Bibliophilia discussion

So as you may know I have only just started collecting books. I guess that there are a few of us out there that have only just started book collecting.

Are there any tips out there that you may think will be useful to us newbies?

Just start - wherever. I've been doing this for a long time. I've gone from anything that I bought (when I couldn't afford to buy many), to anything that I just loved (until my husband told me that keeping them at the bottom of the bed because I had run out of room was NOT an option) to specific authors (until we were moving to a different state and the real estate agent told me that having piles of books in the "formal" living room was NOT an option) to my current "books about books or authors" (plus a few favorite authors). My husband has since passed away, I've moved to a smaller place and NOW when I run out of room I get rid of a piece of furniture and buy another bookcase. My collection get place of honor on the bookcases in my little "library room" and the rest, the TBR pile sit in the extra bookcases - sometimes in piles - until I read them and pass them on.

The estate agents told you that you cannot put your books in the formal living room????

So your tip is to have a lot of room? I only have one bookcase, but looking to upgrade it with a better one.

Annabella! One bookcase! My poor lamb! This contravenes the UNESCO global guidelines for printed volume storage.

Ditto what Andrew said. How have you survived?

I like Gail's suggestion. I think it's a great idea to be selective so you don't end up overrun and overwhelmed. When I moved into a house and a Real Job it was like getting permission to go crazy in bookstores. I now have 10 full-sized tall bookcases and a couple of smaller ones, and I still have piles of homeless books scattered all over. For the past several months I've been slowly going through and getting rid of the books that have served their purpose in my life, and it's painful, dusty work.

Unless - are you talking about rare book collecting? That's a whole different world, I think.

I know right. I moved house and my original bookcase broke, so i have to make do with a rubbish one till I can afford a bigger bookcase. Absolutely gutted.

I will tell you an amazing story of my collecting activity. I was collecting Shakespeare, Henryk Sienkiewicz, major English classics (like Dickens etc.), biography books and what not. I also have several full-sized bookcases and a couple of smaller ones, like Shan. But owing to modern technologies I now have collections of e-books that superceed 1000 times all authors, genres etc., which I collected, could, would or planned to collect in all languages I know:)) And I am perfectly able to read them in many guises! Do no tell me about book smell, wonderful whisper of pages being turned and all that jazz. I also adore them and still may enjoy them, and sometimes even buy paper books. But I am not a billionaire, I want to breathe a bit of air from time to time and freely travel about my house. And I can do that and at the same time read almost whatever I want, old or new. This is the advantage of our time!

Igor, I totally understand about moving freely throughout the house. If I kept every book I bought, I wouldn't have room either.

Rosemarie wrote: "Igor, I totally understand about moving freely throughout the house. If I kept every book I bought, I wouldn't have room either."
This is my case, Rosemarie.
By the way, I know several people in Toronto, and they also were not born in Canada:) And I am absolutely stunned by the number of books you have already read this year!

Being retired helps. That and not watching TV. I also take a book almost everywhere I go, just in case.

Rosemarie wrote: "Being retired helps. That and not watching TV. I also take a book almost everywhere I go, just in case."
Yeah, these are mighty factors. I'm also a pensioner but don't retire: have to continue working from home. And TV is certainly a poison:) But I don't have to take a book with me, when I go out: I have several in my smart-phone, which is always "onboard", naturally.

So you always have reading matter available, Igor. I used to watch a lot more TV, until one day I looked at my bookshelves and realized that I needed to start reading them sooner rather than later. Of course, that doesn't stop me from buying more used books, or borrowing books from the library or my daughters.

Rosemarie wrote: "So you always have reading matter available, Igor. I used to watch a lot more TV, until one day I looked at my bookshelves and realized that I needed to start reading them sooner rather than later...."
It is an excellent wording "reading matter always available"! And perfectly descibes the situation we are living in, when the dream of millions of readers throughout the histroy of reading came true.
As for approaching the bookshelves, I was rearranging my books in the newly acquired furniture and found mountains of untouched reading matter, so that I had to draw a special TBR plan until it's too late:)) Just like you. And like you it does not stop me from using my E-link reader from time to time for something fascinating. These crazy bookworms are all alike:))

I don't know if you ever go to Pinterest, but they have many wonderful quotes about reading, so--we are not alone! There are bookworms everywhere.

Rosemarie wrote: "I don't know if you ever go to Pinterest, but they have many wonderful quotes about reading, so--we are not alone! There are bookworms everywhere."
Surely we are not alone!