We’re moving in a couple weeks (the first time since I was 9 years old), and I’ve been going through my library of 3000+ books, choosing the books that I could bear to part with and NOT have to pack to move. Which made me wonder…
When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)
And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?
I absolutely LOVE getting rid of books. LOVE IT. YES I DO. It is so cleansing and nice, and when I have done it, I feel lighter all over and full of rejoicing.
I bet you thought that I was going to say just kidding in this paragraph but I’m not. I truly truly love getting rid of books. If I get rid of a book, that means I have space on my shelf for another, more desirable book. Plus, if I can get rid of books I don’t really want or will never reread, that means that I am not a hoarder. I am instead a book connoisseur with only the very best books in my library.
In the best case scenario, I list them on PaperbackSwap, causing rejoicing to the PBS member that gets a book for free, and rejoicing for me when I get a credit to get another book. But I also like to donate them charitably to charity. Depends what time of year it is. If the book’s in truly terrible shape I do throw it away. One of these days I’m going to buy a proper copy of Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown and get rid of the falling-apart one that I have, but it’s going to be a sad day.