Hello, my name is CK and I'm a packrat. Now, I'm not so bad that I would be considered a hoarder and featured on national television. Usually I'm able to get rid of most of my useless belongings during my biannual purge sessions. However, there's one item that I cannot make myself give up -- my books.

I have hundreds of books filling too many large and cumbersome bookcases. Most are books I read once and probably won't read again, but there are some that I consider treasures. I've been spending my vacation time this week preparing stuff for our move next month. Today I started on the second bedroom (otherwise known as the "book room"). As I was beginning to pack up my books I realized how ridiculous it was for me to have all of them. Yet, I'm having a hard time letting go. I know I need to weed out the collection and take the majority to GoodWill. This is where I need your help CR. Help me! Give me your best psychanalysis so that I don't have to move too many heavy boxes of books into another house.

Likewise, considering my obsession with books, I've recently considered purchasing a Kindle (hey, if I can't get rid of the books, at least I can store them in a much smaller space). For those of you that have one, what are your reviews so far?

Do not get rid of your books!! You will regret it!!

We moved recently (March) and box after box of books were hauled in. It was worth it. Especially since other people (the men in my family) did most of the actual moving.

Books are like friends. You can't just give them away.

Books are a dying art. Keep them

I would keep them too, they are not useless clutter like the other stuff you probably keep at times (like I do...I am a bit of a packrat myself).

Don't get a Kindle. Spring's right- books are a dying art. When you actually move in, though, consider getting metal shoe racks and keeping your books on them. You can only fit so many books in a bookshelf, and racks re relatively inexpensive even if you just keep them in the basement or attic or something for storage. If you do decide to get rid of some, you can sell them on Amazon or give them as gifts or something.

Hmmm.....based on these responses, perhaps I should have asked for organizing tips.

Allblue: Is there a specific reason you don't like the Kindle? Or you just think regular books are better?

I think there's nothing that can replicate the feeling of touching an actual book, I don't know, that's just me. The Kindle just seems so impersonal.

Fahrenheit 451 anyone ??

Keep them! I never get rid of any books.

Although, I do love used book stores, and I suppose someone has to sell their books or else the stores wouldn't exist!

How about uses them as shingles on your next place or perhaps instead of carpet put down a book rug. That way theyll be close and usefull!

Please explain your literary reference? As far as I know I'm not talking about banning books...

Dingaling is suggesting you burn the books.

I have the same problem with too many books. I addressed the issue by getting a bunch of those water proof/dust proof/everything proof plastic bins the last time I moved and stuck as assload of books in several of those. Yeah, it was heavy to move them (books are so fucking HEAVY!!!) but it seemed better than the option of giving some of them up and then, ten years later, wishing I had one of the books. (Has only happened a couple of times...) I put the books I was more likely to want in various book cases and just continued to store the others in the bins in the basement.

As far as getting kindle, I get what people are saying about the feel of a book but, hell, 15 years ago I was still writing letters to all my friends back home and then sticking them into the mail. I resisted email for quite a while... I, too, have been considering Kindle but, if I do decide to buy something like that, I am gonna shop around. I was at Barnes & Noble earlier this week and they were advertising a rival Kindle product.

I also use the shit out of the library, although now I never do it without trepidation: Akasha reminded me once that OTHER PEOPLE have touched these books before me. With my issues, this freaks me the fuck out. My compulsive hand washing has reached an all time high.

I got the Sony Reader thing for xmas. I was reluctant at first because I too have a billion books and love reading an actual book. However, it's not bad at all, light, not hard to read (it is unlike reading a computer screen), and can hold 350 books which is sweet (mine is the pocket reader...the other versions probably hold more). What is especially nice is the fact that there are tons of free e-books out there, and you can get a lot of e-books for free from your library's website (especially if you have a library card for a bigger city).

The annoying thing is the fact that you have to constantly turn the page, and the page turning is a little slow. I'm getting used to it.

At least with this thing I can keep my old books (which I can't force myself to get rid of), but won't really acquire too many new books.

I made a similar comment on another thread a while ago on Frenchy's thread about Kindle.

I love books, and I have a ton of books; it is the one thing that is the biggest pain to move when you're moving, no doubt. I actually kept a lot of books at my parents house and apartment until they were being sold and I had to get them out. I come from a family of book lovers, there is no such thing as too many books, in fact, I have memories of trunks of books being packed and shipped when we moved while growing up...the books were shipped with other heavy items via the slow mail (freight?) when we were moving to different countries or continents, and wouldn't arrive for months. I still have a lot of the books I read as a kid (my sister has some, even though they were technically MINE), I also have a lot of out of print and first editions...yeah, I love books.

I've been hesitant about the Kindle for a lot of the reasons you guys are stating (impersonal, lacks the "feel" of a book, etc), however, I do think it's a great device that will help encourage kids/teens to read more. Kids these days are so tech/gadget savvy, that I really think they'd rather read from an e-device than a paper book. I know that when I'm teaching, my students much prefer lessons where they get to use the computer, and I recently volunteered to start testing using iPod apps in the classroom (we'll see how that goes...).

Anyhow, I'm strongly considering asking for a Kindle for my b-day in a couple months. Although I would like to test one out before I decide. Meanwhile, I still have all of these boxes of books that need to be moved...

I am TOTALLY sold on the Kindle now. I got it, Jan claims to love it, and now we're in Miami. I've been laying on the beach reading his kindle for several days now, and it really is a critical tool for travel, which we do a lot of. How many times have you found yourself in an airport bookstore scanning the shelves for a last minute read? Or had like 5 books in your carry-on to read during a long flight? I found myself in this position, and downloaded 3 great books to the kindle for the same price as ONE book at the store in BWI. My favorite books will always be purchased in hard copy form, for the simple reason that I will always have the ability to return to them at a later date, but for the sake of convenience, the kindle is amazing. I definitely don't feel that it's even trying to replace regular books- it's trying to fill a convenience niche that no one else has even come close to in recent years.

Has anyone tried one of these devices that was NOT a Kindle? (Yes, I am becoming convinced that I need one...)

I think we should all get Nooks. Then we can lend books to each other for free! (No, but seriously, I'm considering a Nook -- I've heard some good things about it from another forum).

Yeah, that's the fucker I saw at B&N during the week. And I like the idea of swapping books with you nerds. Please go get one ASAP and post a full review here to help me in my desicion making process. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Ya I wrote above about the Sony reader thing. This is the website for it.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores...552921644523779

Mine is the Pocket Edition.

I know it is hard to determine sized by eyeballing something on the computer but how big is the pocket size? About the same as an iTouch? (I happen to have an iTouch thing but never use it b/c I still haven't got up the determination to figure out "aps" and such. I just use my old iPod for music and keep the iTouch in my sock drawer.) Anyhoo, I was reading at the B&N site that I could download the Nook program into my iTouch for free and get books that way but I am not too sure I could handle reading a screen that small. I know I can embiggen the text but not sure I could actually tolerate the small screen??

Um its about 6x4 inches. Its not bad. Each "page" has about 25 lines or so on it, and the text looks the same size as text in a book. However, because it is still smaller than a book you have to flip the page more often than you would normally.

ETA heres a link to a review of it. http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/son...7-33743849.html
I thought I would hate but I don't. Of course that's just me