Book purging

[Calidore]

A Tribune writer has a column today on her book purge.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/ct-talk-brotman-bookpurge-1118-20131118,0,2990402,full.column

Have any of you done one? What did you find unexpectedly easy to unload, and what will have to be pried from your cold dead hands?

[Volya]

When I click the link it says only available to premium members in the US...

But assuming it's what it sounds like, the idea of throwing out my books is horrific to my ears D: Even the not-so-good ones only get relegated to the cardboard box in my house, never thrown away entirely. I certainly could not cope without all the books I have in my bedroom, although I would not shed TOO many tears if the ones in my younger brothers rooms were to be given away.

[Paulclem]

I live in a small house, and so developing a library is not an option. There are loads of books in the house anyway, but I've given up. I also rarely re-read books as there are so many to read anyway. Unfortunately - unfortunately as I love reading - I can't now see the point of keeping everything anymore. All they would do is decorate the house. Have you ever cleared someone's house? we are in the process of clearing the old Uncle and Auntie's, and all the books they collected will have to go. I've looked through a lot of them, but most are not what I want to read, and so the book collections they built up will go. Reflecting on this, will my keeping books be a vain hope that someone will like what I did?
I now know that I won't be keeping so many books that my kids will have the problem of disposing of them. A good aim would be to divest myself of all possessions before I pop off. I now try to give the books to charity shops. At least they may be read by someone instad of being stuck on a shelf so that I can occaisionally run my fingers ovr the spines saying " read that... read that .. read that..."

I do understand what the attraction of collecting books is, but I also understand that the kindle is saving me lots of space.

[Calidore]

When I click the link it says only available to premium members in the US...


Whoops. I'm registered, so I never see that.

Mods: Am I allowed to simply paste the column here giving credit to the source, or is that a no-no?

[kiki1982]

I gather American copyright law (which this site is subject to) states that you can quote passages with a reference, but they should serve a purpose (as in articles and quotes in those). That doesn't include whole articles, I don't think, unfortunately.

[sandy14]

I have a rule that if I get to p100 and I'm not enjoying a book, I stop.

Every year I prune the collection. Books I'm not going to read again, or failed attempts go to the charity shop.

These days I check the library's website before I buy. If it's in stock, I don't buy it because I don't need it cluttering up the shelves waiting to be read.

I've got a lot of shelf space, but cannot add any more, so stuff has to go to make room for other stuff.

[papayahed]

I purge. I have a small bookcase and I don't allow myself to buy books if they can't fit in it. So, I routinely purge the stuff I didn't like or is not worth keeping to make room for new gems.

[papayahed]

I'm going to have to figure out how to curb my kindle spending habits.

[qimissung]

I get rid of books occasionally. I also give myself permission to buy them fairly frequently, although I also live in a small space. I like your idea, Paul of giving them away before you pop off to save the offspring the onerous task of doing it themselves. My kids have have had plenty of time to peruse my "library", such as it is.They haven't so far shown much inclination to do so. I'd like to turn on of the bedrooms into a library. Maybe a library/guest room.

[Lokasenna]

I'm unashamedly a hoarder of books - I never willingly part with them. Even library books that I've had out for so long that I consider them mine I return with little grace.

[kiki1982]

Oh, this summer we built a second part to the library we built three years ago. The walls of the room are now Victorian green and the shelves shiny dark brown. :)

It's not full yet. And we can still build above the window and above the door (on the door is also a possibility), in the corners and the shelves are 40 cm deep, so there is still plenty of space. If that won't do, we can fin a solution.

I'm an unashamed 'buy when you fancy' kind of book buyer. It has changed over the years. So, every year at the charity International Christmas Bazaar in Luxembourg (this weekend), I buy about ten books for about 10€. Pretty nice stuff amongst that as well. We picked up an antique red leather-bound 1910s Art Nouveau edition of Dickens' The Pickwick Papers last year, which is worth about triple the €30 we bought it for. I'm on a hunt for another one. And stuff for myself :D. I don't buy that much, because I haven't been reading that much lately (due to the reading I do all day when I translate), but I still enjoy hte feel of books.
I wouldn't consider throwing anything out, only maybe the real crap like outdated travel/restaurant guides and Dan Brown stuff (if I really have to).

[mal4mac]

I'm unashamedly a hoarder of books - I never willingly part with them. Even library books that I've had out for so long that I consider them mine I return with little grace.

I once recalled a book from the University library and a colleague tracked me down and complained, "Everyone knows I have this book, I've had it out for years, you could just have borrowed it from me." I tried to point out that it wasn't actually his book, but that didn't seem to register.