How Many Copies of a Book is Too Many?

 As I stare at my bookshelves, I see some redundancies. Some are just plain accident – how I ended up with four hardback copies of “Roots,” I just don’t know. Worthy to own, of course, but four copies? I think I must have picked one up at a library sale, another was during a friend’s purge of their bookshelves, another because it was hardcover and then I guess I forgot I had the other three copies and bought again because everyone needs a copy of “Roots”!  Really? Two went to a library sale and one into my Little Free Library and I kept one for myself. Brava. But this is not always the case because there are some multiple copies that are absolutely on purpose.

I have three copies of “The Book Thief.” I bought one and lent it out. It didn’t come back. Then I found a beautiful hardcover. But as much as I love to lend out a good book, I love my pretty hard covers even more (friendship has its limits, you know), so I bought another paperback. And then the original paperback made its way back to my house.

And then I am a real Shakespeare gal. I have a few anthologies, my college anthology, pretty hard covers, a half dozen Little Leather Library copies, some pocket editions, some gloriously old versions given to me by a retiring professor, and then my Arden editions with all my highlights and notes.

Don’t get me started on the Kindle versions. Like when you are just a bit into “Pillars of the Earth” and realize there is no way you can take it on vacation, so you buy it on the Kindle? And then all those freebies and 99 cents versions! It would be a crime not to because you never know when the Kindle will be your only option and, let’s face it, it is a horror to be far from home with just one book that just isn’t working for you.

And then there are the Bibles, revised and updated versions of nonfiction books and all the books from when my husband and I combined bookshelves 20 years ago. And how about when someone gave my daughter “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” but it didn’t have the Joseph Schindelman illustrations from my childhood memories, so we had to buy that version too?

So what does an addict do? What about the multiple copies? I do purge my bookshelves once a year as I need the space for new books and I am happy to put them in my Little Free Library or give them away. But some of them I just can’t let go and there are some for which there is no need. I like knowing I have “Lonesome Dove” at the ready, whether it is in my living room or on my Kindle. I like that my daughter and I can partake of “The Hunger Games” at the same time and talk about it as we work our way through the series.

I wish I had a good answer. Not sure there is one. Interested to hear how others handle their multiple copy addiction. Or if you just accept that it is part of your charm and invite others to join you.