Here’s a little fact you may not know about me- I own a serious number of books. Like, in the thousands. And there are a couple of reasons for this.
The first, of course, if that I read a lot. At least a couple of books a week. And I’ve always wanted to own the books I read. Checking books out at the library hasn’t appealed to me since I was in elementary school.
But the reason I’ve held on to all my books is more complicated. For years, when I didn’t have a lot of money or nice furniture I had books. Books became a sort of stand in for stability in my life. Every time I moved to a new apartment in a new city, the hundreds of boxes of books I that went with me made all that new feel like home. They were my ballast.
Lately, though, looking at the dozens and dozens of boxed books in our bedroom has kind of overwhelmed me. The bookshelves in our farmhouse are stuffed to overflowing and there are books on just about every other flat surface. I have books that have been in boxes for more than four years now and that just seems…silly.
Besides all that, a flock of nearly 100 sheep and goats is a hell of a lot of ballast. So I’ve decided it’s time to jettison the books. Not the ones I love, the ones I’ve read a million times and still get cravings to read again. Not To Kill a Mocking Bird or Franny and Zoey, or a hundred others that I really care about. But books that have been read only once are going. So are cookbooks I’ve outgrown, the back issues of Martha and Cook’s Illustrated and who-knows-what-all else that’s in those boxes.
Everyone I’ve mentioned this to has told me to sell them on Ebay, but come on! Who has time for that? Not me, that’s for sure. I’m planning to take a streamlined approach. I’m going to put all the books I can bear to part with on tables and sell them all for a dollar. And I really hope that every book will go home with someone who will treasure it.
I might feel a little sad when they are all gone, but mostly, I think I’ll feel unencumbered, less weighted down. Free.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s funny you should mention this right now. When my husband and I moved into our house nearly 15 years ago, two truck loads were books. And, like you, we like owning the books we read.
Now, like you, we are slowing going through the rooms full of books and the boxes full of books, getting rid of the ones we know we’ll never reread. Tastes in literature changes as does interests, and both of us have gone through some major interest transitions over the past decade.
Luckily, we have three Half-Price book stores within driving distance of us and that is where the majority of our cull is going to – so others can have the chance to love them as much as we have loved them.
I´ve never had good luck selling books in yard sale type situations so I would advise an even more streamined approach: donate them. My local library is currently having it´s annual used book sale.
Unfortunately my library only allows you to donate one grocery bag of books a week. And none of the used bookstore around here buy books. I could take them to The Strand in NYC but they won’t look at them while you wait. So I’d have to make two trips to the City. I’d rather just sell them to someone super cheap and let them enjoy them.
I have a huge collection of books filling my one bedroom apartment in NYC and am starting to trip over the piles. So, I’m looking to donate a bunch. Here’s what I found.
Many branches of the New York City Public Library will take book donations, and I don’t believe that there is a limit to it.
Also, Housing Works in New York City (a charity for homeless AIDS patients) runs a used bookstore as a fundraiser and they take almost every thing. Here’s a link to them: http://www.housingworks.org/donate/bookstore-cafe-donations/
That way one trip and you can donate everything if you want to go that route.
Hope this is of help.
I’m a book freak too! I specalize in cook books, knitting books and gardening books with a few home decorating and “how to” books on various subjects like; plumbing, electric wiring, concrete finishing and deck building. I am a do it yourself kind of gal while my husband is always, lets hire someone to do it… My response to him is, “so you have money to hire someone?” We just did a kitchen remodel and I can honestly say that it was 95% me and 5% him, he did the demo of the walls and cleaned it up. I did the rest with a contractor. I don’t know if I could get rid of my books? I will need to try one of these days so I do applaud you on your efforts.
Paragraph #2 could have been written by me (except I tend to read more than 2 books a week). But I need to start parting with some of my books, too, and the thought breaks my heart. Of my 3,052 books, there are a few hundred I can part with with nary a twinge (college textbooks I’ve kept for 20 years for no good reason, books I hated but kept anyway), probably a few hundred more I could let go (the “fancy” copies of loved and battered books like Pride & Predujice, or A Little Princess, non-fiction that I read once but really am never going to read again), but then it starts getting HARD. Could I give up some of those childhood books that I still like to read from time to time? It’s not like Trixie Belden is in print anymore, and anyway, it’s not like I could afford to REPLACE them once given up. That part gets hard, hard, hard …
Any chance I can sneak a few bags of books onto that table too?
I recently helped another blogger by buying her books, she put them in an online order form, so that she could fix up an old horsebox truck to travel with her art. It was great. I got books and she got a little extra cash.
You can do it
I would love to get my hands on some of your cookbooks. What about offering some of them up at Shearing day. The rest I could take to The Strand for you and send you what’s yours. That way you will know that all the books you have loved will go to either your shareholder peeps or to others who will love them like you do.
20 years ago a steam pipe burst in my office at the college where I teach. It destroyed and/or made musty about 900 books. Freud and Jung took a direct hit. A whole bunch of my other treasured friends were lost forever. It ended up being good. I’ve managed to replace them and then some. I’m getting ready for a book downsize myself. It is weirdly liberating. So my thought is to have fun with this! Ask the universe to send the right person to the right book! Enjoy the energy of all that great writing going out into the world!
Oh, and where and when is the book sale?
My husband and I just recently donated a whole whack (as in 3 HUGE boxes-full) of books to our local coffee shop. It’s a wonderful little place where people can come in, have a coffee and a bite to eat, and peruse the many shelves of books that have been received by them from previous owners. The shop offered us a store credit or cash, but we decided to simply donate all of them. I happened to wander into the shop yesterday and there, on a shelf that I was gazing at, were several of the books we’d donated, ready and waiting for a new owner to buy them. I’ll bet that some of my donated books have already found new homes. It made me feel good to know that we’re giving a little back to our neighbourhood.
Have you thought about trading them? There is a site called paperback swap that also takes audio and hardback that you could trade your unneeded books for ones you would like to have. It is a slower process but might be worth it if you want to get new to you books.
I know what you mean about needing to buy books. I can’t go to the library and know that when I finish the book, I need to return it. Not only that, but I have a HUGE issue with returning things…like movies and books…and…well…I don’t. My husband doesn’t get it and I don’t mean to! But I just always forget they need to go back by a certian time and I end up spending more on fines than I ever would on the initial cost of the item. So I just buy them now.
I just love LOOKING at books too. Being in a bookstore sends me into a grinning-stupidly-state.
I’ll be going to my FAVORITE antique book store in England in early may, you should check into my blog for pictures around then (: Or my post from a week or so ago…
i used to have the same problem, when we moved to the islands it was on uncle sams bill. Sadly when we moved back to the mainland we were paying…many many books left at a couple yard sales (and folks were almost fighting over them) it was semi sweet but very “lightening”.
Susan,
We are so alike in this respect. My book boxes always outnumbered everything else whenever I moved. I, too, always wanted to own my books so I have a thousand plus, too. (Doesn’t help that I work in book publishing!)
Have you discovered http://www.collectorz.com Download the program, get a cheap-o cue-cat on ebay. Then, scan all those barcodes – presto chango – all the book’s data is filled into collectorz database. (A perfect project for a teenager!) Eventually, you have a sortable, exportable list or library of all your books. And an accurate count, btw. You can designate a book as owned, read, loaned, etc. Very very cool for bibiliophiles. There’s a version for music collectorz, too.
I’m truly sorry you mentioned this where I could find out. I’ve been trying to downsize my collection for years, but more books come in than go out (even mostly using the library these days. When’s the sale? I’ll drive down.
We collect books, too, but I’m mostly a reference bookaholic. And magazines. I keep magazines thinking I’m going to need to refer to them in 3 years. I don’t. But I do like my shepherding/farming/homesteading books, and I do refer to them from time to time. But not all of them. When I start squeezing books horizontally into the bookcase, it’s time to thin the herd. That’s my rule. Our stuff can take over and we become slaves to it, rather than using it for our good. Good luck. You *will* feel better.
When we moved to Ireland, we got rid of 90% of our stuff. It was the most wonderful feeling!! We only kept 1 box of books. And since then, we get books, but then if we like them, we pass them on to others who would enjoy. If we don’t, they go to the library or get released via BookCrossing. We don’t have that many books now that don’t have a purpose (we have to cook a lot, so cookbooks are what we have most of, and the husband’s computer architecture books), and it’s wonderful. Plus we’re teaching the kids to use the library, and they see how 5 euros for a book or 5 euros for something else *and* a book is a good thing ™.
You;re not alone, I have floor to ceiling bookshelvs going up the front staircase in my old house, built ones into the studio (full), already built small one in master bdrm (full and more on floor, books in boxes in the garage. I love the smell of them, to hold them, to buy them (of course) and thanks to you
, I just went out last weekend and bought a Josephine Tey book! When I was an assistant editor, I got free cookbooks to review. Someone said, why don’t you donate them to the library. I start going through them, and think,” Who else has a cookbook for things to serve with tea, Middle Eastern cookbook, a tapa cookbook…] ? And of course, I cannot part with ANY art book, knitting book, pottery book, carpentry book, children’s alphabet book….
I believe that is called Spring cleaning for the Soul.
Ok, after you’ve sold all you can for $1…sign up for http://www.paperbackswap.com. You can list the remaining books individually or by the box. Then, you’ll get credit for the books that go away so you can get new ones, for free
Check it out!
I’m looking at our bookshelves and wondering if we should do the same thing lol! We love books here too.
Susie,
When my husband and I moved the first time some 20 years ago, the HR person asked if we had any “unusual” possessions. My husband replied “other than the 1/2 ton of books we own, nothing.” The HR person thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. Our rule now is that some books do not hold up to re-reading, so we get rid of them by taking them to the used book store and selling them. Books worth re-reading, we buy in hard back editions. That helps to keep our stack of books to a manageable level. Good luck!
I might be moving to Africa next year – I should know in a few weeks. If I am, I’ll take all of those books you don’t sell down for you and donate them. (I have a VERY generous moving allowance- it’s big enough for a family and I’m just me). I’ll let you know in a few weeks if I get the job.
We have about two dozen boxes of books in the basement, piles around the house, and I have another cache in my classroom (that I will have to pack up since I’m taking another year off). Figuring out which books to part with has been difficult, but we’ve successfully weeded out a dozen. Yes, a dozen. Not a baker’s dozen. 12. Really made a difference ah-yup.
Susan if you have any paperbacks you can send them to our soldiers overseas. Use the web site Anysoldier.com to find someone who is asking for books. Like a Chaplin who is trying to start a library.You do have to pay shipping, but maybe you can get some donations to cover that.
I am the same, love boos, own too many, find they make good insulation. Possible donation spots off the beaten track – senior centers, community centers, hospices, senior daycare, there are lots of places dying for good books.
i want to visit your table! what a lovely idea. you could leave them around so when people come to visit the farm, they can go home with a book.