Lately I’ve been trying to get rid of all the books I own that
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I never intend reading again, and
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I have not read and don’t ever intend reading.
These have turned out to be quite a few! And I must admit to a sense of relief. I look at my book shelves now and am pleased that the books in there are ones that
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I can pick up at a later date and enjoy all over again or
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new ones that I can hope to have a lovely first experience with.
Three shelves of titles I’m extremely happy I own!
My TBR pile is no longer very long. It consists of books I really want to read. There have been times when, at a weak moment, I’ve picked up something that looks fairly interesting only to regret it later for several reasons — most often because
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it is not a genre I am particularly fond of or
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a writer I’ve told myself I ought to give a second chance to or
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simply because a few pages into the book I find that I cannot take to the writing at all.
The books on this shelf are bound to dwindle down a bit further in the next couple of months. Some of them belong to my mom that need to be returned and there are a few that I’ve borrowed from friends. Most of what I’ve thrown away are old college classics and quite a bit of my fantasy collection.
Yep. I’m going through a phase where I’m getting a bit anti-fantasy. I feel, perhaps, that I’ve had enough of escapism, in a manner of speaking. I’m not sure this means I’m completely off this genre. I know I would like to re-read Tolkien and Susanna Clarke, and finish the Narnia series. But in general I feel my attention would be best occupied with other kinds of reading — namely,
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the reading of time tested works (classics)
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cozy, fire-side sort of reads along the lines of Montgomery, Alcott, von Arnim and the like
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some Christian essays, non-fiction, biographies
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short stories
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plays
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fairly recent works that have the endorsement of my best friend and/or my mom (after The Book Thief I’m feeling a bit wary about falling for too much hype).
So, that’s that! Whew!
Have any of you done some book winnowing lately? Or are you too attached to books to bare see any of them go?
Risa, I am continually going through my books and weeding out the ones I want to pass along to other readers, and make room for the new. I typically take a couple of large boxes of books over to my local library and they end up shelving some and then selling the rest for a nominal fee that goes to help support the library. I think it is interesting how some books that I thought I would never, ever part with end up in the box to the library a couple of years later. Cheers! Chris
That’s a nice thing. Usually, all my old books go to the Church jumble sale!…and some of then, recently, found their way to the library of the school where my sister works.
And I think you have something there…this time I’ve got rid of books I never dreamed I would give away! I’ve a feeling I might give away some of my Tolkien next time… :-/
I’m a student on a strict budget, so I have rarely if ever owned a book I did not want desperately. Most of my reading is done at the library, so I don’t need to reduce my books – the only ones I own are ones that are dear to me
I wish I could visit a library often then I wouldn’t buy books I wouldn’t really want to keep!… I suppose I should make it one of my goals next year.