Bought it, Read it & Now what?

[The Book Cave]

So, tell me, after you've read a book what do you do with it? Keep it? Pass it on? Post it on Freecycle? Take it to the UBS? Donate it? Do you do something else?

I keep all of my favorite authors, all of my series reads, & most of my books. The only books I pass on are the ones I can't stand : 8 . I do pass on my reading copies. I have reading copies & my don'tyaeventhinkaboutit copies : p. I donate a lot of copies, too. I have considered trying Freecycle, but want to post a few @ a time. I have searched Freecycle for books, too.

[Kathy M Burnette]

Something new I'm trying is selling my books to Powell's Books for virtual credit. It gives me an opportunity to support an indie bookstore and make room on my shelves for more books. I'll have to see how it goes. I also have some books at work and I lend them out.

[The Book Cave]

What a great idea, Kathy, selling to Powell's Books. I love indie bookstores. I miss them, too. I think they add so much character & I just love supporting them. The appreciate books. It isn't all about the $$$.
Good luck, Kathy. So, do you ever get the books you lend out back? lol.

[Rachel Hare]

I almost always give mine away. I have a lot of reader friends, and we always swap books, and usually don't return them to each other. That's the bad part - I never get my books back. I did just purchase some book plates, though, and I plan on using them on books I'd like to see again... lol. I have a feeling a lot of people have this problem. I just started including a free book plate with purchase of my BookWormz, too, as a thank you!

[The Book Cave]

It is a blessing & a curse to have reader friends, Rachel ; ). I love using book plates, too. What a gr-8 idea to include a bookplate w/ your BookWormz.

[Insert Book Title]

I sell mine on Ebay cheap. It's fun and I get to meet other book lovers.

[The Book Cave]

Oh, when I think of parting w/ my books... I get DiZzY.

[Cacye Pastine]

In the Denver area we have a ton of choices. I keep the ones I'll read again. I get cheap secondhand ones for lending copies. I can donate the others to the local libraries, who sell them discount. Or I can trade with Capitol Hill Books or Black and Read. I give some to people I know who like to read and want that book. I have never had to use freecycle for books at all. Or craigslist books to sell or free stuff. But they are there. I have considered donating some to retirement homes; the community center here in Westminster takes books (and puzzles) and so does the hostel my mom died in . The county jail takes them as well, but I have been told the officers often throw the books out, so I 'm not sure about this. I guess they have problems with fights. I don't give them to ARC or Goodwill anymore as I've seen so many of them get thrown away just because the shelves are full. I have sold some at garage sales, but that is a heavy, tedious business I probably won't be enthusiastic about in the future. We used to be able to donate them to Safeway grocery store for Cancer funds, but that stopped. I am sure there are other options I haven't thought of.

[Melissa]

I use Paperback Swap and Bookmooch to trade off newer books. A lot of the older ones I donate to the library for their FOL sales.

[Barbara Rockwell]

A great spot to donate is Better World Books: http://www.betterworldbooks.com/buyback.aspx

[Wayne Hurlbert]

I can't part with any books.They just get added to the growing, already bulging and chaotic shelf space.

[Book Calendar]

I don't buy that many books. Most of the books which I buy I keep. If I don't keep them, I donate them to the library.

[Mindy]

I used to hang onto them, thinking I'd get around to reading them again, (kind of like all those magazines) but I never did. Now, I just box them up and send them off to novelaction.com for other exchanges. At first, it was like ripping off a bandaid, but now I'm having so much fun trying new authors, I don't even think about the ones I parted with.