Here are some relevant excerpts from what I wrote in the Giant House thread:
My wife and I have been through quite range of houses in our 12-year relationship. (FYI, I’m 66, she’s 61. We married in 2011.) I moved out of my 1,500-square-foot (460-square-meter) three-bedroom condo to live in her three-story, four-bedroom, 2,900-square-foot (885-square-meter) house in Baltimore.
Our next house was 4,640-square-feet (430-square-meters), followed by one that…
had about 2,600 square feet (800 square meters) before we finished the basement, which added about 1,000 square feet (300 square meters). That space became the TV room, library, and open play space for grandkids.
Needless to say, all these homes (even my condo, when I was single) had plenty of room for our books. But…
Earlier this year, we moved in with my mother-in-law in her seaside cottage on the North Shore of Boston that has been in my wife’s family since 1960. It has about 1,500 square feet (460 square meters) and when we arrived was already full of MIL’s furniture, books, etc. So before leaving Atlanta, we sold, donated, or threw out almost all of our furniture, and lots of dishes, clothes, and other assorted stuff, including about half of our 2,200-book library.
[Emphases added]
Like many Dopers, I was a book lover for most of my life, but having lived in six homes in 12 years and moved 50+ boxes of books several times (always with professional movers doing the heavy lifting, but packing and unpacking them myself) I no longer feel the need to be surrounded by “real” books. If you know you’re going to stay in your house indefinitely, and you have the space, having lots of books is nice. But having given away about a quarter of my collection when I first got married, and half of our joint library in the past six months, I no longer have the strong attachment to them I once had. I’m just fine with reading books on my tablet. I haven’t read a paper book in years, and don’t expect to buy one for the rest of my life. And I hope no one gives me one. I just don’t need any more stuff. Of any kind.