Congrats on the new house, Vee!

When we moved three years ago I did do a culling of the books, but it wasn't a massive one, so in the end I probably moved 500 books. The house we moved into was a complete fixer upper, so in the course of making it habitable I was able to have bookcases built in. (If you're dealing with shelving on walls, just make sure the shelf brackets are set into studs and not just the drywall.) I also bought one massive bookcase. I still regret getting rid of some the books I did, but I am glad I didn't get rid of anything that had a sentimental aspect to it, like my childhood copy of Anne of Green Gables or my favorite cousin's old Dana Girls Mysteries or my kids' favorite board books (though those are stored in a plastic bin in the basement).

Good luck with the move, I hope it all goes smoothly and you have plenty of space for your books.

About 20 years ago we thought we might have to move so I culled our books. There were quite a few that neither of us had any idea where they came from as they were not the kind of books that interested wither of us. Anyway, in the end I sold or donated a stationwagon worth of books, literally packed full, so several hundred. However, I kept at least two thirds. Since then (we didn't move in the end) we have acquired at least as many more books and have shelves lining either side of a long hallway, one and a half sides of the living room, five small to medium freestanding book shelves in the family room, two IKEA Billy bookcases in one bedroom, a small built in shelf in the second bedroom and a small freestanding book case in the spare room and two good sized bookcases in our city flat. I'm not sure we've discovered how many are too many :-D

Funny story- before I was married I was sharing a house with two other women, one of whom had a large collection of books which were mostly stored in a room divider shelf in the living room. We were interviewing prospects for another tenant. One came in, said, "Wow! What a lot of books! You should take them down to the secondhand bookstore and get lots of money for them!" He didn't get the room :-D

Vee, I am pleased you have been able to find a house that is easier to manage.

I have had to leave so many books behind when I moved from the UK to Australia, then back and forth to different places. It is a wrench but the removal costs were too much.

I should cull the books I have accumulated since my last move but I am too lazy to start to do this! It is definitely a "tomorrow" project, a "roundtuit!" as they say!

How lovely that you will have a new house. Will you miss the old one? The oldest one I know of is our family place where my sister now lives. We don't know when it was built but do know that a young man left from it to go to the California gold rush in 1847, didn't find gold, and came back to it.

I haven't yet been called upon to give up any of my books and, barring physical disaster, don't plan on it. That will be a chore for my survivors to deal with. DH built bookcases in both the den and the living room when we moved here in 2010. Like Colleen, I have free standing bookcases in the bedrooms but not the hall. Those walls ae devoted to framed bookmarks.

I had to relocate and downsize 11 years ago from VA to Charleston, SC. I had an enormous collection of books. Some were inherited from both sets of grand parents, some my late husband had collected, and many were from my childhood and youth. My late husband had installed a long wall of bookshelves. As well, we had several antique bookcases filled. It was heart wrenching for me ( a bibliophile and former library employee) but necessary. I held two estate sales before I moved. I also called two dealers in rare books in VA who came to the house and purchased a great many, both old and new. In my new "digs" , I kept the free standing bookcases, so I maintain a rather large ( to some) reference library in my apartment. I have books in every room. Often people enter and are amazed at how many books I own. I force myself to cull often, however). I feel as if I am surrounded by old friends....

Vee, that's great that you have found an easier-to-manage house without going very far. I hope you enjoy it. As for books - no one else can say how many are too many for you. That is a truly individual thing. Some years back, I decided that I had more books than I need and told myself that from now on, whenever a bookshelf became too tight, something had to go in order for something new to come in. And I have stayed pretty true to that decision. When books start to stack up, I am always able to find some that I can farm out to a charity shop to make room for my new acquisitions. This plan is working well for me.

I would be bereft living in a house that did not have a lot of books in it. On the other hand, I certainly don't need to keep every book that has passed through my hands. I agree with Kathy that only you can decide what the correct number is for you.

I also agree with those who are pleased that you have been able to find a more manageable house, and so close to where you already live. You won't need to learn a new community that way.

Thank you for your comments.

Carolyn, I will miss the wide ranging views from the back of the house, looking over meadows of grazing cows in the summer, then the River Severn which at high-tide and in moon-light is a silver ribbon. On the far side of the river are the towers of Berkeley Castle with the Cotswold Hills behind. The new place has more roof-top views, with plenty of 'greenery' and of the river from a different angle. Below the garden in a steep cutting is a Heritage Railway that runs at w/ends. John went quite weak at the knees when he heard the train whistle and saw the smoke and steam appear above the embankment!

As far as 'community' goes I think we will be at the 'wrong end of town' (in honesty there is no right end) but handy for the dry cleaners, a tanning palour, a Balti take-out and . . . the library . . .

which is about 100 steps from our drive. And we wont need to rely on the car for shopping etc.

Moving is still a few weeks away as we are clearing out tons of accumulated junk. Some ours, but much of it left by the previous owner, who's family came here in 1930 and left in 1980 leaving us with much of their heavy furniture (which no one wants these days) and hundreds of small tobacco tins full of screws, hinges, nails, pen nibs, bits of electrical detritus etc. Now thrown into two skips and 'sorted through' by casual passers by.

Kathy all the charity shops have been closed so donating stuff has been difficult but things are gradually opening up again.

Vee - The library is only 100 steps from your new home? Be still my heart! That's wonderful. And what is a Balti take-out?

Balti is a regional Indian style of food, so called because traditionally the food is cooked in a Balti pot, which looks like a smaller, heavier wok with loop handles on either side.

Thanks, Colleen.

You probably have too many books if your floor collapses from the weight.

Seriously, once you get rid of all the previous owner's stuff, and stuff of your own that you no longer have any use for, you may find that your books fit right in, giving the new place a homey, cozy feeling.

Rosefolly, the last box of books-to-keep was yesterday lugged up to the 'new' house to fill the three book cases taken earlier. We had book shelves fitted around one chimney breast in our living room here and have been wondering why one was beginning to sag to one side. On removing the books we found it had not been attached to the walls in any way and was just sitting on the skirting boards (old and 14 ins high). We are hoping to remove it to take up to the new house but in the meanwhile it is being held up by a car-jack under the bottom shelf . . .

And as for floors collapsing I notice that the upstairs floors in the new place are very creaky. No doubt the result of the modern method of laying sheets of chipboard over the joists and nailing rather than screwing them down, instead of using 'old-fashioned' individual floorboards.

Re Baltis as Colleen says the word really refers to the cooking pot used to heat/cook curry a method which became popular in Birmingham England among the population originally from the sub Continent. Even the most mild curry acts on my throat like a bonfire so I wont be partaking of their offerings.

It does sound very appealing

Carolyn, what luck! There is a spare room but I fear it will be filled with 'stuff' for which at the moment there is no space.

Unlike US homes UK houses tend to be built with NO or few closets/cupboards . . .obviously planned by men. There is one 'linen cupboard' (where the hot water cylinder is housed and commonly used for 'airing' and storing sheets/towels etc) but it is a mass of a spaghetti-like arrangement of water pipes leaving little room for storage.

You are very welcome to settle down on a bed covered with a goodly supply of clean linen, blankets etc!

Living here we have been well-spoilt for space. DH is a master at storing unwanted papers. You simply open a door of an unused room and fling in a few plastic bags full of detritus. I recently burnt several of his cheque book stubs dated 1970 plus dozens of yellowing envelopes, final demands, begging letters; in fact almost anything that came through the letter box. Over the years the plastic bags have 'degraded' into millions of tiny pieces almost impossible to sweep up.

Otherwise it is all good fun.

I had a problem getting rid of used envelopes that my husband had written information on.

I never knew if there was an important phone number or reminder scribbled there so I couldn't junk anything! When we decided to sell the Australian house and go to the UK, I finally got him to go through them and we discarded nine big garden bags of that rubbish.

Vee, I know how to burrow and with a choice of linens, too.

I grew up in an old farmhouse that had one closet. The family consisted of parents and four siblings. My sister and I shared a sort of cardboard wardrobe that wasn't bad to start with because she is four years younger than I am. It was a different story when we got a little older. The last argument we ever had was over closet space. We always look at each other and laugh when someone brings up lack of same.

Umberto Eco had 50.000 books at his own house, of course he hadn't read them all

Masgar re. the number or lack of books in a household. Over here (UK) since Covid 19 struck far more TV interviews have taken place via Zoom etc and it is often more interesting to look at the shelves of books, artfully arranged in the background than listen to the discussion.. Apparently there is now quite a trade in book-buying/hiring to make the interviewee look well-read/knowledgeable. A politician was seen with a book about the life of Hitler and a woke TV watcher wanted him outed as a Nazi sympathiser!

Vee, I believe at one time you had kept chickens. If they are still at your former home, what is their future? Will they go with the house when sold? Just curious.

Woodnymph, we are down to only two hens! We try not to bump off the non-layers so old-age did for the rest. We had hoped to take these with us but a neighbour has warned us that the steep railway embankment is home to foxes, badgers and the latest addition to our local fauna . . . wild boar, an animal that even a human wouldn't want to come into close contact with, never mind a chicken. So Whitey and Blacky are to be re-homed with a staff member at youngest son's Day Centre and hopefully he will be able to visit them now and again. They have always been his responsibility with egg collection, cleaning out etc.

Wild Boar

Decades ago I was interviewed by our local Council's deputy CEO for the position of library assistant. During the interview he told me that he never read for pleasure, he only read work-related material, and owned no books. I was horrified and not a little gobsmacked.

Vee, I get that about the hens. I used to keep hens, until the second time foxes got into the yard and bit the heads off all of the hens and left them lying there. I would have been a little upset but understanding if they had taken one or two away and eaten them, but just killing them all and leaving them to waste was too upsetting to deal with again, so now I don't keep hens.

Colleen, over here people have very mixed attitudes to foxes. Country dwellers regard them as pests and vermin that go on killing sprees, as you describe, while those living in towns often see them as 'pets' to be fed and encouraged into gardens. In a recent case in London a fox got into a downstairs flat and mauled a baby in its cot. The family received 'hate mail' from what we call bunny huggers claiming the story had been 'made up'. Foxes are seen as too cute. Funnily these so-called animal lovers don't have the same attitude towards rats and mice or creepy-crawlies!

Colleen, regarding the CEO who never read for pleasure and owned no books . . . did you have to tell him you were only willing to dust the books and arrange them in order of height or colour of covers?

Did you get the job?

Vee, when I lived in a London suburb I left the back door open for the dog to go out at night and a fox came in. It took one of my husband's shoes into the garden and chewed on it. The poor little dog nearly got the blame until I pointed out the size of the teethmarks!

Vee, no, I didn't get the job, but considering who I would have been working under, I suspect that was dodging a bullet!