It's that time of year again, no not Christmas, not New Years, no it's time to do something about all the books we have. I need to be able to use our closets for something besides book storage. We both have tablets with Kindles on them, we have Google to look information up and do research with, I buy books ALL the time, so it's time to weed out some of our outdated books.It's not easy to do, we'll keep the books we plan on reading again or we have a strong sentimental attachment to. Mac is keeping all of his P.G. Wodehouse, Fred Archer and Beverly Nichols books. I'm keeping all my Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Charles DeLint and Elizabeth Goudge books. But it's out the door and off to Goodwill for many of the rest. Hopefully they'll find new homes to be read again.
It was hard to let some of them go, we've been hauling them around for more that 40 years, but some of them haven't been opened in nearly that long. When you're looking information up, which we frequently do, you need up to date information and sadly that rules out the information in many of our books.
We have huge a car load that's going tomorrow to Goodwill and stacks more that will head out in the New Year.
It hasn't been easy, it hasn't been fun, but it was necessary. That leaves us with a 4 shelf bookcase (full) in the tv room, a 4 shelf bookcase (full) in the closet of our daughter's room and 2 three shelf bookcases (full) in my make a mess room, and 2 four shelf bookcases (in a state of disarray, their time is coming) in the computer room closet. Plus numerous stray books scattered around the house.
I plan on using the shelves in my make a mess room closet to store fabric, yarn, scrapbooking supplies, and other craft material. I'm tired of being unable to walk across the room in there because it's such a mess, I'm too old and clumsy to live with that way any more.
I guess the New Year brings on this clear-out mania. We dragged the Christmas tree out today, even though a cousin-in-law says I'm supposed to leave it till Epiphany when the 3 Wise Men come, but I told her that unless the Wise Men planned on carrying the tree off for me that the tree was out of here today.
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| Forget the gold, frankincense and myrhh get the tree |
Hear! Hear! I love the label for the 'make a mess' room---I've done that in the whole downstairs area. Books, tipples of books, baskets of CD's--fabric out for crafting--arrgh!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have already weeded out so much for Goodwill, the local library, the charity shop.
All my reference look-ups are done on-line these days, but I can't get rid of the bird books, the wildflower books, garden books, etc. Can't quite convince myself to go Kindle.
This is a small house and our accumulation of belongings is too much.
And what a sad end it would be to fracture a hip falling over our piles of beloved and unruly STUFF! [Actually, I think I'll break a leg tripping over a mis-placed cat!]
That's a lot of books. I used to always have a book in my hand but I've hardly read any these last few years. I've found myself too busy, and have instead picked up a magazine which is much easier to put down again, when I've had a few spare minutes. One of my new year challenges is to read more, starting with a book a month.
ReplyDeleteI hate parting with books, nothing else affects me in quite the same way.
ReplyDeleteLove your comment about the Three Wise Men and your tree! I wait until New Year's Day and this year it may well be New Year's Eve before taking all the decorations down. Well done with the book pruning, I need some more shelf space from somewhere - I had at least twelve new books for Christmas and they are still piled on the sofa because I can't quite think where else to put them:)
ReplyDeleteHow fun to think that someone else may discover a delightful new author while browsing the shelves at Goodwill...or learn how things used to be done...or find a book they've always wanted to own but could never afford - all thanks to your pruning. Mr. Wodehouse et al are definitely worth hanging on to, though.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should have a "make a mess" room.
I gave away a pile of books again earlier in the autumn. I'm trying to keep within the shelf space I have which means that when I get something new, something old has to go instead. But I have to say I'm sorely tempted to try and find another bookcase, if I find one the right size I might be able to squeeze one more into the study... ;)
ReplyDeleteHow I feel for you. We are in exactly the same position. Yet books can be decorative and do give a feeling of 'home' - the same familiar titles on the shelves. We also have an 1875 edition of Encyclopaedia Brittania - yes out of date for, say, aviation but for history, geography, biography there is much more information than you'd get in a modern text. I find I use it constantly. Happy New Year to you both.
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