English Mysteries Club discussion

I have little enough floorspace and so many books that I double (sometimes triple) stack shelves. It makes it a little awkward getting to the layer in back, but every shelf has a column of books (stacked lying flat instead of upright, because more fit that way) in front of another column of books; in the skinny tower bookcases I stick another stack of paperbacks turned 90 degrees in the space on the side. They're roughly alphabetical, so I can usually find what I want pretty quickly, and I manipulate the order so that the books I'm more likely to want are the ones whose spines are showing. (And I still have an awful lot of books in bags and on the floor...)

I have friends who have an unfinished basement -- 2x4 studs visible. They discovered that a 2x4 is exactly the depth of a mass-market sized paperback. So the entire basement seems to be lined with bookcases; only when you look closely do you realize that there are no walls -- the walls are the books.

Brenda wrote: "I have friends who have an unfinished basement -- 2x4 studs visible. They discovered that a 2x4 is exactly the depth of a mass-market sized paperback. So the entire basement seems to be lined wit..."

Great insulation!

Hj wrote: "But it makes me wonder - do those who never re-read books also never keep them, and so only own books which they haven't read yet? And if not, why do they keep them? ..."

I almost never re-read books, as someone else said, there are too many new books to read. As with any rule, there are a few exceptions. I've re-read And Then There Were None, Pride and Prejudice and The Stand because they are just brilliant. And I expect to re-read them again some day, although ATTWN is the only book I actually own. When I was a teen I re-read a lot of the mystery/romances (Victoria Holt, Helen MacInnes, Jane Aiken Hodge, etc.) mostly because I loved reliving the romances.

I do have some copies of books I've read and loved, and am unsure if I will reread, but I've started getting rid of them because in the unlikely event I want to reread I can get them from the library, and I'm running out of places to put my many unread books. Examples are anything by Dennis Lehane (these are also autographed, another reason I've accumulated them, but I'm becoming less enamored of the concept of an autographed book), Lee Child, SJ Rozan, Steve Hamilton, Michael Connelly. Mostly authors who have come to my home town.
I can think of another couple of books I own that I might keep in order to re-read someday ...Mystic River and Two O'Clock, Eastern Wartime.
I have tons of unread books, even though I rarely buy books anymore. We could probably fill a whole 'nother topic on the difficulty in reading the unread books in our personal libraries...

When I want a comfort read, it is always a reread. When I am ill, stressed, or otherwise under the weather I don't want to try out something new, which might not be satisfactory. I want a known and safer work. When I went to the hospital to give birth to my daughter I brought SENSE AND SENSIBILITY.
When I travel on airplanes, a new work is usually better, so that the chances of losing myself in a new narrative increase. When I flew to the Far East, a 14-hour trip, I brought used paperbacks so that I could abandon them without guilt. Somewhere in a hotel in Beijing is a copy of a bad Trojan War novel.

Brenda, I used to keep my books in my unfinished basement and there was a mold and damp issue. I do heat the basement, but it is not finished so does have a few leaks here and there.

Because I have a small house, I do keep my collection to a minimum now. I agree that having a lot of books was neat and I really enjoyed referring to them when I had questions, or wanted to re-read.

I suppose the alternative is to get a Kindle and store them there. Not the same though.