Books. I've got a few.

Over at The Lounge today (which is being hosted by the FABULOUS Kim!) the topic is Books. And you know that is right up my alley! So here is my contribution ladies and gents!

There was once a time when I never though these thoughts would ever run through my mind, let alone pass my lips, but today they have.

I own too many books!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I think hell might just be freezing over, the sky is certainly falling, and I just saw a pig fly past my window.

I wish I could say that I was joking, but I'm not. I have too many books (and bookshelves). And I need to do something about it.

This is the "good" bookshelf. The one where I keep all the books I love. It is alphabetised by author and is strictly fiction only

Once upon a time, before kids and their copious amounts of crap invaded my life, I used to think that I could never own enough books. Working in the book industry for my entire adult life, I have collected hundreds of books. I would take anything that was on offer, and spent most of my wage investing it back in the companies I worked for, in the form of buying all the books!

Here is 4 of the other bookshelves I have sitting around my house. The first one is old books from when I was a kid, as well as some cool sciencey ones and cook books. The top photo in the middle is the bookshelf in the hallway, and yes, it is also currently doubling as a toilet paper holder as it is right outside the bathroom. It's also covered in Dave's muscle mags. The bottom pic in the middle is the bookshelf next to the one above, mostly covered in random crap and parenting/diet books. The last pic is the non-fiction bookshelf, and most of it is auto-biographies, sports or photography books. With a few Guiness World Records thrown in.

But now? Now, I realise that might have been a mistake. At this point in my life, the last thing I need is more inanimate objects taking up what precious little space I have left in this house. Between the mountains of small clothes, masses of baby paraphanelia and plethora of toys, there is barely enough room to think, let alone move. So something has to go. And sadly I think it's going to have to be some of my books.

These two bookshelves reside in the over-packed spare room, or "hot room" (because the afternoon sun shines on it and it's freaking hot!) The first bookshelf is packed with yet more fiction, the crappier stuff, as well as old uni texts and scrapbooking and other craft books. The second one, the hutch, is filled with random fiction that wouldn't fit on the "good" bookshelf, as well as books I've borrowed from other people, some general knowledge, nerdy type books, and yet more photography books!

Don't get me wrong, I won't be getting rid of all of my books. I'm not that batshit crazy (yet!), but there are a large number that really don't need to be occupying the shelves of my home like some crazy Wall Street protestors. The question is, what do I do with them???

The final bookshelf in my house is actually the one reserved solely for photo albums. Yes. I have a bookshelf solely for photo albums. My mission over the next few years though is to get all of the photos that are from my film days scanned in to the computer and digitised, as well as turning all of the albums that are filled with digital photos made in to photo books so as not to take up anywhere near as much space! And I do of course have my trusty kindle, which I love! This is also filled with shitloads of books. I love reading my kindle and use it often but I will always read "real" books too!

I'd love to sell them and make the little bastards pay for their housing these last few years, but I don't know how to go about it. My first thought is to list them somewhere like eBay or Quicksales, but do people actually buy books from places like those? And do I list individual books or bundle them up and sell them like some literary lucky dip? There's always the book exchange I suppose, but the closest one that actually pays for books is a good 50 minutes away and I don't think I'd get back enough to cover the petrol to get there!

I could always donate them, which is what the larger part of me feels I really should do, but the other part of me, the one who looks after the finances of this household, which is currently living on one wage, can't bring herself to do that just yet.

So there is my dilemma. What I should I do dear Loungers? Have you ever tried to sell books before? Would you buy books from somewhere like eBay or Quicksales? Or should I just cut my losses and take them to my local Salvos or Vinnies?

One last thing before I go.

Mistakes in books. They fucking shit me to tears! How freaking hard is it to proof-read a book properly. If I pay good money to read something then it better bloody well have no mistakes. Yet almost every book I read I find mistakes.

Just a couple of mistakes in the second Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire book. There are even more in the first one!

More than anything I feel it's a little bullshit on an authors behalf. The least the bloody editors and publishing houses can do for their cash cows is make sure there are no silly mistakes in their books. And it's the least they can do for the people who hand over their hard-earned cash to them for the pleasure of reading said books. Nothing is more annoying than enjoying a good book and coming across silly mistakes and typos. It ruins the reading experience for me.

Does anyone else find this? Does it bug the hell out of you?

So in conclusion, to sell or not to sell, annoy or not annoy, those are my questions and I would appreciate your answers!

Happy Thursday peeps!