Hello everyone . . . just curious . . . how many of you tend to keep the books you receive? I know the point of PBS is to constantly keep books moving in and out to members, but do any of you keep your books? I keep about half, adding them to my home library. I have found some great finds here but i tend to really only 'recycle' back out the titles that are popular fiction, mass market type 'beach reads, detective procedurals, etc . . . but when I get an excellent copy of Michael Pollan's or Jared Diamond's writings, I hang on to them. Nonfiction, I tend to hang on to and those are the majority of the books I make. Fiction reads? I just send back into the system for others to enjoy.

Am I bad?  ;-)

I just love books! 

Curious mostly,

Laura

I don't really keep track, but I would say between 90-95% of the books I get, I re-post. A few of my wishlisted books are ones I intend for my Keeper library, but what constitutes a Keeper for me has changed a lot over the years. The books are yours to do whatever you want to with once you get them, so no--you aren't "bad" at all.  

I do go to FOL sales to pick up books just to post a couple times a year, and I know plenty of other folks who do the same, so I think any deficit from books people keep is well made up for.

Cheryl

I don't usually keep fiction after I've read tit.  If I think it will be requested quickly, I post it back to PBS.  If it is a title that has a bazillion copies already in the system, I'll usually pass it on to a friend.  Non-fiction I have a tendency to keep, though most of what I request is fiction.

I probably keep less than 5% of the book I get through PBS -- the vast majority goes back into the system at some point in time -- sometimes quickly, sometimes a year or two later. Like Spuddie, I too occasionally buy books to post, so while I keep some books I more than make up for it with the books I add to the system, of which about 50% are wishlisted books.

I repost the majority of the books I receive.  This is only because I tend to keep very very few books.  If it's a favorite series like the Stephanie Plum or Harry Potter books, then I keep it.  I don't have enough room to keep many books.  I never re-read fiction books, so it just makes more sense for me to repost them.

I do tend to keep a bunch of non-fiction books though.

I keep 5-10% (maybe fewer) of the books I receive once they are read.  There are certain books that I know I'll keep and then I find the rare "keeper" when reading.  I used to keep more books before PBS made me more picky about rereads, thanks to so many unread books lying around the house

I rarelly keep any books. I'm not much of a rereader.  Every so often I'll reread a book but very rarely.  I like to get them out of the house after I read them.  There are so many books I haven't read yet that I want to read and so I feel like rereading a book will cost me one of the books I haven't read yet.  But I don't repost all my books here. Some I use for games or virtual boxes and others go to bookmooch-but only if they're no longer postable on PBS. 

ETA: I have a huge TBR so it might take me 2yrs to repost a book I receive from PBS just because it took me that long to get to it.

I am a rereader (don't know why, my TBR is about 1200!), but every few years I like to reacquaint myself with Nero Wolfe, Dick Frances, Janet Evanovich, Agatha Christie, etc. I probably keep 20% or so, but I buy books for my shelf several times per month so it evens out. It also may be a long time before I repost a book because my TBR is so large.  

It's hard to say what percent. I use PBS a lot to request books for my litterature classes. Those almost always end up getting reposted. I also get books for being in the honors program at school and those usually get posted in a year after I've read them or after I've decided I'm not going to get around to reading them. Books that I request that are not related to classes, I always request with the intention of keeping them. But if I'm not crazy about the book it will end up getting reposted within a year as well. Also, whenever I find that I'm running out of room on my bookshelf, I will go through my books and take out the ones that I feel I can bare being parted with and those get posted. That happens every year....

So, yeah. With coming back from school and organizing my bookshelf, I posted about 20 books the other day and ten of them were wish listed. And about five of those books were ones I had thought last year I was keeping. So, I guess I keep around 30%.

I only keep books I really love and want to read again (and that's a small fraction of the books I get.) The rest make it back to somebody else on PBS either because I post them or offer them in the Games forum.

I don't know an exact percentage but I would guess that I keep around 70-80 percent. Although sometimes that changes. I just traded a couple books last week that I'd got here that I had originally deemed as keepers. I like to go through my books occasionally so my keepers change a lot, but I still end up keeping a large percentage.

I trade books I get from family and friends and those previous keeper books I either bought or got here. For that reason, I don't see keeping the books I get here as bad because I'm putting different ones into the system again. Although I wouldn't care if someone kept all their books and just bought credits. I know some people would have a problem with that.

I don't keep any books I get from PBS. I don't reread, so keeping them would be pointless. 

I'd say 1/2 of them.. The others are waiting to be read by me or by hubby as most of what I like, he will like too.   I also want some hard to find books.

I keep most of the books I get from PBS, probably in the range of 90-95%. However, I post lots of books I've picked up at thrifts and sales, so my books received and books sent are about equal.

Maybe a better question would be "How many of the books that you request do you actually get around to reading??"  LOL. I have been involved in this site for a little over a year now and I have made it my personal goal to accumulate more books in my TBR pile than anyone else on the site. OK, I'm just kidding - it's not really my goal, but it does seem to be happening. I read these forums and get so many good ideas for new authors and series and books that I just keep requesting and requesting. I never run out of credits because I am always picking up books at every rummage, yard sale, thrift store, etc. I only pluck newer titles that are in great shape and many of them get requested. I am running out of space, but having a lot of fun doing it.

The books I actually have read that I got through here -- well, I tend to keep if part of a series or if really good because I want to pass on to my friends. If I'm only so-so about it -- I repost.

I don't keep books I've read.  I don't re-read (excepting those authors who decide to add books to a series 3 - 10 years after the last one).  If I have to re-read I just get the book again.  No point in keeping them.  So I'd say I repost 99% of them - the 1% are those I get for other people - and I usually get to repost those as well.

Ruth

I'm not a keeper so I pretty much repost everything I get from here except for the occassional book I order for someone else or the ones that become unpostable.    I got a Haynes car manual for DS1 for his make/year and he won't be letting that one go, etc. 

I keep about 75% of my books! I generally request books I plan on keeping. If a book looks interesting I will usually read a library copy first, then maybe look for a copy here if it was good. I have use PBS to get many back issues of books I have only read once and are too expensive to keep buying. Such as the Laurell Hamilton books and a couple Mystery series. :) Although since I have picked a few deals lately with some impulsive additions of books I don't usually spend money on (Romance novels) I will and have been re-listing those.

I'm only planning on keeping a few of the books I get here. I re-read very few books, so most of them will get read then immediately posted back to my shelf.

Good question--I was wondering that too. I keep a lot of the books (guessing 85-90%?).  I tend to swap for non-fiction books or classic lit that I plan on keeping.  I balance that by cleaning out books I collected BPBS (Before PBS) that I no longer want and by combing thrift stores and yard sales for desirable books to share with folks here. 

I do have a couple of series of comtemporary fiction I've collected on here (through some Book Bazaar deals) that will get reposted as soon as I get a chance to read them; I probably won't want to read those a second time.

It is my goal not to have many books in my keeper box and I want no more than 1-2 boxes for my permanent library.  I'm guessing that 99% of the books I get on PBS are reposted, traded in the games, or swapped with my friends.  However my TBR is huge as I went crazy the first two years I used this site and accumulated so many books, I would need at least 5 years of straight reading just to get through them.  I used to go to FOL and thrift shop hunting so I can post the books here to earn credits.  But now I have so many books in my TBR and have a healthy stash of credits, I've stopped that little habit.

Since nobody's gone "all in", I'll bounce myself off that ceiling: I have not reposted a single book that I've received through PaperBackSwap.  From the moment I joined I had it in mind to build a library of varioius vintage, out of print, and otherwise excellent books, and the Swap has never disappointed.  Now, I can't say honestly that I've kept 100% of the books I've received: some I've acquired to give to my son when he's old enough for them; others, I've given to friends or family as gifts.  But by and large, I've held on to (and plan to hold on to) a vast majority of the books I've gotten.  It's one of the most awesome feelings in the world, to have such a tremendously cool library, to have provided myself with a means to self education and such truly substantial and worthwhile entertainment.  I couldn't have possibly done it without the Swap :)

 "It's one of the most awesome feelings in the world, to have such a tremendously cool library, to have provided myself with a means to self education and such truly substantial and worthwhile entertainment."

Amen!!

I'm with you, James!  I love collecting books for my library on PBS! 

I can't say that I've never reposted a book I've gotten through here because I have, but for the most part I don't repost them. Most of what I order are cookbooks, which aren't really something you read cover to cover and then are done with. I also like to wishlist hard to find books that I am looking to collect. I try to keep an eye out for books that might be on someone else's wishlist though, and add other books into the system.