How many books do you own?

[Kulindahr]

^ Only four feet? I got rid of more than three times that since last summer... and I started months before that. But it's true that many of the volumes were big butch dictionnaries, reference and technical textbooks.

Couldn't you just do with free pdf/epub/whatever versions available online, that you could read on any electronic device?

I have this compulsion to read a book again before giving it away.

I've found some of my books for free, in fact several entire series from a couple of authors who offer them that way to people with fixed incomes. I've also browsed some extensive lists of free epubs, but far less than 1% even catch my interest. Lately I've been getting most through a list where prices are $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or occasionally free (but the free ones are almost always one volume of a series, to entice purchase of the rest), but I've been reading three or more books a week, so it adds up.

 

[Kulindahr]

...I sat next to shelves of books and one of them caught my eye: Letters of the Empress Frederick, edited by The Right Honorable Sir Frederick Ponsonby, G.C.B., G.C.V.O, published in 1930. (Victoria was the first born and favorite child of Queen Victoria. She was married to the notably liberal German Emperor Frederick III, who reigned for only 99 days, succeeded by their more famous son, William II, who was contemptuous of them both. Had Frederick not died young--of throat cancer--WWI would never have taken place. Ponsonby was secretary to both Victoria and her son, Edward VII.) I opened up the volume, and began to read the introduction in which Ponsonby recounts how he was with the Empress before her death, and how she asked him to take her letters back with him to England. His account of how he smuggled the letters out of Friedrichshof, the castle where she had been exiled by her son, is the stuff of cloak and dagger novels. I didn't have the time to finish the introductory tale while in the restaurant, so I asked the manager if I could have the book to take home, telling him I'd return it later. He laughed, told me no one had ever noticed it before, and that no one would ever miss it, and said he hoped I continued to enjoy the book. Which I did.

Appropriately, this was in 2014.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Ponsonby,_1st_Baron_Sysonby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria,_Princess_Royal

I recently read a history of that family, and I remember thinking, Oh, if only he'd lived!

 

[Kulindahr]

Some weeks ago I attended a panel discussion by art historians at the Getty Museum on the museum's current show of Bellini landscapes. One of the pictures shown and commented on was that of Saint Jerome. During the Q & A afterwards, the panelists were asked about the significance of Jerome. All they could come up with was that he was a hermit and lived in the desert. Appalling and disheartening that that was all they had to say, which was no more than a description of what was depicted in the painting.

I am grateful for my Catholic education.

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/bellini/index.html

The right-hand end of that was a print at the start of the Vulgate copy we had. I remember the Latin professor saying it was a good thing Jerome was a better interpreter of languages than the artist was of Jerome -- but then he was a linguist and not an artist.

 

[eddielee]

I own about 300 books. The subjects are varied. Nature, weather, European History, British History, books on the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. I have a lot of reference books on art glass and gemstones. I also have many books on my home state, North Carolina and books on severe storms and tornado formation.

Yes, I am boring.

 

[belamyi]

^THAT sounds like a library. WE'd have to see how it reads.

Some weeks ago I attended a panel discussion by art historians at the Getty Museum on the museum's current show of Bellini landscapes. One of the pictures shown and commented on was that of Saint Jerome. During the Q & A afterwards, the panelists were asked about the significance of Jerome. All they could come up with was that he was a hermit and lived in the desert. Appalling and disheartening that that was all they had to say, which was no more than a description of what was depicted in the painting.

I am grateful for my Catholic education.

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/bellini/index.html

You can be an art historian, be a panelist at The Getty, have a fixed handsome income, a respectable position... without the need to know anything about anything whatsoever: one thing is to have a job, another to work, and a very different from those two is to be a technician. But it's easy to be an expert: only being a political leader requires less effort, provided you have either certain "natural qualities", or there is already a system that would turn you into such a leader.

 

[belamyi]

...I sat next to shelves of books and one of them caught my eye: Letters of the Empress Frederick, edited by The Right Honorable Sir Frederick Ponsonby, G.C.B., G.C.V.O, published in 1930. (Victoria was the first born and favorite child of Queen Victoria. She was married to the notably liberal German Emperor Frederick III, who reigned for only 99 days, succeeded by their more famous son, William II, who was contemptuous of them both. Had Frederick not died young--of throat cancer--WWI would never have taken place. Ponsonby was secretary to both Victoria and her son, Edward VII.) I opened up the volume, and began to read the introduction in which Ponsonby recounts how he was with the Empress before her death, and how she asked him to take her letters back with him to England. His account of how he smuggled the letters out of Friedrichshof, the castle where she had been exiled by her son, is the stuff of cloak and dagger novels. I didn't have the time to finish the introductory tale while in the restaurant, so I asked the manager if I could have the book to take home, telling him I'd return it later. He laughed, told me no one had ever noticed it before, and that no one would ever miss it, and said he hoped I continued to enjoy the book. Which I did.

Appropriately, this was in 2014.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Ponsonby,_1st_Baron_Sysonby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria,_Princess_Royal

Ever since gentrification (finally) reached these shores, I am finding it delicious when barbarian airhead businesses (hip junk clothing , cafés, restos...) replace old businesses, especially old bookshops, the older the better. It's a perverse pleasure to find people so happy and apparently healthy, and the new premises so bright and airy, while in fact they are bringing staleness to the development of economy and society: it's the attractive of the ephemeral "splendour" and of the harm that it is being cluelessly and ruthlessness operated, even more on themselves than on the ones they are displacing.

 

[Nealm1]

I used to have hundreds and had to put planks on brackets around all the walls near the ceiling to accommodate all the paperbacks. Then I emigrated and had to give all the books away. Now I have kindle on my phone - its great to have a book with me all the time

 

[belamyi]

its great to have a book with me all the time

 

[Nick4444]

Interesting question! Two rooms have three walls covered by completely filled bookcases, and some other books lying about, plus in two different cities (San Antonio & Denver) two storage rental rooms stacked to the ceiling). Feel free to drop by and start counting, as I am more concerned about those I do not yet have and read.

 

[ShyGuy94]

Probably a few hundred? Never actually counted. I know I have four large bookcases filled and will probably need another soon

 

[HoodedRat]

I bought 5 more books today ... but I shalll refrain from naming them lest I be ridiculed.

 

[Alistair]

I bought 5 more books today ... but I shalll refrain from naming them lest I be ridiculed.

But there's only 4 books in The Twilight series

Making us speculate is worse

 

[belamyi]

I bought 5 more books today ... but I shalll refrain from naming them lest I be ridiculed.

But you can't get away from yourself

 

[belamyi]

(...) in two different cities (San Antonio & Denver) two storage rental rooms stacked to the ceiling).

How large are they?

 

[Latimer]

I went to two book signing/receptions last week and came home with two new books, both from Rizzoli, now heavily invested in the architecture/decoration book market. Had a long, interesting discussion with one of the authors--a well-known and highly talented decorator--over how much control they had over the title and cover, even testing both with focus groups. One of my brothers is finishing up a book on Seneca and Cicero and the Renaissance and talking with publishers. Says that they're obsessed with search words.

 

[zoltanspawn]

I've noticed that I'm only enjoying about 1 in every 4 or 5 books I read. But that one book, I seem to really enjoy.

Am I bad a picking books?

 

[Alistair]

I've noticed that I'm only enjoying about 1 in every 4 or 5 books I read. But that one book, I seem to really enjoy.

Am I bad a picking books?

What's your criteria for picking a book?

 

[zoltanspawn]

What's your criteria for picking a book?

I listen to suggestions from people I respect. Or, I read reviews. Or, I try to read books that seem to be well-regarded by lots of people. Or, I read about some topic that I want to pursue, plus the aforementioned.

 

[belamyi]

I've noticed that I'm only enjoying about 1 in every 4 or 5 books I read. But that one book, I seem to really enjoy.

Am I bad at picking books?

Yes: 1 out of 4 or 5 are just too many, no matter how many and which ones you pick.