# Did you get rid of your print books?



## Sam Rivers (May 22, 2011)

Our neighbor showed up the other day and he was complaining about having to get rid of the numerous books his wife had accumulated over the years.  She recently died of a long illness.

We used to have over a thousand print books in a room we used as a library.  When we got Kindles, we started weeding out the books and only kept a few print books for crafts and other reference type books. We didn't keep any of the novels since we can read those on our Kindles.

Have you reduced or eliminated your print books?


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

I did. My only print fiction books are my Harry Potter collection. I do still have all of my crafting and cooking books, although with some of them, I also have the Kindle version. If I am going to be referencing a topic a lot, I like having it in print to refer to. Although I have used my phone or tablet in the kitchen some.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I haven't gotten rid of any books yet, through laziness/inertia. I really do need to start. I have around 4,000 books and I plan to keep maybe 200-300 of them.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I've passed some on, kept some.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I've made a few passes through my print books over the years and have cleaned out a lot that I have re-purchased electronically.  I need to go through again, but there is a lot of stuff piled in front of my bookcases and they are hard to get to right now.
I do plan to keep my first edition Harry Potter hardbacks, my Lord of the Rings, and all of my Pratchett.  Everything else that I have electronically should leave the house at some point.  I also have a room of children's books and will probably keep those since most of them have sentimental value.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Yes, one of the great joys of ebooks is not having piles of books in every room in the house and overflowing bookcases. I got rid of everything except reference books and favorites I reread every few years. Generally, I'm too cheap to buy the ebook version of something I have in paper, but I think that day may be coming because I no longer enjoy reading most paperbacks (print too small) and some of those I kept are in that form.


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

Oh... and I have my favorite Mr. Ed book that my grandma used to read to me at her house. Over and over and over and over and over and over.....


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## drafter69 (Mar 21, 2009)

Many of my books are Art and Photography books and can only be appreciated in printed form.


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## Muddypawz (Jan 13, 2009)

I'm working on it!  I've managed to give away several boxes, some of which I did buy in Kindle format or locate the digital versions in either of the two libraries I borrow from, but still so many left to go through.  And honestly, I much prefer reading on my Kindle these days, so I seriously doubt I'll even read the ones I do keep.


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## seadogg31 (Jan 9, 2009)

I got rid of my paperbacks I kept all my hardcovers a lot od the are first additions I could not bring myself to part with them.


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## MagentaSunset (Oct 1, 2010)

_I have given some away and donated others. I've kept some classics and some baby and childrens' books. And cookbooks and reference books are just not the same on Kindle IMHO and I can easily store cookbooks on shelves in the kitchen island. _


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Well many books I had to leave behind when I moved from one continent to another. Hard to pack all those heavy books in the suitcase.  . Not that I haven't accumulated more books since then, but I don't have any space anyway in my apartment. So I have one large bookcase and its pretty much some cookbooks, some keepers and my stack of kindles. Yes, I put them in the book case. I do have a few of them.  . I do have a box of some rare books that I can't get rid of. I can't read them, font too small, but there is no ebook version and I don't think there ever will be so I get to pet them at times and look at them. They are old and fragile. 

I read only ebooks though as I can't read paperbacks anymore due to font.


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

I only wish I could get rid of them short of throwing them in the trash. I would keep a few shelves of them, and would be willing to give away the rest, but it is hard to find takers. I fantasize about scanning some of them but there is little time for that.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

tsemple said:


> I only wish I could get rid of them short of throwing them in the trash. I would keep a few shelves of them, and would be willing to give away the rest, but it is hard to find takers. I fantasize about scanning some of them but there is little time for that.


You might do some googling. Lots of cities have "book banks" similar to food banks where people donate books to folks who can't afford them. Libraries may take them if they have fundraiser book sales, but ask first -- they don't always just take anything because they need to feel like they'll be able to resell it. Charity shops sometimes have book sections as well but, again, may not take things they don't think will sell.


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## isamilis (Dec 8, 2016)

I didnt get rid my books because I don't buy ebook that I already have their printed version. But.. I almost completely stop buying printed books


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## TT Rankin (Aug 10, 2016)

If you can believe it, I still exclusively read print books. There's something magic to holding that print copy that I just can't give it up. I keep only the ones I love, but there are still plenty of those filling up my shelves at home.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## lindnet (Jan 25, 2009)

I reached a compromise that works for me.  I read print books at home (after work, glass of wine), but the Kindle pretty much everywhere else.  I did get rid of some of my print books (Goodwill or friends) because I was downsizing everything in my home, but I still buy them.  I've just adjusted to where I only buy print books that I want to keep and read all others on my Kindle.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I've been weeding mine out for years. I still have my Harry Potter books (hardback and paperback). Same with my Susan Howatch books. There are still some favorites and books not kindlized yet on my shelves. 

Most of them I gave to Goodwill. However, I'm clearing out my mother's books and I'll be donating them to a new library five minutes away from me opening in August. She had quite a few very gently used hardbacks.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I've weeded it down to about 5 shelves' worth.

All my Terry Pratchett books
All my Roger Zelazny books
Assorted hard-covers that have either sentimental value or _possibly_ some collectible value
Assorted books that I feel I may want to re-read some day and are not in ridiculously small fonts


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## ThomasDiehl (Aug 23, 2014)

I had a focus on replacing translations with their originals for books originally written in English or French. Other than that, very few got replaced simply because to me, the price of buying my books a second time was not worth the space gained.


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## larryb52 (Nov 18, 2009)

have to have books ...I have all the Robert B Parker paperbacks of Spenser , Randall and Stone...just in case the everything breaks down


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## jaimee83 (Sep 2, 2009)

Got rid of about 2000 over the last year.  The last bunch was about 100 on Viet Nam I donated to a library. It was hard to do, all those books seemed to have special meaning to me. Now with @ 1000 on the Kindle I still have many special memories with me.


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

i have given boxes of books away to my local library. Sometimes they act as if they don't want them. Most of my books are in excellent condition. I have romance, mystery, self help, etc. I guess they just don't feel like logging them into their system : (
This summer i plan to go through more bookshelves and purge more books.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

luvmykindle3 said:


> i have given boxes of books away to my local library. Sometimes they act as if they don't want them. Most of my books are in excellent condition. I have romance, mystery, self help, etc. I guess they just don't feel like logging them into their system : (
> This summer i plan to go through more bookshelves and purge more books.


They may _not_ want them. They probably can't shelve them for borrowing. And unless they have fundraiser book sales, they aren't much use to them.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

I've made one sorting pass of print books, but really have not cleared the shelves. Gave some away in the first pass, to folks who I know, and I took the others to a used book store for credit, which I haven't used, but at least someone could end up getting use from those print titles.


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## Shane76 (May 29, 2017)

Probably not because a lot of these books were just gifts from my family so they hold a special value to me. Although, I don't remember when was the last time I read a printed book, it is a little outdated for me.


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## BeeTee-Ess (Oct 28, 2012)

My print books now are pure nostalgia - Lord of the Rings, Pillars of the Earth, or further back, my original copies of Winnie-the-Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. My grand-daughter has grown out of those. She will inherit them all one day.

And I have ebook versions of all of those as well, which I read to kids at school.


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2017)

I could never get rid of all my physically-honed books...it'd be like cheating on your soulmate. Or something like that.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I had the urge to read one of my favorite books in print last week. I also have the ebook. It was awkward to hold and I could barely read the print. Very disappointing. But, I'm persisting.

Another book I want to read in print is _Hidden Figures_. I started listening to the audio and really felt that it was a book better read in print.


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## Cactus Lady (Jun 4, 2014)

I don't buy or read print any more. The last print book I tried to read was a 1000 page mass market paperback (#6 in a series I've been reading) with teeny tiny type. Even if I could hold it in my small hands, I couldn't read it. The print books I do have, I'm working on weeding out. It's down to favorites that I might re-read sometime, though I should probably just get the ebooks if they aren't too expensive but until then I don't want to let go of the print copies, books with sentimental value, non-fiction books I'm actually interested in, and books with covers I love. And kids books. The kids are grown; now I'm keeping them for my grandchildren. I've never liked hardcover fiction, so I don't have stacks of that, and I've always been pretty good about getting rid of paperback books I end up not liking or don't want to read again. But I'm trying to reduce what I still have because I hate clutter.


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## MartaDec (Mar 21, 2017)

I got rid of some of the children's literature that's been sitting on my shelves since I was a kid myself, but I still read print books, so I generally don't give them away. I definitely read more non-fiction that fiction in the print format, though - most of my fiction books are on my Kindle now.


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## luvmykindle3 (Dec 5, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> They may _not_ want them. They probably can't shelve them for borrowing. And unless they have fundraiser book sales, they aren't much use to them.


Actually the library that I donate to has plenty of shelf space. It just depends on who is working. Some are them are happy to take the books, and they tell me which ones they can't use, and I take those to goodwill, others just don't want to log them (I've heard them complain). I also donate the ones from my kids to schools. I've cut back on purchasing as many paper/hardbacks. I have already gotten rid of one bookshelf.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Even though I've read almost exclusively on my Kindles for the last eight years or so, it's only in the last few months that I've been able to bring myself to rehome my paper books. I've kept most of my hardbacks though and gotten rid of pretty much all the paperbacks. 

I sold all the ones I could online - probably a couple of hundred or so - and of the rest, the ones in good enough condition I took to the library. They said that they would check their own catalogue and those of other libraries in the city and if there was a need they would shelve the books, if not they would sell or recycle them.

Charity shops very rarely want books anymore, they can't seem to sell them, so most of the ones left have been recycled. It breaks my heart not to be able to find a new home for books, but most people on a budget use the library and everyone else prefers new, or uses an ereader.

I still have more books than I really want to keep, so I guess I'm going to have bite the bullet again and get even more strict about what stays. It's hard though, I'm just not psychologically or emotionally built for giving away books.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

DH and I have spent the morning going through somewhere between 500-1,000 hardbacks and paperbacks still on our library shelves in preparation for repainting the built-in shelves.  We have been pretty ruthless with our fiction as neither of us read it in paper anymore.

The reference books and one set of leather-bound classics are staying as well as my complete collection of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe (I just can't bear to give them up even though I can no longer read the size of print).  The hardbacks are going to the library in my mother's senior retirement home.  The paperbacks are going to the county jail library.  The used book store here in town only gives store credit, and I can't take advantage of that, so they didn't want any of them.  Anything else will go to the annual charity book sale in Des Moines, Iowa.  I can't find anywhere else to re-home them, and that makes me sad.


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## soche (Jun 16, 2017)

I used to have a whole lot of paperbacks and now I have none. When I first got my kindle, I kept all my books. When I got my second one, I knew just how much I loved it and had no desire to read paperbacks. Best decision I ever made.


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## rlkubi (Dec 7, 2009)

I gave all my print books to the library back in 2009 when I got my first Kindle and haven't looked back


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## KBaker (Feb 5, 2017)

I went through my bookcase (yes, a single bookcase of 5 shelves) and took off all the ones I knew I would never read or reread. Gave a few to my cousin and took the rest to a store called Half Price Books that buy books from the public and resell them. Someday I'd like to buy ebook versions of some I own in print so I can clear up more space. Most of the print books I've gotten recently have been from gifts. My mother-in-law doesn't really like giving gift cards for Christmas, so that's where ones in trad-pubbed series that I read come from.   The majority of my reading is library books and ebooks. 

I don't think I'll ever go 100% digital, but maybe 80-90%. And as some have stated, I would prefer print versions of cookbooks and some reference books.


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

A tornado that took our home also took all of our print books.  I'm sort of relieved because I had so many that I hated to get rid of and looking back I got paid for all of them.    I don't ever want a lot of print books to have to deal with again.

I don't think I ever mentioned this but after the tornado, a couple of days later, I got email after email from Amazon saying 'thank you for your purchase'.  Someone found my Kindle and purchased all kinds of books.    Amazon was fantastic and I was refunded and they bricked the Kindle.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

I've gotten rid of a lot of books, but I still have shelves and shelves.  There was a story on NPR about how there are some older, out-of-print books which will probably not come into the public domain because of copyright laws being extended, so I've tried to hang onto the ones I can't get on Kindle (the old Linda Craig books and such.)  Plus, some of those old paperbacks are dear friends who saw me through the angst of middle school and high school, and I couldn't possibly part with them now.


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## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

Downsizing from a house to an apartment forced me to get rid of most of my print books.  I'm now down to 2 bookshelves, having donated most to Goodwill and selling others at Half Price Books.  The ones I couldn't bear to part with included Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings boxed set, the complete Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald and some out of print favorites that just aren't likely to be digitized anytime soon.


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

I did. I only kept the autographed books that I had. We moved to a 2 bedroom condo so there just wasn't room for all of my books. I hadn't read print books for a couple of years and had replaced my favorites with the Kindle books. I donated them to my local library. They have a book drive once a year. I thought I would miss them, but was so excited to have the extra space for storage that I found that I didn't miss them at all.


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## Ros_Jackson (Jan 11, 2014)

I've been getting rid of paperbacks for years, but it's a slow process. I'm still hanging on to everything illustrated, and until a really good large-format multicolour ereader hits the market at a reasonable price, I don't see that changing. I expect to always have a few shelves of print, mainly signed ones and a few I'm absolutely totally certain I will get round to at some point because their premises/openings are fabulous. 

I don't buy non-illustrated paperbacks any more.


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