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What do you do with books that you have finished reading ?

Dr Oz 24 November 2008 Books 218 views 41 Comments

Do you leave them on the shelf to collect dust ?
Sell them on e-bay ?
Give them to friends and family ?
Or give them to a charity shop ?

Me, I do the first one and then after a year or 2 I do the fourth, I can’t be bothered with trying to negotiate a decent price with second hand books store owners. Especially when they say…
"I’m not looking to buy right now" and "I can only give you 30p per book" and "Oooh I’ve got a lot of copies of this one."
I’d rather give the books to charity and feel good about myself.






41 Comments »

  1. I used to return them to the book shelves but these are now full; so is the office and one of the guest bedrooms so I must either line the hall with book shelves or move house.

    //Clive
    29 November 2008 at 1:32 am

  2. Either i donate them to the library or charity shop.

    //ally_b
    29 November 2008 at 2:10 am

  3. If it’s worth keeping around as a reference book, then I keep it. If not I pass it on to someone else.
    But honestly I usually just read library books.

    //farmacistdmc
    29 November 2008 at 2:48 am

  4. All of the above-but I keep my favorite books.

    //poeticjustice
    29 November 2008 at 2:53 am

  5. I usually give mine to boot-sale friends or charity. 2nd-hand books are hard to sell unless you are in the boot-sale trade and prepared to spend long patient hours selling them to people who want them for nothing!

    //Montgomery_B
    29 November 2008 at 3:11 am

  6. My favorites go on the trophy case I call my bookshelf. Others just go back to the library.

    //Allan_O
    29 November 2008 at 3:23 am

  7. I read them, then shelve them to read again later. After i have my fill of them i sell them or give em away to freinds or something.

    //Becca24
    29 November 2008 at 3:34 am

  8. I am always amazed at the books people donate to charity or libraries. Usually, although not always, they are the ones someone thought weren’t very good or not worth a second read. In that case, lol, why donate? Someone else might like it? Maybe, but probably not. Back one hundred years or so, books themselves were a lot more valuable because thousands of copies of each were not available and so it made sense to never throw away or otherwise destroy a book. Today’s world of paperbacks is a whole different story. Why not recycle??? This way, next years "top ten" can be printed without sacrificing any more trees and still be available to thousands upon thousands.

    //naniannie
    29 November 2008 at 4:37 am

  9. Donate them to the Prison I work in, for the offenders to read.

    //BONNI
    29 November 2008 at 4:42 am

  10. Give them to friends and family if they worth reading…and after that I collect them in my book shelf.

    //ANGEL
    29 November 2008 at 4:49 am

  11. I have them around for awhile like 6 months to a year and then I give them to our small local library. I live in a very rural area and the library here is so very limited in funds for new books. They always appreciate any book donations. I am into paranormal romances mostly so the local school library isn’t too into my type of subject matter so they usually aren’t too interested in them.

    //Praire_Crone
    29 November 2008 at 5:21 am

  12. give them to like minded people. If you meet a person who’s mind or life might need that book just pass it on.
    Knowledge is one thing every one needs more of.

    //morbidsmindtrip
    29 November 2008 at 5:27 am

  13. Me and my friend always swap what we have read then we give them to the charity shop seeing as that’s where we have bought most of them from in the first place. One second hand book shop I go to gives you half the price you paid back if you return them but I always forget which books I’ve bought from there!

    //fairyb04
    29 November 2008 at 5:46 am

  14. Yeah right tight-wad.Next time free-cycle them.Gives you the same buzz!

    //quest_
    29 November 2008 at 6:18 am

  15. List them on two lists:

    http://www.bookmooch.com/ (I send them for free in exchange for new books)

    AND

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/ (I sell them)

    The book will either be sold or requested, so I send it to the first one to go, then take the book off the second one’s list. Simple.

    //soniaandree
    29 November 2008 at 6:50 am

  16. I like to keep most of them but we have a book club at work so we all swap and change books around.

    //sezzymouse
    29 November 2008 at 6:53 am

  17. I used to leave them on the shelf …but now I take them to a boot sale….if they dont sell I give them to a charity shop…..

    //Pollys_Mum
    29 November 2008 at 7:24 am

  18. let them collect dust and then re read them a few years down the road

    //Frederick92
    29 November 2008 at 8:14 am

  19. I let some gether dust, keep the good ones, and give some to friends. Sold a few on ebay but got bored doing that after a while.

    //Scatz
    29 November 2008 at 9:32 am

  20. My favorite novels I pass on to friends, or give to charity. I also have a number of art books, and some text books that are dear to my heart. Those I will keep forever, just pouring over them, quoting them in conversation (or here on Answers) and using them as reference. As an artist, they are to me what law books are to lawyers.

    //Jeanne_B
    29 November 2008 at 10:17 am

  21. It depends on the book some I keep then offer to the school library then the village library then the charity shops

    //skeet
    29 November 2008 at 10:20 am

  22. I used to keeps books, and had so many they were starting to clutter the home up and take up so much room.
    I gave them all to charity, there were hundreds of them. There was literally hundreds of pounds worth, both hard and soft back, ranging from `The Bible` and `Qur’an`, down to `Noddy` and `The Famous Five`.
    I usually now only use the library, and have recently become addicted to auto-biographies.

    //Big_Ste
    29 November 2008 at 12:29 pm

  23. I keep most books - I have a couple of tall bookshelves which are crammed with books. If I enjoy a book I am quite happy to read it again later. If I didn’t enjoy it too much then I might get rid of it through ebay/car boot sale/charity shop, but on the whole I tend to keep them.

    //Chipmunk
    29 November 2008 at 1:29 pm

  24. We have books everywhere - the easy-read holiday fiction goes either to a Charity shop or I pass them on to friends and family. However, some have a special significance - if they’ve been given to me as a present I can’t give them away (I have a funny philosophy about gifts being part of the donor’s life) and the Simon Templar books we bought on honeymoon to read on the beach, we still have, 48 years later! We still have our College Books - you can guess how old they are!! I guess my daughter will be having a big bonfire one day.

    //Veronica_Alicia
    29 November 2008 at 1:47 pm

  25. after reading those books i have, i usually give them up..like donating them to a public school or any institutions who needs books specially those educational books i have.

    //girlie_o
    29 November 2008 at 3:26 pm

  26. If it is a relly good book, I recommend it to colleagues and friends, and normally give it to the person who I think will appreciate it the most. For many non-fiction works, I like to give my students first refusal before offering it to colleagues.
    Then and only then will I give books away to charity shops.

    //Norman_W
    29 November 2008 at 3:31 pm

  27. same as you - ones I really like I keep so I can re-read them or pass them on to other people but the others I give to charity. You can buy some really cheap books so you aren’t really out of pocket and I think the world of e-bay has hit charity shops quite hard.

    //Redhead
    29 November 2008 at 3:37 pm

  28. If I like them I keep them. I take pride in my library.
    If I don’t care for the book, I wait until I have several and then I donate them to my local library.

    //Letizia
    29 November 2008 at 4:45 pm

  29. I keep all my non-fiction books because they help me with my job and they are too good to let go of. With fiction I tend to pass them on to my Mum and then when she is done I either give them to charity or when I can be bothered I put them on readitswapit to get something else I fancy reading. Ebay isnt worth it and you dont get alot at car boot sales. Its better to give them to a worthwhile cause. I just wish my used books could raise money for eating disorders as they get so little help.

    //latindancer
    29 November 2008 at 5:23 pm

  30. I get most of my books from the library but when I do buy them if I really love them and think I will read them again I keep them.All the others I give to charity shops.

    //chezliz
    29 November 2008 at 6:44 pm

  31. i keep books by certain authors. others i pass on to my mum or friends who have the same taste in books as me. eventually they end up at either a charity shop or the car boot sale.

    //Gyp77
    29 November 2008 at 6:50 pm

  32. This is kind of fun:

    http://www.bookcrossing.com

    //smartsassysabrina
    29 November 2008 at 8:10 pm

  33. keep them.

    //independant_009
    29 November 2008 at 8:10 pm

  34. put them on the bookshelf to read again one day

    //AL
    29 November 2008 at 8:12 pm

  35. I usually keep them to re-read again one day. I have read Lightening by Dean Koontz a gazillion times now!

    //Helen_B
    29 November 2008 at 9:34 pm

  36. I read alot of books over and over again if i don’t read them after a year i give them to family to read or i give them away i don’t have to time to mess about selling them! If they are a good book they will stay on my book case depending on what they are!
    does that answer your question?

    //claire
    29 November 2008 at 9:49 pm

  37. Hi i either sell them on ebay or go to swapz.co.uk and swap them for other books with other swappers.

    //sunny
    29 November 2008 at 10:58 pm

  38. If I enjoy them they get kept. If I don’t and think that someone I know would I give them to that person. Otherwise I give them to a charity shop.

    //Suky_T
    29 November 2008 at 11:34 pm

  39. give them to someone else, like friends…or if my ma says she’s gna read it i put it on the bookshelf

    //kvt92
    29 November 2008 at 11:47 pm

  40. giving to charity is a good idea.
    i usually keep them so i can re-read them later on
    if its a book im sick of or have grown out of then i also donate to charity.

    //effected
    29 November 2008 at 11:51 pm

  41. tlenljsm…

    tlenljsm…

    //tlenljsm
    1 February 2009 at 2:25 am

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