I love to read. I love to re-read my favorite books. My goal as a kid was to read every book in my local library. I didn’t know about their practice of deaccessioning to make room for new books; that would have been a Sisyphean task had I taken it seriously.
I’ve spent a good part of my adult life accumulating quite a library: favorite books, hard-to-replace books, just-in-case-guests-need-something-to-read books.
However, I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by all my possessions. Last autumn, I started to think about getting rid of a particular bookshelf, but I knew I’d have to deal with all the books it holds.
Using the estimate of 12 books=12 inches, I calculated last fall that I needed to clear 180 books from my home; this should, in theory, mean that my 6 foot tall, 30 inch wide shelf will no longer be needed and can find a new home.
I immediately went on a purge, and gave 10 books to a friend, and donated 52 more to the library.
Leaving 128 books to go.
In the past 4 months, no further books have left this house.
In some ways, getting rid of books is easy; I don’t have to worry so much about whether they can find a new home. I can donate to our local library fund raiser, I can put a few in the Little Free Libraries that keep popping up in the neighborhood, I can donate to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. At one time I sold unwanted books on Half.com (now part of EBay), but I don’t know that I have the energy for that. A quick search suggests that selling books through Amazon will likely get me little money, and lots of aggravation. Used bookstores will usually take books off your hands for an insultingly low price (or for store credit, which means you are taking more books home. Not useful for this purpose.)
In some ways, getting rid of books is hard. Will someone notice that the book they gifted me years ago is gone? (Probably not.) I wonder will I read this book again? If there are memories attached, that makes it harder to let everything go.
I am going to work on a mantra one of my other book-loving friends used when she cleared out boxes of books: I am going to let Amazon store these books for me. If I decide I need them again, I will order them out of storage.
After writing this, I have pulled another 26 books for donation or gifting, plus 11 books of MSKAP, for a total of 89 books removed, 91 to go.
I’d like to see if I can hit the goal of 180 books before summer. Maybe I’ll have to give an update once a month.
Are you a minimalist and wondering why I’m so slow getting rid of books? Are you an appalled bookworm? How do you handle book accumulation?