In this day and age, with the imminent end of print books, it's hard to imagine a house filled with 300,000 books.  But still it's even harder to imagine having to burn 300,000 books.  

But this is exactly the conundrum facing Shaunna Raycraft and the 30 ton load of books she and her husband saved from a fiery end seven years ago.  Raycraft who lives in Saskatoon, Canada had acquired the books from a neighbor who was going to burn the books after its owner, her husband, passed away.  She bought the books from the widow for $823 and set out to sort through them so that she could eventually donate them to people who needed the books.

"Maybe they are destined to be burned. The irony of it is not lost on me," Raycraft told her local paper, The StarPhoenix, "It's been seven years and about $15,000 into it. I'm done."

Overwhelmed by the sheer volume and only having managed to sort through one-third of the books, Raycraft now says she may have to burn the books.  Her husband has long been begging her to burn the books.  Yet, she is torn and is calling our for help from volunteers to once and for all organize the books so they can be donated.  She has set up a Facebook page for people to get in touch with her and learn more about the project. It can be found by searching "Raycraft Book Collection."

It is not without regret that Raycraft would burn the books because it was exactly this fate that she wanted to avoid for the books when she and her husband trucked them over to their property years ago.  She also says that over the years, she has become fond of the books and has enjoyed going through them and finding personal tidbits from previous owners such as shopping lists and other notes.

"It's been seven years of my life. It's been all of my youngest daughter's life, most of my oldest daughter's life," she said, "It's a shame we couldn't do more but I'm only one person."