Jan 25 2009
Thumbing Through the Pages of my Bookshelf
I don’t know about you, but I’m an avid book reader and collector! I have many more books than I have read! I’ll see a book that I must have, read a few chapters than I see something shiney, end up putting my new book on the shelf and there it will sit…until one day, I find another ‘must have’ book and the cycle begins again!
One way to stop the book hoarding madness is to categorize your books by fiction, non-fiction, reference, ‘books I’ve read’ and ‘books I haven’t read’. Start with your reference books and treat them in the same manner that you would if you were cleaning out your closet! Determine whether or not you have looked back for information through each book over the last year, if not, put in the ‘it has to go’ pile.
Next move over to your fiction and non-fiction books, if you are like me, there are probably plenty of books that you are keeping that you have already read thoroughly. Now ask yourself, why? Why am I keeping them? Do I plan on reading them again? Keeping books on your shelf “just in case” you want to read them again, is an excellent way to watch your collection multiply!
Now for the tricky part, this is the part that takes self-contol (which is always the hardest part for me). Take the books that you haven’t read and determine which ones are books you’ll never read and which books that you just haven’t gotten to yet. The books that you’ll never read, put in the ‘it has to go’ pile! The books that you haven’t gotten to yet, dedicate yourself to reading a certain amount of books before you buy another new book! Say to yourself “I, Wind, will not purchase another book until I read five of my existing books!” It’s kind of a reward system for yourself! Once you read you’re five books, take a trip to the book store and treat yourself, but only with ONE book! Once you’ve finished your five books and purchased your new one, be sure to get rid of the other five, or you’ll find yourself doing this again next year!
Deciding what to do with your ‘it’s gotta go’ pile is easy. You can donate them to a used book store, a thrift store, the hospital or give them to a friend. However, the point of shrinking your book collection is to make you happier, if the thought of getting rid of any of your books makes you unhappy, just accept the fact that you are indeed a hoarder of books, get out the duster, clean your shelves with a smile and curl up with a good book and cup of hot cocoa!
Off to dust my shelves…
~Wind
LOL! I’m thinking about my daughter as I read your post, like you she lovessssssssss books. Not my wickness, mine would be patterns. I can count, easily probably the number of them I’ve actually followed, I mean really used. But, there are a must.
The theme you have fits your title so well, very pretty. Would be nice to go walking there. Dissappointed we don’t choices now on themes. I just got here yesterday, sad to see things become more narrow rather than wider in choice.
I’ll spend some time and look further around your site.
Have a good rest of the wkend.
Sandy
open to suggestions if you’ll take a look at mine, thanks
Hahah! I used to have hundreds of books but decided to throw a lot of them. I still have loads - many of which I haven’t touched in years. Thing is, these days, other than the daily newspaper, I tend to read stuff on the Internet rather than printed prose.
Are you gonna have to clear a whole room to be designated as your library? You could charge people to come in and use it
At this point, opening a library might not be a bad idea! Now, dedicating a room? That’s already been done!