I love books.
This is a fundamental fact of my existence, and I've known it for as long as I can remember. Literally. Some of my first memories are of being read to, and learning to read. I still own the first book I read on my own (The Berenstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree), and unless I seriously dislike a book, I am loathe to actually give it up. Even if I don't necessarily plan on re-reading it, there has always been something special about having it.
At least, until now. Even though college has kept me separated from the majority of my book collection for the past four years (excepting vacations), it's not until now that I've realized how many of these books I am actually capable of doing without.
It's been a difficult realization, but part of me thinks it's about time. A book, if it isn't being read, is really just a thing -- and we all know, I hope, that books when they are being read are so much more than that. By keeping my shelves full of books that I may have read once or twice, but don't see myself reading again, I'm preventing those books from finding other readers more suited to them. I never forget a book I've read, so if I really want to go back and read one of them once they're gone, I can head over to a library; if I come to a point in my life where I need a book again, and I can make it live, then I can always buy it again and support an independent bookstore.
There is nothing wrong with giving books a new life outside of my sagging white bookshelves. I'm in the process of boxing up the books I don't read anymore, and when I'm done they'll get donated to my local library, and when they're there who knows who will find them, and read them?
Good idea! My philosophy on books has always been: I only keep the ones I expect to read again. (Or are extraordinary.) I'll be weeding my shelves up here too, in preparation for moving...
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I culled my book collection. When I did so I also realized that a great many of the books I had were actually not that good, simple page turners (not saying that your collection was/is the same!). Ah yes, the Dragonlance books and others. But in reducing, picking, and choosing which books I kept made me answer what I was looking for. Why did I keep certain books over others? Was it simply a roaring good adventure? Or just fuel for a reading frenzy. The later I tended to discard because I wanted to keep books that really meant something to me.
ReplyDeleteI am preparing to move to Oklahoma and facing very much the same issue.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I still have the childhood picture books, from which I learned to read. Do I keep them, or are they unnecessary? And if I keep them, do I keep ALL of them? or just some?
sooo frustrating and confusing. #thisismylife
@candidfiction
ReplyDeleteKeep them! Well...You should keep your favorite ones, if possible. Regarding children's/picture books, I always keep them if I would read them to my (potential) children. (Just my rule of thumb.)