I’ve had a serious insurance claim-type problem in the first floor of my house, and am having to move my entire record collection (including 78s), 8/10ths of the cds, plus pretty much all my books relating to southern history, southern literature, general fiction, some popular science and math books, among other things.
It’s made me contemplate seriously the books that are double shelved, and the question of whether I’ll ever use a book again. Use can mean so many things: Refer to it, recommend, it, re-read it.
Trying to narrow things down (a process that let me eliminate well over a hundred books), I got brutal. Am I ever going to use this again in any way? There were a lot of different ways a book lost out in this process. Jon Ronson’s books (Them or The Psychopath Test) as an example, I richly enjoined, but can’t imagine reading again (and, if I did, it would really be wasted time). There’s fiction I can’t imagine getting around to reading . There’s fiction I read and resent the time spent on it (Jonathan Franzen’s latest). There are a couple of duplicates (An excellent history of populism called Populist Vanguard– how did I get two of those?– and Charles Mackay’s classic Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, a book I’ve bought at least four times, and that everyone should have. And then there’s this: Every time I dip into Nevin’s multivolume history of the Civil War, I come away disappointed and thinking I had no answer, or a superficial one.
But the critical factor in looking at all these was this: Am I going to want to look at this book again, while I’m living? If I haven’t read this, is there any chance I’m going to? If I’ve read it, will I look at it again or give it to someone else? If not, is this copy worth keeping anyway?
But part of the process was this: Facing more directly than usual the limited time I have before me. Am I going to be able to get to this?
Most of what I’m letting ago fit in two categories: Books I’ve finished, liked, but don’t need in the future, and books I’ve finished, did not like, and will happily let go. That said, I was still made to more directly than usual confront the limited time I have to read.
The Oxford/Lafayette public library begins refusing book donations April 15th. Reason given: lack of space.
There are community sharing libraries popping up, in neighborhoods, in store/restaurants (BTC Old Fashioned Grocery for one.)
Are you selling these books? I am interested!
Yes, I’m selling the ones I’m letting go.
I too have read all the “old books” I’m going to read in this lifetime. Henceforth, I’ll most likely buy only ebooks for iPad. So … what to do with the double-stacked and triple-stacked rows of books on these shelves? I’d prefer donating them to an institution a little more into knowledge-preservation and -dissemination than BTC Grocery … but where? I’m open to suggestions.
I am happy to be in a full state of denial.
If there’s a NMC Book Sale, I hope you’ll post the details sufficiently in advance that out-of-towners can stop by.
There’s also the annual Jan Hawks memorial book sale at the Ole Miss Union, sponsored by AAUW. It’s coming up in February, and they usually have dropoff locations for donated books. Amy Mark in the UM library is a contact person.
First, listen to Jimmy Durante’s 1947 hit, “The Day I Read a Book” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlsQIEIEeKA. Then think hard before you get rid of a book. Especially a book that you paid your hard earned money for, and most especially a book that you took time to read. Reconsider!
You’ll be beating yourself up later like the mom’s who threw out the baseball card collections when their sons (and daughters) were away in college!
So many books, so little time!
I’m clinging to my old books….along with my guns and religion.
Everytime I have culled books from my collection, I have always regretted it later, and end up buying a copy to replace it, i.e., I sold my hardcover edition of Team of Rivals, and this weekend I wanted to read it again, so I had to buy the Kindle edition. I guess I’m a hoarder when it comes to my books. I just can’t let them go.
I’ve sold some books with no regret. I’m just not always good at distinguishing those from the ones whose sale I *will* regret.
Like when I figured I didn’t need all those thrice-read Jack Vance novels, and I could always find ‘em at the 2dhand stores later … Been several years repairing that damage.
Very deep post; and interesting comment thread.
All benefit of the doubt went toward keeping books. I thought a fair amount about whether I would want to look at it again. I asked my wife (who probably thinks at times she’s going to be buried in an avalanche of books). I’ve a high degree of confidence that these aren’t going to be missed. But all I’ve accomplished is eliminating double shelving in two rooms; there are still too many books.
Never look back. Do it … and move forward.
Will there be a general sale on a certain day and place, or will there be a price and title list?
Maybe you should just sell a 49% ownership interest in your books, retaining authority to recall them as desired.
Of course, that will drive the prices down.
This post sponsored by the Amazon Kindle.
Chico – The Oxford/Lafayette County Public Library is not accepting donations through April 15th. As a service to the public they set out tables full of tax forms each year, which limits available space in the foyer. After the filing deadline they will be happy to receive any and all donations.
Along the lines of this thread, please remember that with a library card you can download hundreds of books for free through the public library’s web-site. I check out books on cd when I am on the road and they have a great selection of music and movies, especially documentaries.
I stopped buying books a couple of years ago and sold, at extreme loss, those I had. Oh, I do buy the occasional volume from my local library(s), at the modest sum of 1 or 2 dollars. Mostly, buying books at retail prices, is not within my budget. Additionally, it is usually impossible to find the authors and titles I wish to read. Philosophy and evolutionary biology are not big in my end of the Midwest.
Just so you know. When I decided to move back home to MS., I “got rid” of over 15 banana boxes full of books. Been back for 7 years and now it looks I never gave anything away. I’m just a sucker for buying books, mostly used. I guess I must be a closet librarian at heart.
I find it very difficult to part with books. And I actually fret a bit about the fate of my professional books after I’m gone. There are notes written all over the margins and since I’m not famous, I don’t think anyone will want them.
I would remind everyone of the opinion of Autie Mame’s prospective daughter-in-law: “Books can be so decorative, don’t you think?”
I like having the physical books around. I find myself using Amazon Kindle more and more, and one of the things I hate is not having the actual book. (But I like that every member of my family has the book available on their Kindle).
If there isn’t enough space one has to do away with some books, I suppose. But space allowing they look good, so keep them. I’m afraid I will never read Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization, but I did actually use the series to help my daughter with a project. We found some material that wasn’t on the “Internet,” much less Wikipedia. So books are worth keeping around if space permits.