I've stolen this interesing phrase from a post someone else made on here.
It neatly describes part of the hold that the books have on me that I've been reasessing recently.
I may be at a life stage and technology stage that I need to get over the feeling of the contents of my bookshelves 'publicly displaying' my education and literary tastes. Not really public but visible to my friends and family in our house. I'd often find friends looking through the bookshelves and this often started interesting conversations.
10 years ago the bookshelves had to become one in one out through lack of additional space, then last year I got my Kindle and part of my justification was to release more space by getting the classics in e-book form rather than keeping the paper. I'm still feeling a degree of emotional resistance in reducing the remaining books to those that are irreplacable in e-book format and I think it's still at age 51 the persistance of the feeling of my books defining me!
Any one else have similar feelings?
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Posted 10 months ago #
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Yes! I have the same problem, but with music. I loved when friends would browse my CD collection. I have an extremely wide variety in music taste and it, too, sparks conversations. I also felt like I was more "educated" in music because I had such a large collection.
This past year I sold off approximately 150 CDs. I had to teach myself that I can still have a passion for music but don't need to hold on to every CD I have ever listened to. Music tastes evolve and certain albums just don't do it for me anymore. I still have a hard time letting go of albums I used to love but that just don't appeal to me. Every time I donate a bag to Goodwill I throw in one more "hard to get rid of" CD. I never regret getting rid of them.
I have learned that in getting rid of items I don't love I allow space for new music to enter into my life. Before, when I had 300 CDs, I wasn't as proactive about scouting out new bands. After all, I just kept accumulating albums that were so-so and added them to the pile of old music I didn't care for anymore. It appeared as if I had a lot to listen to when in reality I was sick of most of it. Now I only purchase albums I know I will love and listen to and I am much more strict about what I allow to come into my home!
Posted 10 months ago # -
No, I don't really feel like this with most of my books. Perhaps my undergrad textbooks a little bit, but I consult them still occasionally as they're quite current. I think I do have an emotional attachment to my favourite books, those I re-read regularly and really love. Other people are irrelevant in that though, I read privately though I enjoy looking for new finds in other people's houses :)
I'm not sure how you could conquer this (assuming you want to?). Maybe join Goodreads or similar?Posted 10 months ago # -
lottie,
The uncluttering part of me would like to reduce the books more, the social and book attached part wonders if I'd loose out on the discussions that the book browsing friends prompt or would they still happen but in different ways?
Maybe I just need to join a book group!!!!!!!!!!Posted 10 months ago # -
I belong to a book group and though I don't always make the meetings, I always read the books. Many are ones that I wouldn't pick up on my own, and when I go to a meeting I get whole new insights into the content. Very enjoyable women. I only knew 3 of them when I joined so it's been fun making new friends as well.
Talking about books is one of the few things I miss in retirement. Being in a library every day gave me lots of opportunities to discuss books, with library users and my staff. Now I have to seek it out.
I too have overcrowded bookcases, but since they're not overflowing, and are contained in my sewing room (which also means they're not visible to people who come over), uncluttering them is low on my list. I don't buy books often (except for my kindle!) but rather borrow from the library.
Posted 10 months ago # -
This has been something we've struggled with, and it's one of the few things we're both avoiding: yes, there are many books on the shelves that signal that we are science-oriented people (who are also interested in history and classic children's literature), but most of them? Have not been opened since we put 'em on the restored shelves 10 years ago. This is not good: books need to be read and loved and enjoyed.
But getting rid of them is a struggle, particularly for DH. Those are his things he bought with his money, which was often tight (and is again), and I know that some of them are a reminder that once upon a time he was going to be an aerospace engineer and work on the Space Shuttle. *sighs* It's rough, giving up an identity. I don't think it happens easily unless you find something else that you want more than that identity.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I found an alternative -- we started a library at work and many of the books were once mine. We rent space from a Mennonite Church so it has become the church library as well -- more than 3,000 volumes. I don't have to store the books at home but still have access to them :)
Still, I would feel odd living in a house with no books. And I supose some of them are mainly for "show" -- either to engage others or to reassure myself that I am, indeed, a somewhat literate person.
Posted 10 months ago # -
My mom belonged to a book club where, when multiple members bought copies of the book, they would later donate them to the local library. They were usually popular-slightly-literary fiction, and current, so the library was super happy.
The other thing they did was, not all read the same book for meetings. So they'd pass around books and talk about themed groups of books, to minimize how many people had to buy. There would be a postit inside the cover of each book with a list of names - give it to the next person on the list when you were done.
These were all educators and librarians so none of them had a need for more books in the house, and wanted to minimize both spending & acquiring.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I LOVE your work-library idea, susanintexas! My brother-in-law has something similar at his job, and I got into a very interesting discussion with his coworker about a textbook written by one of my professors that was sitting out on the shelf.
Netleigh, it sounds like what's most important to you about the books is the discussion aspect. The book club ideas suggested above sound wonderful. You may also benefit from using an app or something for your books. I use the Visual Bookshelf app on Facebook to list and review books that I've read. This way, my friends can see what I've been reading.
The online archive aspect of it helped me when I moved to release some books that I'd enjoyed but wouldn't, and don't, miss.
Posted 10 months ago # -
The thing that made me look at my book collection differently - and I'm talking overflowed bookshelves before age 20 (mostly school) was this post by Minimalist Packrat http://minimalistpackrat.com/2010/11/20/why-i-downsized-my-book-collection-to-non/ . If you don't feel like reading, she likens books to trophies. There are your memorable trophies for truly important moments and then the obligatory trophy everyone gets at the end of the season. For me, the mental image of putting my trophies (which I got rid of during high school except for two especially meaningful ones) on display like I would a bookshelf was enough to understand that I can still be intelligent, well-educated, and love reading without hundreds of pounds of paper.
Have you noticed that it is certain books that always spark conversation? You can always keep a representative of each literary area (what I did, mostly for reference and to symbolize a time/area of study), which will still give your visitors a chance to notice your eclectic taste. If it is the loss of conversation starters that you fear, rather than the loss of the books, I think that creating a display of books and other items will do just that. Ultimately your book reading habits are your own, not your company's.
Posted 10 months ago # -
Wow, I just wrote about this on my blog. For years, I have felt defined by my library. I was a READER, DAMMIT!
I definitely had (and still have) some trophy books. Some of them are the big everyone-knows-that-title books, some of them are just big books, some of them are rare books, some are simply beautiful books.
Last week I dived into my hall closet and de-stashed half a dozen art and craft books that I know I will not need/use in the future. Last night I dived into one of my big bookcases and de-stashed half a dozen science books that I've read once and don't need to read again - and don't need to keep on my shelf just to prove I've read them.
Over the past couple of years I've decluttered hundreds of books, including most of the histories I accumulated during graduate school. Had *such* a hard time parting ways with those.
It is definitely a process.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I bought an invisible book shelf to try. I'm trying to get rid of books too and figure I'll use some of the ones that I'm keeping as decorations. I'm going to put a few books on a shelf like this (want to try one before I buy any more), then further decorate with one or two of a bunch of antique tins we found in this house. It should be a great way to decorate and still keep my favorites handy.
http://www.amazon.com/Conceal-INVISIBLE-BOOKSHELF-floating-shelf/dp/B000UO4KXY/ref=pd_sim_hg_2
Posted 10 months ago # -
I'm very much facing this question as I go through my books again and again. I had a pretty wide collection of titles related to my major, even though I don't work in my field; I liked knowing I had an impressive collection, and I liked showing it off.
I narrowed my poetry focus to a single poet instead of a shelf full of Bay Area poets, for example, just keeping the books that are (a) my favorites and, conveniently, (b) the hardest to replace. My once-large collection of religious texts has been whittled down to the half-dozen I actually reference regularly. And I'm still going through some areas.
I do sometimes envy people with large, impressive libraries, but right now I'm not in a place where it's practical for me to have one, so if people want to judge my knowledge based on my bookshelves, I'll just have to live with it. Ultimately, that's probably not the kind of person whose opinion I want to worry about.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I gave up on impressing anyone. My book shelf consists of things I haven't read yet, things I use for references, and things I know I will reread. It's like having pantry shelves full of staples, comfort food, and brand new treats I haven't tasted yet. There's no fancy gourmet spices around here. If anyone looking isn't impressed that a former English major doesn't have stacks of classics on hand, oh well!
Posted 10 months ago # -
What I learned through several years of uncluttering is that the least impressive books are the hardest to find again later. Cheap genre books don't stay in the library/bookstore/university library the way classics and important books do.
Chapbooks are the hardest to ever find again, and I guess for some people the obscure local poets & essayists are impressive, but all my copies were bought at readings & bars & had beer & coffee stains on them and kids had colored in the flyleafs (because they look like scratch paper, the little home-stapled chapbooks). So I gave mine all to the zine library and just kept a few great poems, typed up & saved digitally.
So my shelves have big reference books (mostly house-fixing and gardening books), comics, kids books, and lots of cheap paperbacks. The rest come from the library.
Posted 10 months ago # -
This may have been easier for me, because I felt like my book and music libraries weren't succeeding at impressing anyone. My friends and family don't tend to share my taste, especially in music, so they don't seem to care about what I've read or listened to. Most people don't visit me at home, anyway. I remember a friend's boyfriend commenting on a rare music book that I had, but that's it. I always look at people's books and music, but I'm unlikely to comment unless something interesting really jumps out at me.
I also find that using Goodreads.com lets me give up some books, because I don't need the physical book as proof that I've read it anymore, and you can still show friends what you're reading.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I have a lot of books, over a thousand, probably. At once point, I really wanted to be an English professor, but that didn't pan out. But I still have all the books from my studies, and a lot of other books besides.
In the past 5 years, I've decluttered over 750 books. But I'm moving again at the end of August. So I've started looking at the bookshelves with new eyes.
I realized that I still read a lot of the literature I've studied. What I'm not reading is all the books about the literary works. So those are going. I'm keeping the original texts, but I can find all the commentary and criticism I want at various libraries.
For my fun reading, I had all the books certain authors have ever written. And they take up a lot of space. For series of books, I kept the first book and discarded the rest. The first book serves as a reminder that I like this author and might want to read all the books again, but I don't need to have all the books in my house. For other authors, I chose my favorite one or two books and discarded the rest. I realize I could create a Word doc with a list of my favorite authors, but I would never remember to look at it when I was itching for something to read.
My goal is to declutter the equivalent of a full bookcase before I move--approximately 250 books. I've pulled 100 so far, and I am only half-way through.
However, I'm very fortunate in the matter of libraries. My town library is very good. There is a major city library 40 minutes away by subway that I have borrowing privileges at and which has a huge reference collection. And I'm fairly close to the college I graduated from, which allows alums to use any book in the library and to check out books for $25 a year. Not everyone has that many libraries or such good libraries available to them, however. If it were difficult for me to find the books I wanted, I'd probably keep more. I was only able to discard that first 750 books after I moved to this area and I think the proximity of large, available libraries was a key factor.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I think I'm feeling more able to plan some direction for the continued book decluttering. Reading your various opinions is helping me formulate what I really need to keep to support my reading and book chat habits.
xarcady's idea of 'for series of books, I kept the first book and discarded the rest'
I think I will convert to keeping the last book for writers currently producing, then when another is written it can be replaced by the new one if I get it in print. This will still give me a shelf of writers I'd love to discuss, to prompt the bookshelf browsers. I'm not impressing these friends with the book collection, they know what I'm like, it's just good to have visual prompts. However this will not happen with the reading I'm doing on the Kindle now.I can devote a vacated shelf to the british book mountain of stuff queued up around the house to read, that comes in and mostly goes back on the book lending and charity shop circuit.
Then I have other books that could feasibly go becase they really belong to my past reading and I'm unlikely to reread them because I'm moving forwards to new books.
While DS was a teenager I did sometimes recommend things from the bookshelves because they were acting as our own very local library but I don't need to treat them like a library now.
I need to truly believe I will never be left without something to read because of having the book mountain, the Library and the Kindle.
I may also have an eclectic set of comfort books, ones I love to revisit for their ability to make me happy, to laugh, to challenge my attitudes or feel I'm revisiting an old friend.
Posted 10 months ago # -
I like jbeany's notion of a home library as a sort of pantry. A brilliant analogy. Am afraid my pantry will always be a bit ... extensive, however! LOL
@Netleigh, as a compulsive reader I am also coping with that fear of not having something to read. Kindle is helping!
Posted 10 months ago # -
books will never realy be out of style. I give them away as gifts. If a friend is interested in one I slip there name in it and put it in my "gift" box. A nice writting on the inside cover to the reciever and bingo. decluttered and saved the $$ I would have spent on a gift. Yep I'm cheep,
Posted 10 months ago #
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