Comments on: BOTNS Books Podcast #53: Piles and Piles of Books

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:11:37 +0000

I’m so glad that you read and enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird Michael! It’s one of my favorite books of all time. Atticus is my inspiration for what I do for work.

By: Melissa W.

Melissa W. — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:36:53 +0000

Since I live on my own and can do this because I have a regular closet and a walk-in, I have turned my walk-in into my own personal library. After years of having books in various places, I can finally see each and every book (except for those that I have sent to others to read because I knew I would never get to them) that I own. Because I have a collection of series and Penguin Classics, I grouped them together. I have currently organized all my fiction in alphabetical order and plan to organize my non-fiction in the correct Dewey location. The library cataloguer (I worked as cataloguer for a school district a number of years back and really enjoy that aspect of library work) in me wants to put spine labels on each of the non-fiction, so that I know precisely exactly where each book goes. But the fact of the matter is this: it is really time consuming and one does have to decide how detailed one wants to get with how many numbers after the decimal one wants to go.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:59:24 +0000

I don’t know whether to be in lust with this picture, or overwhelmed. If you keep it to re-read it, how do you find the book in order to do so? My ADD mind is doing flips lol

By: readnponder

readnponder — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:38:19 +0000

Too Many Books

My husband (a non-reader) has instituted a policy called âbibliostasis,â which means that for every new book that comes in, an old book must go out, thus keeping the number of books in the house constant.

I canât say that I adhere to the policy all that well. The books come in one-by-one every couple of weeks. They tend to go out in boxes once or twice a year.

I usually donate finished novels and books I could readily find in a public library if I wish to read them again. I keep books in which I took lots of notes and books that I will use as reference, plus my top favorites.

Finding Space for Books

Part of the rationale for bibliostasis is that you donât need to keep adding bookshelves. Like Michaelâs, my house has lots of windows. Upon occasion, I have resorted to putting bookshelves against the back wall of closets.

Idea for the Future

I am a fairly new listener, so you may have already done this one. I would be curious to know how many books people have going at one time. One? Three? A dozen? Is each book of a different genre? Are you able to keep the plots and characters separate?

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:49:24 +0000

Heather — Please read the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Wonderful book and will get you hooked on Atwood’s writing.

Ann, I read The Poisonwood Bible a few years ago, and it was ok, but in my opinion (and I know I’m in the minority) I don’t think you need to move it up on your list.

Now my confession — I have never read Little Women. Shame shame shame.

By: Ann Kingman

Ann Kingman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:30:11 +0000

Free book table at the workplace — I love that, Marie! What a great idea. If only I didn’t work at home…

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:56:30 +0000

Lately the free-book table at my husband’s office has become my new best friend. I have more Bookmooch points than I need and the used book store can only take so much, so when I’m desperate to get rid of something off it goes to the office. I do keep a lot of my books though- as anyone who’s ever visited my house can attest!

By: taueret

taueret — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:04:08 +0000

Do not read The Little Prince. It is way. too. sad. If you want, I can come over and slam your hand in a drawer- same effect.

Me, I work in a university library, and we have a nice “leisure reading” collection. So anything I’m done with, I donate. Some I see go into the 800s as literature, some go into the LR shelves. No clutter at home, and I know where they are if I want to re-read them. Books I LOVE, I tend to get, if I can, for the signed first edition or beautiful hardcover and so on, after I’ve donated the paperback.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:06:38 +0000

Hi Ann and Michael,
I have bookcases’ in every room and the stack of books on the nightstand to be read is almost as tall as I am. I love having books around me! There are so many books that I want to read and to speed up the process a bit, I shut off the TV last year and have almost doubled the amount of books that I get through in a week.
The one thing that I tell everyone is that I know that from now until the day I die, I will never be without a good book to read, be it from my home collection,or a find in the local independent bookshop, or a take away from the library. I am also going to move The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Poisonwood Bible to the top of my Nightstand Stack, after hearing this podcast. Many Thanks

By: Melissa W.

Melissa W. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:08:47 +0000

My TBR is too long to mention. I always seem to “bite off more than I can chew” so to speak. There are too many good books out there and too many books that catch my eye at one point or another. I also then go to the library and always add to that pile, no matter how many books I have left to read.