Do you buy/keep physical copies of books?

I am a collector. I have 3 Stephen king paperbacks coming on Thursday. I have one going right now. My bookshelves are full of books. I dislike ereaders and audiobooks.

I have some physical copies of favorite books in my home but I have been wanting less things in my home so have been trying to par down the books I own. If someone gives me a book they are done reading, I try to pass it on to someone else or I donate it to a Little Free Library in my town. Most of the reading I do nowadays is on my Kindle which prevents more things from coming into my house!

I used to use the library a lot, especially when my kids were younger. We now live in Germany, so it’s not as practical - they don’t have a lot of books in English, which limits me a bit.
I buy a mix of physical and e-books. Mostly, I read fiction as ebooks and buy hard copies of non- fiction, especially craft and cook books. There is a group here who do a big second hand English book sale twice a year, and I have picked up a lot of fiction from there cheap - €2 or 3 each - which is cheaper than kindle books. It helps that I assist with sorting incoming books and work the first sale day, so I get first dibs on what’s there. I also send books I have read and no longer want to them.

No. I love to read but it is a rare book that I keep. I always feel that I get my money's worth if I pass a book along after I read it. My daughter, however, is a different story. Her bedroom (which she no longer occupies as she now lives in NY) is full of books.

I love books. I held onto some of my books that I read as far back as middle school and they're on my shelves now. I use the library every week, but I do purchase some, although I've backed way off because I ran out of space. I'd rather have books in my house than most anything else, so we've made space for all the shelves for me and my children. We leave some empty for the library books, to help try to keep them in one place, but we donate after we've weeded them out.

I tried the e-readers and it's just not for me. I re-read some of my books and I like to put flowers or leaves or the current bookmark my child made in the book and find it when I re-read. Audiobooks are great when I'm walking, but I've gotten away from them since DH has joined me.

I can see 20 hardback books from where I am sitting…mine. Plus, the corners of 2 of my husband’s books. There are 2 more bookshelves and books amongst my scrapbook stuff (scrapbook related, of course). This is just the family room.

The only room with no books is the bathroom.

All 3 of us are readers and have our own collections. DH has read all of his. Unsure if my son has a TBR pile.

I do have a TBR pile I will never get through. If I know I will not read a book again, it gets donated. I buy physical books from my favorite authors. The Kindle is useful for not allowing the physical books to get out of control.

I used to have a lot of books at home, most of which I bought at book sales (like when the library has its big one twice a year), or yard sales, etc. My kids also had a lot of books when they were younger, from the same sources. I participated in a children's consignment sale for years and so many of their books came from there. We also used the library.

Once they got older they had fewer books in the house but we always continued to use the library. Now as an adult my dd has her own copies of her favorite books, and she collects foreign language copies of her favorite, "Pride and Prejudice". lol. Mostly she uses the library, for physical copies of books and for audiobooks. She doesn't use a Kindle as much although she owns an older Paperwhite. 

A few years ago I did a huge purge of my bookshelves and kept only a few for sentimental reasons, or because they were my absolute favorites that I reread often. One problem that I have now is that I can't read the regular sized font in books unless I'm in a very bright light. So I prefer large-print, or the Kindle version. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kindle for that reason (enlarging the font) and for how easy it is to read in bed. And I can borrow books whenever I want without having to drive to the library. 

Also, I do reread books. I reread the Narnia books all the time, and I do own a set. Since I can read one of those books in one day I will read the regular books since I can sit near a window with light. But I also have them on my Kindle. I also will reread a few old favorites every once in awhile -- "A Little Princess", "The Secret Garden", the Tripod trilogy, Mitford, "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", to name a few that come to mind. I have physical copies of those and a few of them permanently on my Kindle. 

I love to read, but I can't stand the clutter of real books so I use my Paperwhite.

Only my Nancy Drew books and Trixie Belden books.

I am a "collector" of many things, books included. Growing up we had one bookcase made from apple boxes and it housed all the books our family owned. I read and reread them all over and over. I longed to live in a house with one of those two story library rooms, just so I could marvel at my reading choices. (Ds & family actually bought a house with an office with 20 ft ceiling, and he joked about turning it into my library).

I LOVE the feel of a "real" book in my hands. Love to flip back and forth to check details, reread parts. I don't often reread whole books, but sometimes I do, especially if there is a new book out in a series.

But lately all of my book purchases have been iBooks. My iPad is easier to hold than a book and it lights up for night reading. It doesn't add extra weight when I travel.

Over the years I have culled my books, giving tons away to the local library and to a thrift store. I am now thinking I should go through the ones that are left (two 3x6 foot bookcases), keep only the ones I truly cherish, and put my scrapbook albums on those bookshelves. Maybe I will do that in the new year. But I do love looking at those shelves of books...

I've always been a big reader and really got back into it a few years ago. I re-read books all the time...I miss the story and characters like they were friends. That being said, I do a mix of ebooks and hardcover. Most ebooks I get are ebooks because then I can have the next one ready to go when I finish the first. But there are some books that I just want as physical copies. I will admit that some books I have as both. Starting out a series in physical copy and then just wanting the ease of an ebook. I do utilize my library and have found some new great authors there.

I love physical books and have a huge craft reference library that is sadly not currently accessible because I don’t have the shelf space for them to be out. I used to buy a lot of books for DD because there are some favorites that she has read a few times, but as she has been getting older and reading more on her own she’s doing that less and less.

For that reason I took her to the library and got her a library card last spring so she could check out the books she wants to read. Last week I donated to her former elementary school two huge boxes of books from her shelves that she had outgrown and filled two Little Free Libraries with the contents of another box of her books that were in slightly less pristine condition (books that we acquired used, that came to us that way). There’s also a stack of hardcover books in a series that I’m going to try to sell before the holidays since they’re in perfect condition and still very popular. I’m pretty selective these days about the books that I buy for myself and would just as soon check out a book from the library if I’m confident I won’t want to read it more than once.

I’m not a fan of e-readers or audiobooks unless I’m going somewhere on a longer road trip. There have been a few times I’ve had to take solo long distance drives and audiobooks are a lifesaver for situations like that.

ETA: I will admit to being a bit of a cookbook junkie though. I like a good cookbook and have quite a few of them, most being dessert or cookie recipe books, even though I tend to get a lot of recipes online.

I love to read…but as some one said I don’t like the clutter. I also rarely seem to be able to sit and read so I switched to audio books. I can hike, walk, clean, drive, craft etc and enjoy ‘reading’.

I thought I would hate audio books…I don’t (unless you get the odd narrator and you so t care for their voice or style).
I also noticed I walk/hike farther because I want to continue hearing the book (I wear bone headphones so i can still hear the outside world)

Linda…that book exchange and then reading complete with food sounds amazing!!!

What a fun tradition