Welcome to my first ‘Tuesday Talks’. The topic for this week is
“What do you do with unwanted books?”
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I normally struggle with weekly features but I will try my best to participate in many topics as I can. After careful consideration, I feel Tuesday Talks, from all the group weekly features, is the right fit for my blog. So I hope you enjoy too. And feel free to leave your comments, participate in the discussion, or link me to your own post about this week’s topic!
What do I do with unwanted books?
I just want to start by saying that, if I could, I would collect books. What can I say? I love the look of them on my shelves. Which brings another question: Is there such a thing as unwanted books? Well, at this moment, due to the limited space I have here in my tiny apartment, I would have to say, yes. I just can’t keep my paperbacks.
Option 1) I give them to a friend or family member who wants to read the book. This doesn’t happen often as my friends usually don’t read that much (I know, how can that be possible?) or don’t read the same things I do.
Option 2) This is what I have been doing most, recently. At least, I know something good is coming out of it. When it’s a book I really like, I usually struggle to get rid of it; this is why there are still a few books on my shelf. But for most, after I’ve finished reading a book that is in paperback format, I donate it to my local Oxfam shop (charity). They sell a brilliant collection of donated books too, all in impeccable state.
And these are ways of avoiding having unwanted books:
Option 3) I buy e-books instead. Then, I get to keep them all in my Kindle, along with all the notes! I still can’t resist buying a paper edition once in a while, especially if it’s a book I am really looking forward to, and a book I intend to keep somehow. But the advantages of e-books have been growing on me.
Option 4) Use the library more. I finally have signed up for a library membership, and honestly, I don’t have many excuses nowadays to even spend money on books (but I still do). The other advantage of borrowing books is that you’ll never end up with unwanted books.
How about you? What do you do with unwanted books?
6 Responses
Nice post. I keep all the books I read. I have acquired quite a library.
That’s so cool! I hope one day I have enough space in my house to do that too.
Oh, it isn’t easy. Space becomes a proble. So, I have given away a few to libraries and schools. But I keep all my favorites.
I donate to libraries sometimes, but there is a table at the university where my husband works, where people can put books or other items they wish to give away. Items are grabbed up promptly.
Hi, thanks for commenting 🙂 That’s quite an interesting concept. I wish they’d had something similar here.
Once upon a time, we four (3 are avid readers) collected books. Then we had to move, and soon our books were scattered in three houses. My brother moved to Taiwan, so he brought a bunch of them with him. And then I had to move to Boracay (a tiny island so beautiful that your eyes will pop out of its sockets when you see it, try searching Boracay using Google). So I brought with me a bunch.
And then I donated all books I had in a dive shop I co owned, we made a book exchange there. When I returned to the city after five years, I left all those books there.
And then the flood… a terrible flood destroyed all books in my sister's house. I still had some books, which I had donated to a charitable organization.
Nowadays, I have digital books. A few paperbacks, mostly gifts – all of them leadership books such as this one:
http://www.amazinglifedaily.com/john-maxwell-laws-leadership/