How many of your books have you not read?

About a third.

I could be all metaphysical and say “if I haven’t read it, it isn’t truly my book”

But I won’t.

Probably about 25%.

98%

I bought the wife a series of cooking books, she burnt the lot of them…irony much.

About two thirds. I have a lot of books. I mean… a lot of books. I tend to let go of them once I’ve read them unless they are perfectly brilliant, so of course the ones I’ve read will always be in the minority.

I would say nearly 75%. Unfortunately my ambition outstrips my diligence by a huge margin. I mean to read all of them, except perhaps the texts and reference books. Those I keep around to have a handy way of looking up information that would be difficult to find in depth on the internet, sort of my own personal library. In other cases I couldn’t resist because I was at a book sale where everything was insanely cheap.

I make collections of subjects and collections of writers. I am running out of bookshelves. The worst part is, I rarely get rid of books either. Not even after I’ve read them. In fact, I get very attached to them even if they are a crappy old used paperback. I’m not a hoarder though it may sound that way.

I think of a scene in a book sometimes and then I want to look it up and reread it. That is part of the reason I keep them around.

I do have a Kindle but I hate paying $10 for a book that’s digital when I can get a deckle edge hardcover for $3, sometimes even $1!

Art books are another thing I have a lot of. Obviously I don’t buy them as much for the text as for the pictures. When I visited Provence I had to buy Van Gogh’s biography when I returned. But there are so many books, so little time….it sits on my bookshelf haunting me.

A book is a way to know things in depth and that appeals to me. I don’t want to just graze over the facts but drink in every detail. I have a lot of interests so I tend to jump around a lot. I read sections at a time of non fiction books.

So there it is, confessions of a bookaholic. More than you ever wanted to know….

I read almost every book I buy, at least once, but usually multiple times. I have six books I’m working on right now.

I read just about all my books, many more than once. I don’t have a HUGE collection though, and was running out of stuff to read. Got a few books recently though, currently reading a Stephen King novel, and a Viking history book.

50%. One of the reasons why I can’t wait for summer holiday.

About 30% if you count books my dad sends me. I have very few books in my house and I very rarely read books. I have several books I have skimmed through, but not read cover to cover.

I don’t even know how many books I own to calculate. I’ve used most of my books but I haven’t read them all. Many of them are for research so I delve into them but only read a portion. I have many books on my Kindle (novels) I haven’t yet read. I tend to buy Kindle books when they appeal but don’t always have the time to read them then and there.

I do have a number of Kindle scholarly texts that I’ve bought meaning to use, but I forget they’re there. I quite often when researching go to buy them again only to be told “You bought this on xxxx”. It’s great Amazon alert me but because they’re in digital format, they can be a bit “out-of-sight, out-of-mind”.

I would say that I have partially read every book I own (and I own a lot, probably too many, just ask my wife, only she will tell you there is no probably to it). I have read a good 80% of them from beginning to end and am still working on the last 20%.

My problem is exactly the opposite. In my zeal to travel light and keep things simple, I carry few books aboard—sailing and navigation references which are superfluous as the info is on the net. I usually carry around ten books that I’ve gleaned from an old bookstore somewhere just before a voyage. That’s good for about two weeks. I get rid of them pretty quick. Some I keep for awhile, but usually not very long. Any passage I want from nearly any book I’ve read is also available on the net.

At the moment I’ve read 100 percent of the books in my possession as there are only three at the moment because I’m travelling lighter than usual—my home is presently a small backpack and I’m using a hotel room to house it. Tomorrow I’ll have some new books from gleaned from St. Helena’s two used bookstores concerning the geology, ecology and history of this island, and a little something on this Napoleon fella who died here awhile back. I will look for local authors as well, so there may be more than five books in my arms when I return to my room by tomorrow afternoon.

None except for the several I have borrowed from the library and a few a friend shuttles my way after she is finished.

However, I periodically housekeep my own library and give boxes away to our local fine and performing Arts Academy for the Sept. book fair. The problem there is that I end up buying a box or so of someone else’s beloved tomes. I do have fewer books than I used to, but I treasure them all.

Being very fond of reading (a habit instilled by my professor father), I keep getting gifted books and book tokens. So obviously there’s a gap (an increasing one) between books “coming in” and those “going out” (i.e. getting read). At present I would say I have about 15 books yet to go through, of which three or four are unlikely to be touched.

I don’t think I have any unread at present, but I’m reading five of the last books I got at the library book sale.