Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion

I just wanted to share with you my success in reaching a goal I set for myself a lonnnnng time ago. Back in 2001 I counted my collection for the first time and found I had an even 1300 items in my library. Sometime after that, I don't remember exactly when, I came across an interesting tidbit of information about a famous fellow book collector.

"Throughout his life, books were vital to Thomas Jefferson's education and well-being. When his family home Shadwell burned in 1770 Jefferson most lamented the loss of his books. In the midst of the American Revolution and while United States minister to France in the 1780s, Jefferson acquired thousands of books for his library at Monticello. Jefferson's library went through several stages, but it was always critically important to him. Books provided the little traveled Jefferson with a broader knowledge of the contemporary and ancient worlds than most contemporaries of broader personal experience. By 1814 when the British burned the nation's Capitol and the Library of Congress, Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the United States. Jefferson offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed by the British during the War of 1812. Congress purchased Jefferson's library for $23,950 in 1815. A second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851, destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson."

Thomas Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress 6,487 books, an amazing number I thought, and one I wanted to see if I could one day match that amount. Well, I can proudly say today that not only have I matched it, I have surpassed it! It only took me about 12 and a half years, but with the recent delivery of an order I got today, I can now proudly say I have 6490 items in my library! Even though I have finally matched and passed that magic number, I've certainly not going to stop collecting, I mean, would you? :-)
And just curious, have any of you set goals of this sort for yourself before or am I the only one this crazy? ;-)

I am amazed!! and also curious . . . Have you read them all? How much room does this take? and finally, do you have a favorite genre that most of them are in, or is your collection as varied as a public library's?

Beverly wrote: "I am amazed!! and also curious . . . Have you read them all?
Can't say I've read them all, considering about a third of my collection is nonfiction/reference books, but of the fiction I think I've read about half of them.

How much room does this take?
Well, I have them in my living room, dining room, the master bedroom, and an extra bedroom. You can see pictures here: https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...

and finally, do you have a favorite genre that most of them are in, or is your collection as varied as as a public library's?" I'd say my collection is pretty varied, but do focus on certain areas. I have fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and horror in the living room/dining room and mysteries, children's, romance, and classics in the master bedroom. Nonfiction/reference is in the extra bedroom.

I notice Joseph that your bookcases are nowhere near full. You should have room for another thousand or so! Nice.

Joseph, first, congratulations on reaching a goal that mattered so much to you. Secondly, I am both impressed and jealous at how much space you have for your collection.

Woa! Congrats!

Wow! I keep meaning to count my books- I know I have at least a thousand books, but counting them would take me at least 2 days. Maybe.

Joseph,
Congrats!

Congrats on achieving your personal collection goal :) I don't have a certain set in mind.

I have recently reorganized my library and removed doubles. With the addition of two double bookcases I thought I would now have room to spare. I was wrong. Unlike Joseph I have a partner that draws a line as to where I can store my books. I must admit that she does let me store some books outside of my library but the naked truth is that I will have to come up with a radical solution if I want to continue (which of course I will) collecting books. I have recently taken pictures of my library but have no idea how to put them on Goodreads. If anyone knows how I would appreciate the information. This seems like as good a place as any to show off the libraries that I am sure we are rightly proud of. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!

I'm with Linda, congrats and all the jealousy!! I have close to 300 in my collection right now and for the moment 500 is a good goal for me to hit.

Taylor wrote: "I notice Joseph that your bookcases are nowhere near full. You should have room for another thousand or so! Nice."

Linda wrote: "Joseph, first, congratulations on reaching a goal that mattered so much to you. Secondly, I am both impressed and jealous at how much space you have for your collection.


Thank you all. While it may appear I have plenty of space to grow, unfortunately, those pictures were actually taken last November! :-) I'll take some updates as soon as I can. Fortunately, my basement is still empty, so I do have plenty of room to grow down there at least, I'll just have to do some rearranging of what genre is where when I do get some bookcases for down there.

Wow, that is quite a collection! I love and am impressed with how organized it is!

My collection isn't anywhere near that but I would love to try to get there!

Joseph wrote: "Beverly wrote: "I am amazed!! and also curious . . . Have you read them all?
Can't say I've read them all, considering about a third of my collection is nonfiction/reference books, but of the fict..."

Thank you for the pictures, Joseph, and for answering my questions so quickly. As a reading teacher I am humbly impressed. I, too, have books in every room of my house, but they are not all displayed as nicely or as organized. You have definitely inspired me to improve in these areas.

Congratulations Joseph! That is quite a milestone! I think we all are envious. Due to space limitations, I've had to draw the line and resort to exchanging books at a local book exchange store, to fulfill my needs. I do collect some favorites though. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures, I enjoyed looking at them.

with this shipment from Amazon last night, including

I have reached 300!

So jealous, Joseph, and very nice work!

I just hit 303 for the year today (including individual books within box sets) and 1,582 for the books within the house (this doesn't include the books stored in boxes in the shed).

With 564 bought/acquired last year, I am evidently trying to beat my record in 2014!

303 for the YEAR?? jfc Figgy I'm jealous lol

Well, I do kinda WORK with my substance of choice. Hard to say no when they're begging you from the moment they came out of the box... :P

that's true and I tend to think I'd be just as bad if I ever worked in a bookstore. Any spare change from paychecks usually go to books as it is, lol.

The pictures on my profile are from a few months (and at least a couple dozen books ago.)

Books make me happy. :D

I've got pics of my shelves on my profile as well :D same, they need updated because they've since been rearranged /is lazy

You have to be over 6500 now since you have had several recent shipments.

I am so amazed!

Joseph wrote: "I just wanted to share with you my success in reaching a goal I set for myself a lonnnnng time ago. Back in 2001 I counted my collection for the first time and found I had an even 1300 items in my..."

WOW. OMG. You have a library! with that amount of books! That is totally awesome! Imagine if they aged some would produce a lovely smell [yes, I am addict on how some book smells, they have this chocolatey-warm-aged smell]

Local thrift store in my town will have all books 75% off on July 30th. I'll be there at opening time!!!

Joseph has given me bookcase envy! LOL

Congratulations, Joseph! That's an admirable goal reached.
I currently have 400 books in my collection and my goal is to reach a thousand. Where I'm from there's no library sales or nothing of the sort, so most of the time I have to pay full price for my books. Nonetheless, I'm very patient and I know my dreamed goal will be reached.

Marieru,
Have you tried this website? It works great for where I live, but I'm afraid that I'm not familiar enough with FL to know anything else to try.

http://www.booksalefinder.com/FL.html

Tiffany wrote: "You have to be over 6500 now since you have had several recent shipments.

I am so amazed!"

Currently 6505 to be exact. :-)

Nice Joseph :-)
I've come to the conclusion, that with various compromises with my spouse and kids in mind, I have room for about 2300 books in my house (at the moment I have 2243). I try to read library books, ebooks, listen to audiobooks, and then get rid of "meh" books to friends or charity, so I can buy some new ones!

Ruth wrote: "http://www.booksalefinder.com/FL.html"

You're so kind, Ruth. Sadly, the adress in my profile is not my actual adress. I live in Panama :)

Louise wrote: "Nice Joseph :-)
I've come to the conclusion, that with various compromises with my spouse and kids in mind, I have room for about 2300 books in my house (at the moment I have 2243). I try to read l..."

I do the same! If I buy a book and don't like it as much as I thought I would, I'll either sell it or give it to someone else who might enjoy it more than I do -- and lately I've been reading books at the library first, that way I know whether or not I like them and can then purchase them later on if I wish.

I've got a little over 900 books, going for a thousand. I thought that was a lot until I've seen what some of you have.

Way cool

Congrats. I keep adding, removing(to donate) and rearranging my shelves. It is amazing how many books can fit on bookshelves with some determination. I am a little over 400 and adding.

i used to have 800 books but as I moved around conn they got added to then my "lovely" landlord threw them away on me.

A couple of months ago I thought life, as I knew it, was over. My book collection had outgrown the space we could reasonably use for them (I even smuggled Jonathan and Faye Kellerman collection of about twenty-five books into the bathroom). The room that we had set aside as a library couldn’t accommodate another book so I had to admit that my collecting days were over but shortly that famous Yankee ingenuity soon saved the day and my collecting passion. I reorganized my books and got rid of the doubles and triples and starting to be slightly more selective about the rest of my books. Once I read them, if they don’t rate three stars or more or if an unemotional evaluation says I will probably never read it again. I have started looking for buys and freebies online and have discovered that I can increase my library by ten to fifteen books a day making it bigger than ever without stressing over space. I may not ever read all the books I have but it doesn’t matter as that isn’t really the point. I am passionate about collecting and I am at peace knowing that on my dying day I will still have a multitude of titles and authors to choose from.

I have always wanted a library however i don't just buy books for the sake of buying books i do have a tenancy if i have bought a book in a while 2 buy books that i normally wouldn't because it's cheaper and on offer.

Sorry for resurrecting the old thread, but thought I might stop in and add that, in the course of 2014, I acquired over 600 books. The 600 is certain, but I do have some collections of books that I know weren't able to be added to my LibraryThing account easily, and so I haven't done that yet.

Don't mean to be bragging, but I just wanted to share another major milestone for me. With the books I picked up this weekend, I now have more than 7000 items in my library. It might currently only be 7001 to be exact, but that is more than 7000! ;-) I wonder how long, or maybe how short, it will take me to add another 999. :-)

Very cool Joseph, congrats.

I just hit a little over 2400 physical books. Don't think I can fit many more though and need to downsize some of those romance that have been gifted to me that I'll never read.

WOW. I dream of such a collection :D What do you collect? Are you 'picky' with books or more of a book hoarder?

Stefanie wrote: "WOW. I dream of such a collection :D What do you collect? Are you 'picky' with books or more of a book hoarder?"

Stefanie, hoarders are disorganized collectors. I... am a librarian! :-) I do pretty much read and collect everything, though. Name a subject or genre and I am pretty sure I've got something to match it in my library.

Awesome :D I'm similar, though my collection is tiny by comparison. Would be easier if I only liked one or two genres! lol.

I'm slightly less organized than librarian... I go with 'curator' ;)

Wow, what a fantastic goal! Living in a future library would be a dream come true...

On the topic of personal collecting milestones, I've recently passed 500!

Just checked. GRs has me at 6609 books and I have not put all my free kindle ebooks on it (several hundred) nor have I finished inventorying old 1960s Harlequins that fill several apple boxes.

Our local middle school library has roughly 7000 books. I thought it was pretty cool that my personal collection basically equals theirs. My kids take to school some of our books to read for class that their teachers have fallen in love with.