Once you read a book, do you keep it or do you sell it?
By lulu1220
@lulu1220 (1006)
United States
June 18, 2009 12:07pm CST
Once I read a book I decide if I want to keep it or sell it. I will keep it if I truly loved it and plan to possible re-read it again. If it was okay or bad, then there is no reason to keep it.
So where to sell it? I have sold books to used book stores. Sometimes I have gotten good money for them, other times not so much.
My husband and I have gotten some books as gifts. We read them and find out they are worth someing on EBAY. We recently sold a book on EBAY for $60 and since we did not buy it we made a big profit!
Another reason to get rid of books we did care for it to declutter the house.
12 people like this
72 responses
@whizkid08 (715)
• India
18 Jun 09
No, actually after reading a book, I usually give them to my friends.
As they know, I will be buying the books and as we share similar interests, they ask me for the book and I give it happily to them. I re-read the books very rarely. So, its fair to give it to someone. 
@crackheadnun (29)
• United States
19 Jun 09
I usually just go to the library to get books... rarely is it that I buy them anymore, but I should sell them.. it's a good idea
@beachstarz (1092)
• United States
19 Jun 09
Here we have started a small book exchange for Americans and Canadians that live here . If you have an English book you have read you pass it on to a friend or you put it in the book exchange . It's not easy to find English books so when you have one , there are plenty of people who would love to read it after you .
@dolce_vita78 (8062)
• Philippines
5 Apr 11
Hello lulu1220!
When I buy books, I read them and keep them. I do not really have that attitude of selling it after reading them. Besides, if I do not want to keep the book after reading, then there is no reason for me to buy them in the first place. So if that is the case, I will just look for someone to borrow it from or I would borrow from the library so that I can give it back after reading.
@bardgirl (362)
• United States
5 Apr 11
I get most of my books from the library since there's no way I could pay for my reading habit. I mostly keep series since I reread a series whenever a new book comes out. So I really don't have that many books. I guess that's one good thing about a kindle you can have tons of books without them taking up so much room.
@LilPixelle (828)
• United States
18 Jun 09
well Personally it really depends On what book it is and whether I likes it or whether I keep it or not, but I do want to set up two book shelves in my room, one for books I want to read, and the other for books I have read :) I think that would be neat, as for selling books, You might want to try paperbackswap.com you give away your book, and in exchange you get points to "buy" other peoples books, I think its neat
@keishap (11)
• United States
19 Aug 09
I keep all my books because these are books that I love. If I needed some cash and this was the only way, I would consider selling some of the romance novels. But my bookcase is getting full. Oh! I reread all of the ones that I really love to refresh my memory on that book when I have time.
@SViswan (12051)
• India
22 Jul 09
Talk about clutter! I can't bear to part with a book I have bought.....I've got books since my kindergarten days...and passed on to my kids. They've got books of their own...my husband has got his set of childhood books. We are surrounded by books of all ages! lol
@idowrite72 (2213)
• United States
2 Jul 09
I do not keep most of the books which I read. I do have the complete works of Danielle Steele, so I keep hers, as I do almost all of Janet Evanovich's. I also have many autobiographies that I have kept. I have a few other authors that I have kept and some books from the Time/Life that I will keep forever. Other than those, I pass all my books on to my daughter and/or my sister and they can do what they want with them.
@quarvalsharess (989)
• Malaysia
22 Jul 09
I usually keep my book whether or not I like it.. Hmm.. you actually sold a book in ebay for 60?? That's wonderful!! Congratulations..
This is making me think, I think maybe, yes I can start doing that, since I've got loads of books at home, and I actually do not even touch it, and it's collecting dust.. and moreover, I read it once, and most of them are not something I'll read again..
Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience.. I think I'd try to do what you do.. :) Thanks!!!
Have a great day!
@frankiecesca (2489)
•
6 Jul 09
I always keep my books I buy as I collect them and love seeing my bookcases full of my favourite authors! x
@oyenkai (4394)
• Philippines
6 Jul 09
I almost never re-read books. Even when I find inspiring and eye opening books that are simply treasures. I feel like it would be a much better investment of time and personal interest to pick up a new book and discover if it would actually be better than the last one :)
I have also never tried selling anything on EBay. I guess it's pretty hard for me to depart with the books I've read because I treat them as memories :)
Thanks for the response on my discussion :)
@edelweiza (156)
• Philippines
26 Jun 09
neither. what i do is i share my books with my friends. sometimes i trade books with other people. i guess reading is also about sharing. you share wonderful stories and knowledge and it all goes back to you. it's a never-ending process, just how books are continuously written and sold and re-sold. reading is fun, and am glad i still have a couple of unread books in the house, waiting for my free time to get read.
happy reading! :)
@bziebarth (228)
• United States
18 Aug 09
I wish we could get rid of more books. My wife and I are pack rats by nature. We both have a great passion for books. Between the two of us, we have over 2000 books. We just cannot bring ourselves to get rid of them.
I read mostly self-help, business or technology books. I keep them because they do come in handy as reference. My wife reads science fiction and fantasy romance. She keeps hers just cause she likes to. I keep building more book shelves. We keep buying books. Pretty soon, I think the books will take over. At last count, we had 300 square feet of book shelves.
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
22 Jun 09
Well, for the most part I think I am like everyone else. I will purchase books from time to time and read them, and then decide what to do with them afterwards as well. There are a lot of times they will stay in my collection if the Books are from one of my favorite authors but then if they are ones I did not enjoy I will usually either give them away to someone else to read, or sell them somehow somewhere as well.
@kriszelunka (557)
• Australia
22 Jun 09
I rarely sell my books. After reading, I will decide whether I will keep it, in which case, it will move onto one of my permanent book shelves, or else I will pass on to friends or through bookcrossing.
On the rare occasions that I do sell some of my books, I do so through ebay.
@lazeebee (5461)
• Malaysia
22 Jun 09
Hi Lulu, I often keep the books by my favorite authors or genres. I find it very difficult to part with them. However those that I do not wish to keep, I will give them away to charity homes. They will either use these for their libraries (if the books are suitable), or else sell them to earn some money.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Jun 09
It depends on the book. Some I keep, some I pass around to friends and some I donate.
@mkrishna22 (465)
• India
24 Jun 09
well,i usually share them with my friends and vice versa.
some of them which i am very fond of,i keep them to myself.
@oindy54 (3445)
• India
26 Jun 09
I can never even think of selling a book in my wildest dreams!! Books are a treasure to me and I carefully keep each book,adding to my collection every month. I generally buy books for myself and to me a book is the best gift someone can give me. I love browsing through my collection at times,re-reading books which may be I had read few years earlier. Someday I hope to have a library of my own... :-)
