It’s inevitable that, when you buy a lot of books, someday, you have to start weeding them and getting rid of the ones you thought you’d read but never got ’round to, the ones you read once and didn’t like, the series you really liked when you were a teenager but are now kind of embarrassed to have on your shelves still, and all the rest. Recently, Doppelganger over on 50 Books wrote about her attempts to get her family’s book collection under control: Unbookening and Going, Going, Going…and Gone. Sort of. Her writing reminds me of my attempts to bring my 700+ book collection back to heel earlier this year.
When I started weeding my books, it was hard. I’d set a book in the discard pile, and then change my mind, thinking, “This sounds interesting to me again. I might read this.” Or I’d remember really liking the book and start thinking I might want to reread it. I know better of course. So, I told myself to get ruthless—after all, I live in a town with three libraries and I have interlibrary loan priveledges at two of them. I ended up donating about six copier paper boxes of books to my local library after a two week blitz through my collection. (And my LibraryThing Catalog is totally out of date now. Still.)
Weeding books is hard. Those books appealed to me when I bought them. They say something about how my tastes in reading have grown up and changed over the years. Plus, they’re great to have around when you have no clue what you want to read next.
Another factor that made it hard for me to part with my book is the fact that I’ve been buying books since I had my first job—before even. I’ve invested a lot of time reading book reviews, asking for recommendations and, when all else fails, climbing through piles of forgotten books in used book stores looking for books I might like. Some people are reflected by their art collections, or their music collections. I think I am really represented by the books I choose to surround myself with.
Towards the end of the blitz, I sardonically comforted myself by telling myself, “Look how much room you have for new books now!”
I think I'm up to 30 books in my home library now. I used to have 600 or so, but in my years of moves, I've culled and culled and culled. Although the Nook allows me to be a digital hoarder and I have about 30 books in that thing. I wanted to get rid of books because they became things to me, not pieces OF me, and I don't miss them. But working in a library made the transition easier because I have 10-20 books checked out at any one time, so it doesn't feel like I'm bereft. I wonder if I'll ever go back to building a library?
Really? I've never managed to get below 700, even when I moved.