I go back and forth. I love having a big library of my own. I have five bookshelves of varying sizes and have gotten rid of a couple more when I went through a sorting jag. They are all full and there are books stacked sideways on some of them. I keep buying books and I periodically sort through and get rid of books. Rationally I can't see owning a book that I am not going to read and re-read on a regular basis. Even then, however, the library has most of these books, so what purpose does my library serve?
I guess I just like to be surrounded by books.
I have a friend who has never, according to his own recounting, sold a book. Ever. I have given away hundreds because I don't want boxes and stacks of books around. When I do find a book to which I have a particular attachment or which I think I might read again, I do keep it around. I sit here in my office with a tall stack of books behind me and it just feels right that I could reach back, grab one of them, and start reading it again.
I still read most of my books from the public library, going through two or three a week much of the year. And I don't have to store them or dust them. That must count for something.
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