Book Purge

[qos]

I would guess that I have pulled between 200-300 books from my shelves this weekend, and I still have a very fine, diverse library. I'm recycling some classics and keeping some quirky, odd things. I'm getting rid of some theology and keeping some sex magic -- and vice versa. I'm getting rid of The Lord of the Rings but keeping Dune and the Wrinkle in Time trilogy. I'm getting rid of three of my four books by Starhawk, but keeping The Spiral Dance because it was profoundly important to my spiritual development. I'm getting rid of half a dozen Grail and Arthurian books but keeping a dozen more. I'm keeping all my books about specific movies and about movie-making in general. I'm keeping most of my books about writing, storytelling, and housekeeping. I got rid a bunch of fantasy and sci-fi, but kept the ones which still warm my heart and/or inspire me. I've gotten rid of all my recently published "expanded universe" Star Wars books but kept Splinter of the Mind's Eye and several volumes of graphic novels and a collection of early comic strips. I've gotten rid of all my Trek fiction except for Diane Duane's The Wounded Sky, My Enemy My Ally, and Doctor's Orders, plus The New Voyages I&II. I gave a couple of medieval military history books to the Ex, but kept everything on modern warfare, martial arts, and warrior philosophy. Got rid of a couple of books about castles, kept all my books about piracy. Kept my first two Princess Merrie books and got rid of all the others. Got rid of about half my erotica. Kept all but one of my tarot books. All my Oz books are going to kateri_thinks with my blessing.

I now have three four five tasks:

1. Lug the rest of the purged books out to the car so I can take them to Half-Price books today. I will only recover a fraction of their worth, but I'm not about to try to sell them piecemeal on eBay.

2. Re-shelve everything, decide which books go in the built-in shelves in the living room, which on the shelves in my bedroom. (I'm frequently tempted to just put everything in alphabetical order by author because of spillage when one topical section grows larger and overflows into another location.)

3. Update my computerized "card catalog."

4. Put color sticky dots on the books I have not yet read.

5. Put the public library's website next to Amazon's in my Favorites and stop buying so many books. It was distressing to see how many books I've bought in the last year that I have already forgotten or didn't enjoy enough to finish.

Comments

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't be interested in sending some of those books to friends, now would you? I'm wondering what you have in the Arthurian/Grail category.

[royalbananafish.livejournal.com]

If you haven't sold them yet, I very much suggest you WAIT and come to Portland. Powells Books gives a decent amount back, and you get a bonus if you choose store credit instead of cash. Plus then you have an excuse to visit. And I'm betting the Child would love Powells...

[a-belletrist.livejournal.com]

Third Place Books up here also gives credit back or cash (with the credit being at a higher value).

I'm rather drooling over the thought of so many books needing a home ... but then you've seen how many I have, and it's not like I need any more.

I have my KC Library link near and dear, and I do try to use it often.

Congratulations on the purge!

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

Switching to using the library almost exclusively was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to get past the almost manic SCA-bred need to own every cool reference book for status. I finally realized that such thinking could not possibly have a good end. I'm thinking about a purge too, but it is difficult for me :) Congrats and I second the sentiment about Powell's buyback.

[qos.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry -- by the time I read this comment, I'd already taken everything in. They were things like John Matthews' The Mystic Grail: books with some pretty pictures, but basically a re-hash of a lot of ideas found just about everywhere.

[qos.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the suggestion, RBF, but I wouldn't be able to get to Portland for several weeks at the earliest, and I doubt that the expense of getting to Portland would justify the greater amount of exchange credit for the books. Equally importantly: the whole point of this exercise is that I need to create space in my house right now, and I didn't have anywhere to keep all those boxes and bags.

We'll have to create another excuse for me to visit!

[qos.livejournal.com]

I never even thought about Third Place!
(*scribbles note to self)

[qos.livejournal.com]

I finally realized that such thinking could not possibly have a good end.

Indeed!

Although, as a I commented in response to royalbananafish, the cost of getting to Portland and back would be more than the difference between what I would get for my books at Powells rather than here. Plus there's the issue of having to store the books until I could get down there, and the whole point was getting them out of my space asap.

[royalbananafish.livejournal.com]

Curses! My Evil Plan has been thwarted! Thwart, thwart!!

;)

[royalbananafish.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention the obsessive need to own all the cool books--I found myself facing the same thing recently. I think I can trace it back to when I was a kid, and information was not so readily available (i.e. no internet--though I did use my rippin' fast rad 1200 baud modem to frequent the local BBS scene). When I got ahold of something, I could memorize the important bits of information. The library mostly was for amusing myself.

After hoarding books for a long time, I finally figured out that owning the books and possessing the knowledge are different...and while I'm not fleecing my library any time soon (despite it having books I could easily lose without hurting), it's a good lesson. I've kept all of my school books (well, almost all), and I've amassed a small (ok, large) stash of books on magic and yoga. Most of the books I've chosen to keep are either hard to come by, or things I will frequently use, or things with some kind of sentimental value.

[qos.livejournal.com]

You'll just have to come up with a new evil plan to lure me down! (Once I can have a good chance of getting There and Back Again and not get caught in a snow drift.

I'd love to visit you sometime!

[bardolphc225.livejournal.com]

Hey, very helpful post. I am also getting rid of some books I have, because I have no more shelving to accommodate them and I find adding more shelves expensive and other books are already useless.

The process of figuring out which book to keep and which to let go was very difficult, it took me about a day. After I have decide which to keep, I invited friends over and let them choose which books they like and gave it them….the rest, I took it to a friend who is having a garage sale and sold it there.

“Put color sticky dots on the books I have not yet read.”

Great idea…I will do this too.

”Put the public library's website next to Amazon's in my Favorites and stop buying so many books. It was distressing to see how many books I've bought in the last year that I have already forgotten or didn't enjoy enough to finish.”

Now this, I need to do too.

Bardon Phillips
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