A Canadian woman heroically rescued 350,000 books from a neighbour who was planning to burn them following the death of her bibliophile husband. Shaunna Raycraft, from Pike Lake, Saskatchewan, stepped in when her widowed neighbour started to burn her husband's weighty collection of books. However, the couple did not anticipate having to buy a small house just to store the thirty tonnes of books in.

"There was a house floor-to-ceiling with books. He was the collector; she had tried to get someone to appraise the books but they wouldn't come out [to the rural setting]. She didn't know how to deal with them so she started to burn them," Raycraft told Canadian national broadcaster CBC. 

After failing to sell the books online and to used book stores, Raycraft is now having to contemplate burning the books herself. "We're talking 30 tonnes of books. The weight of the books is pulling the house apart," she said. "We are kind of at a standstill. I work at two jobs. My husband is a full-time student. We have three kids and no time. And no money. And so we're at the point now where were looking at having to burn some of the books ourselves."

To read the full story, please visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/09/house-collapsing-weight-books?CMP=twt_fd