

Those books I do like but just not enough to keep I give away on my blog. I can promote the book and I'm giving away a book I can vouch for.

The rest get donated to the library. Sorry library but I'm sure someone else will love them like I didn't.

Rebecca Herman said...

If I like it, I keep it. If I don't like it, it goes, either to PBS/Boomooch, or the library sale if it's something no one on swap sites wants. So I have a ton of books I've read because I have a ton I enjoyed.

Anonymous said...

I keep most of the books I read BUT that's because they go into my classroom library. The only ones I don't keep for that are ones that are clearly to mature for middle schoolers. Then I keep them in my personal library if they are ones that I really liked. If they were just so-so I put them up on Bookmooch or I might have a contest for them.

I have a hard time letting go of books. After reading them they almost seem to become part of me, so I struggle with letting them go!

Monster of Books said...

I'm one of those people that have a hard time giving away my stuff. Probably because I'm a only child and items are like friends to me *that sounds pathetic, but it's true and yes I do have friends,real people*. So I have all of my books. Some of them are stored away in the basement of both my mom & dads house, and the rest are in my room.

Unknown said...

I only keep the books that I really, really loved. The others I either sell or swap.

Liz @ Cleverly Inked said...

If I wont read it again I will give it away. If I will read it again the I will only loan it out. My friends splurge in my books. LOL

Anonymous said...

What a great question! I keep books that I enjoyed reading. For some reason, I can't part with them, even though I'm not really a re-reader. Books that were just "okay" I can probably part with and will swap.

 

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