What do you all do with the books you are finished reading?
What do you all do with the books you are finished reading?
181 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
What do you all do with the books you are finished reading?
Return them to the library.
Pass them along to others plus leave on a regular basis in our local beach book hut 🙂
Keep my favorites and donate the rest to the library.
Our library has a large trade room.
Donate or give away at my different book clubs. I’m not attached.
Tap “Return Now” on the Overdrive or Hoopla app
Books I love go in a bookcase. I give away or loan out others.
Depending on the book, I either keep it, return it to the library, trade it in at the used bookstore, or donate to the library.
Send them back to the library.
Give them to my local public library for their booksale if it is something I won’t be reading again!
List them on Paperback Swap. (although I don’t use this website as much as i used to since they’ve added more annual fees)
Keep them ?
Keep them forever like a hoarder. Don’t judge me.
We are called collectors, not hoarders.
Pass on to family – who has same taste in reading. And to my neighborhood take one leave one library Return to the library ? ?
I return them to the library. ? I don’t buy many books, but I read a lot of library books.
Donate most, keep the really good ones.
Keep them or give them to library for them to keep or sell
I keep the best ones and read them again after a while. I love finding thing that I missed before.
If I love them, I keep them, but if just meh, I give them away.
Put them back on my shelf, of course. I do buy books that I won’t read again, though, and I generally either donate them at my local local library for benefit sales, or some I sell to Half Priced Books to finance new purchases.
EBooks go back to the cloud. Physical books go back on the shelf, to friends, or donated to a local thrift store.
Ditto
I lovingly place them on my shelf and hoard them! ??
Some the bookcase others I donate
Put them back on my shelf, of course… ??? #MyPrecious
Put them in my Little Free Library, leave as a Random Act of Literature or share with a friend. UNLESS it’s a HB first edition, then it stays here, on my shelf. 🙂
Keep the ones I love, donate or pass on the others, and return to the library as appropriate. I wish I could find something to do with my digital books, though!
Keep or sell.
Donate to the local library.
Ebooks
I share them with my book club ladies or donate them to the Friends of the Library for resale. Of course some of them I keep.
Read them again or back on my shelf
I’m wondering if homeless shelters would like them? They could keep them there for people or send to their thrift shops.
You may also want to look into donating to jails or prisons. Most of them only take paperbacks, but donations are greatly appreciated.
@Patricia thanks!
I keep the ones I love, the other I donate to the library. They sell donated books and the proceeds help keep the library running. We also have a small lending library at my job, so I share a few with them.
Donate to library for their sale.
Some of mine I donate to the jail, hospital, stick back on my shelves, thrift store, give away to a friend in need. I did start a buy sale trade book site in our community to try to sale or trade some of them.
I also sometimes leave them at local hospitals and nursing homes and I used to donate to prisons but, in Colorado at least, the system makes it too difficult.
Here at our jail they only accept paperback. I had a tour one time of their small library collection and most of the books they had were in pretty bad shape and really worn out. Thankfully they accepted the books I offered which were in new condition.
It is easier to donate to local jails. They can just be dropped off. For the prison system there are rules for how they are shipped which makes it too expensive to do often. And since they go through a censorship process, which is understandable, those who do the censoring probably keep the best for themselves. I know that happens with thrift stores.
Hoard
Put in piles!
Keep some that I really like and donate the rest.
Im a book hoarder lol..
http://www.bookcrossing.com/
I’m a book hoarder. So is my husband lol
I pass them on to my sister, neighbor, or goodwill. We moved and I know I’ll never re-read any of them, and there is NO ROOM AT ALL to keep them.
Return them to the library.
I give them to my sister in law, unless they are ones I want to reread, I buy most from thrift stores.
Books when done for me are given away just like everything in my life, I receive then give.
Donate to public library or to friends
I pass them on. My bookshelf has only TBR books.
Return them to the library. If they’re mine I pass them on to someone, ANYONE else. Need to reduce my clutter and things that have fulfilled their destiny with me.
Donate to the Little free library across the street (but I have mostly only getting library books lately, so that makes it easier!)
That is unless I feel deeply connected to the book, then I will keep it or even purchase a copy if the one I read was a library book
Give them to your friend @Shena ?
Recommend them to my sisters and mother and then put them on a bookshelf for later! Lol
Send it to the cloud, share with a friend or donate.
Kelly, I’m tech challenged. How do I send my Kindle books to the cloud?
Not sure for a Kindle. I have a Nook. I just go in my library of book and hold down on the book and it gives me options and one in the cloud.
Thanks for responding Kelly.
You can do it from your computer – your entire kindle library is there and you can even delete books (but why?!). I leave all mine in the cloud. Actually, I lied, I keep a ton actually on my kindle because some days I feel like rereading or maybe finally starting back up on one of the massive classics . . .
Keep my absolute faves, donate or trade in the rest.
Give them back to the library!
Keep some, then I have a book sale every summer, I use the proceeds to buy more books at my favorite book fair lol.
Give them away!
Keep them in the Cloud
I love how so many people give them away.
I’m a book hoarder..i really enjoy reading my books more than once..i hate parting with my books..
Take them back to the library.
Return them to the library. I rarely, if ever buy books anymore.
In most cases, take them back to the library. Otherwise . . . Leave finished ebooks on my ereader so I don’t lose the annotations. If I bought a physical book I don’t want to read again, I might try to sell it if I can. The ones that don’t seem worth selling I will eventually give away (leave in a Little Free Library or something). The ones I buy that I like or am attached to or want to potentially read again I keep.
I keep every book I buy.. I can’t part ways with them.. every book I read is like a new friend, and I like to revisit them every so often.
I keep the ones that are my favorite are really reach me somehow. But I like to take the others to my local used bookstore and sell them to get new books or I donate them to hospitals and such.
I’ll keep the classic novels but the modern ones sometimes just give away…
We have a Fahrenheit 451 burning party!
I keep the ones I love and donate the others to my local library or pass them along to other avid readers.
Donate probably 90 percent to the library.
Donate IF won’t read again. Otherwise keep.
Keep them. That why my family hates my reading
I like to mail them to people who I think would enjoy them.
I’ve kept every book I’ve ever read!
Return them.to the library. Use your library!!! It keeps librarians employed?
This, too! I love my library.
VOTING for libraries keeps librarians employed. It doesn’t matter how many people use us if they won’t also vote to support us.
My family & friends get some, some get donated. I have 3 leave/take bookshelves in my neighborhood, so most go to those.
I keep the ones I really like a lot and try to sell the rest. I used to give them away to friends but they don’t read them so it’s better for me to sell them back for half the price.
I️ have trouble parting with any of them!
Donate some of them to the library bookstore
I started a book swap/lending library at my work. The patients take books and also donate their extras.
Pass them on
If I like them enough to want to read them again, I keep them. I have about 1000 books altogether I think though I haven’t counted them recently. if I don’t think I’m going to want to read them again then I pass them on to one of the local charity bookshops, there are three in the town I live near. Occasionally there is a book I am undecided about, and very occasionally I make a mistake – get rid of a book and then find I did want to read it again after all and have to buy another copy.
Same here
I call myself a “recovering book collector” and I’m at the point once again where the books are taking over too much space and becoming a problem. We used to have a huge book sale (once a year) and I bought and contributed. After about 5 years of just buying I gave them more than 700 books — they closed yup shop ans the volunteers were getting old and the young people didn’t have time/interest to volunteer.
I sold a lot of books on http://half.com/ Now we have a “little library” in my apt. complex and there are several shelves in the Residents’ Lounge (more on that another time). so I’m leaving a few books three.
I’m considering a new rule: Two books out makes room for one book in.
Give them away.
Donate to Catholic Charities resale shop, Turnstyles
https://catholiccharitiesks.org/turnstyles/
Give them away.
If I don’t like it enough to keep input it in my free little library
Books which were given to me I always keep, with one or two exceptions. Books which I love, I keep. Books which I think someone will enjoy reading, I give to them. I don’t get rid of books often, every few years I will have a clear out. I like being surrounded by overflowing bookshelves.
Take them back to the library for others to read 🙂
I actually re-read them all again.
pass them on
I either sell them or try to find someone to do an even trade. Sometimes I’ll donate a book to someone if they are interested in reading a specific book.
I keep them, because they become friends.
Oh good. I’m not the only one! Everyone else is saying they’re throwing them away, and I’m horrified because I’d never just cast a friend aside lol.
I used to keep every single book but I recently decided that I would start keeping only the ones I liked a lot and either sell or give away the others.
I return library books, put others that I enjoyed on the community book shelf in my apartment building or give them to my neighbor who sends books to Africa
Send them to my sister or a lifelong friend
I did keep all my books but realising now that they are just taking space and will eventually be downsizing so time to get rid of all but the most precious
If i bought them, and if i loved or really liked the book id keep it to reread in the future if it was meh or disliked I’ll either sell them or participate in book swaps
Keep the ones I absolutely love, pass on the rest. Either donate to library or the local high school. When I went to open house there was a new English teacher (young), teaches the year behind my child but I absolutely loved her classroom set up, couches, chairs, fuzzy blankets, but, she had only a small set of Outlander books for her class library so I sent a pile of books for her.
Return them to the library.
I work in a nursing home so I donate them
Donate to my local library. We also have a local restaurant in town who does the take one leave one book sharing system, so I’ll leave a few good books there. It makes my heart feel good.
Wow, all you folks donating to the library, I am jealous as our library won’t take anything over 6 months old.
Wow that’s crazy! Do you live in a big area?
No, a small town, but the library system is county wide. It’s a bit nuts, but they obviously have their reasons. 🙁
Our library takes donations to sell and raise money for the library.
Ours takes some, when they are in the mood. They are very picky about what they take.
Ours has an ongoing sale to raise money for the library.
Our library has at least two book sales a year and that is where the donations to to. Of course I donate but then end up with more than I donated at the sales.
@Robin you could see if local schools would like them instead? X
Good idea, @Lexi!
??????
My library collects donated books to sell at their book sale to raise money for new books.
Return them to the library. ?
I was going to say the same thing ???
Keep them. If I want to read it, chances are I want to own it. This is why I’m so grateful to have a husband who builds bookshelves. 🙂
My husband is great at building bookcases now. I had always wanted a home with a library. Since that is out of the question here He made me a 9′ 6″ long and 7′ “6 tall bookcase running the length of our absurdly wide hallway to our bedroom. Before he started the unit I papered the wall with old and ecliptic maps. A space map from an old National Geographic, maps of MA, the plat plan of this property, a map of Italy that my daughter made in 7th grade etc ect ect. Why the map-job? That way if I wanted to change the color of my hallway I won’t have to paint behind the bookcase!
Love all these Ideas
Delete them from my Ipad……always gotta have space for more….
Take them to a senior center and donate them.
Pass the good ones to others, trade some to a local used book store for credit, and the remainder gets donated to the library for their annual sale
Donate
I keep them, all of them, until I lend them to someone who will, I think, enjoy them. Then, that’s it, they are gone and I never see them again. It is the cycle.
Donate to Juvenile Detention Center.
place them in a storage container for now since i don’t have space in my room for more shelves, just one.
The really good ones that I’d like to revisit I put back on the shelf, otherwise I pass them on to family and friends or donate them.
I have a little free library in my office at work
Food Bank
Return them to the library
San Antonio has a wonderful public library system. I just return them to the branch close to me. I buy very few.
We have lots of bookshelves, so mostly we keep. Others go to Little Free Libraries, or our yard sale, or an organization called Young Chicago Authors
i like to collect so on the shelf they go
give them to a charity shop
I am an admitted book hoarder, so I keep most that I buy. That said, of the 40 books I’ve read so far this year, I only own 6 of them (and only one of those is an ebook). The rest have been mostly library loans (regular and ebook) or borrowed from a friend. If I read a loaner and love it, I have been known to purchase it for my personal library.
I give them to the library.
If I loved them I️ keep them, otherwise sell them to HPB.
Some I keep. Charity shops. Or very very long term loans
I give them to someone else or the library
Charity shops too. I used to car boot them but found myself re-reading instead of selling and getting very cross if someone tried to knock me down 10p on a book 🙂
Donate
Save a few but send most to an old friend and a well loved cousin who both live in rural communities with limited access to books.
Most of my books are on my Kindle, so I just keep them. For physical books, I do have a lot of shelves. I should do more trimming than I do…
I try not to buy full priced books …. and then I only have signed copies hardback…. I buy from charity shops… or from sites that offer book deals … such as Amazon £10.00 for three deals … our local library is good for getting in books …. after I’ve read them ???…. I plan on keeping some and hope to pass on others or return to library ….
Give them to friends, family, clients and the library. I only keep signed or otherwise valuable books after they have been read.
The ones I can part with I fold. There are a lot of amazing book folding and book art patterns out there
Book folding ? That’s a new one on me, do tell ?
I only buy books that I have read and want to reread. I check everything else out from the library.
I keep the ones I enjoy, or those by a certain author. The others get passed onto friends and family or donated else where
Bring them to The Octopus Literary Salon!
Pass them along to someone else or return to the library.
Like others, I keep the really good ones that I might read again, and donate the rest. BUT – my husband will NOT get rid of any books!! Even the ones he didn’t enjoy. My house is going to be one huge bookshelf soon!
Library donation or pass to another. Save the ones I know I will go back to.
Sell, trade, donate, give away
Return them to the library! ?
Return to library, take to local independent book store for credit to get more books. Donate to library for book sales or “little libraries.”
Paperbacks are given away and hardcovers fill my shelves.
Put on the bookshelf
Return them
F
If like them I try to keep them otherwise I donate them to the public library
That’s why I read e books. I read 234 books last school year (10 months). I have a reading problem!
Keep them.
Trad them again
If I love them and will/might read them again they go back on my shelf (this also applies to anything by JK Rowling). If I won’t enjoyed them but won’t read them again, I pass them on to a friend or family. If I don’t enjoy them I drop them off somewhere … work bookshelf, my building’s entryway, a bench on the street …
If I don’t pass them on I give them to a charity shop. I can’t just throw them away but very rarely read them again.
Return them to the library. I could not handle the clutter or the expense of buying all the books I read.
Keep the ones that stuck with me so I can loan to friends. I just started purging the rest to our local thrift store that benefits a hospice service. Letting go of books has been hard for me, but i’m running out of space!