I received a $500 gift voucher to spend on books from my university.

Do both. Vanity is not a sin.

>>9056697
Repurchase the essentials, you may want to re-read them or lend them to people. Alternatively buy the second-hand for wicked cheap.

>>9056697
wtf is a gift voucher. is this something sort of gift card printed on a piece of paper or something ?

The more diverse range of authors you have, the better your library will look. Up at school I have 50+ books and anyone who comes to my room and sees them asks for recommendations because they know that they won't just get the memes like the ones you listed. I'd say buy books you think you'll like and hope they're good

>>9056697
>reading book only once and thinking you "get it"

i seriously hope you don't do this my man

>>9056697
Great Books of the Western World is a good start (not the set necessarily but the list of books in the set)

>>9056697
buy your favorites. trust me, buying unread books will stifle you. only buy the ones you treasure and wish to read again. if you don't ever want to read any of the books you've read, then fuck it, just keep doing the library thang.

if you want a way to get rid of that 500 dollar voucher, just buy a bunch of books with a really good turnaround rate, sell em, and then use them for something else, like a new outfit, because you look like a nerd sitting on that stoop.

why not half and half, $500 can go a long way

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>>9056697

>My concern is that someone will see my library, and see the absence of some of the greatest writers (e.g., Shakespeare, Kadare, Pasternak, Joyce, DFW, Pynchon) who I have read

Fuckin hell m8 relax. Start the collection or don't.

>>9056697
>Kadare
What're his best works?
Wanna read him cause I'm Albo

>>9056697
spend half of it on the essentials, and the other half of it on your favorite authors

>>9056887
his most famous is The General of the Dead Army but I liked The Palace of Dreams.

>>9056799
>thinking i've only read those books once.

not sure where you got that conclusion from because it certainly isn't in my post.

Buy a bible, read it.
Take the remaining money and buy some entry level classics, drop them off at the nearest impoverished high school.
Continue borrowing books, which has seemingly worked for you until now.