I used to collect the ones i loved or meant something to me, display them on shelves, trade with others, loan them to people. About a year ago I gave every single one of them away. I will still read print and I will still read digital. But I don't feel like I need to collect them or store them or save them. Even if I do love the smell of them, the feel of the pages... They are too much to keep up with, and only slow me down if I want to move, or cause me concern if I'm going to be traveling for a while, or caused me the feelings of loss if one was destroyed. So much better are books, perfectly safe in the cloud, used by many, without the pesky crinkling of the spine or the tattered corners of pages from one too many dog ears. I guess I never thought I would say this. But I prefer ebooks to books.
We moved to a new home in December and I put many of our books either out by the curb or gave them to second hand stores. It was very difficult for me. I saved perhaps 40 books but gave away hundreds because it just didn't make sense to move them. They're essentially trophies or decorations at this point because I know I'm not going to read them again and if I want to reference some aspect of them, the internet is going to likely give me an answer faster than me walking to the shelve, pulling the book down and searching it. I'm not sure that I'm going to ever prefer ebooks to books but I certainly prefer not having to move them or store them. On a side note, I really enjoy audible and the digital audio books as opposed to having to use CD's in my car. -So nice.
pretty much exactly how I feel. Unless I could have like a nice lofted vertical room with high shelves filled with books in addition to one of those little ladders that slides down the wall, a fireplace, a comfy chair, and a plastic pipe that has bubbles. then. then thenewgreen, I would enshrine my books for ever!