Reasons for keeping books
Keeping, not just reading.
I struggle to part with books, but I have had to go to considerable lengths to disperse Mr Puzzler’s huge library, and have also parted with some of my own, but it goes against the grain. Never before have I had such a clear out. In the past I have never parted with books, bar the odd one or two which I have taken to a charity shop.
But now I still need to reduce some more. I am asking myself why I want to keep books - not that I think anyone needs to justify keeping books, ever. I just need a way of deciding.
So far I am keeping books which have sentimental value or associations, books I will / might want to read or refer to again, books I have never read and intend to, and particular books I just want on my shelves. But there are still too many.
Any more thoughts?
I struggle to part with books, but I have had to go to considerable lengths to disperse Mr Puzzler’s huge library, and have also parted with some of my own, but it goes against the grain. Never before have I had such a clear out. In the past I have never parted with books, bar the odd one or two which I have taken to a charity shop.
But now I still need to reduce some more. I am asking myself why I want to keep books - not that I think anyone needs to justify keeping books, ever. I just need a way of deciding.
So far I am keeping books which have sentimental value or associations, books I will / might want to read or refer to again, books I have never read and intend to, and particular books I just want on my shelves. But there are still too many.
Any more thoughts?
Comments
One set of books I simply couldn’t get rid of for sentimental reasons was my Dad’s set of aeroplane books from the 30s. He was so fascinated by all things about flying and started off building them at AVROs. He would be so proud and interested that his grandson became an airline captain.
Apart from them we have a small shelf of recipe books in the kitchen. Mr Boogs has a shelf of woodwork books in his workshop and we have a small shelf of various books in the lounge. Oh - and a box of children’s books upstairs for granddaughter visits.
Probably 50 books all told.
We use the library a lot now. 🙂
Though books take up so little space compared to some of the things people have wished on us that I’m not in a huge hurry to deal with them. I need to get rid of all the plastic containers, the unwanted clothes, the unneeded pots and pans…
Books are the one thing I do have lots of and have always been a huge part of my life. The hardest part of clearing my mum's house when she died was the books. She was a minimalist and, from the gaps already on the shelves, had clearly given some away before she died. We kept some of the remainder and took some to charity, but quite a few ended up in a skip at the local tip. I cried long and hard about that.
I agree with @Lamb Chopped that these are all good reasons to keep the books, but of those, the one category I suggest could go is "books I have never read and intend to" simply because you might never get round to reading them (unlikely if your main hobby is reading) and if at a later date you decide you do want to read one you could borrow it from the library.
The ones I'd be really sorry to lose were old and obscure when they came to me, and probably impossible to replace. I could always get more Pratchett or Sayers, but not a book called Tangletrees, from my grandparents' house, or a Daily Mail Annual for Girls from the 1950s.
With a caveat; do keep any that are out of print so may be irreplaceable.
Which book is also on the shelf.
Lack of space. The ones I am undecided about are mainly ‘coffee table books’ on many topics, eg castles, churches, coast, gardening and cookery books, some c20 literature, and many reference books concerning language and style, linguistics etc.
It is true to say they furnish a room.
Thanks for the many thoughts.
I will keep as many as I have room for, for now.
My French classical literature has to go.
I still have some specialist books left in Mr Puzzler’s study. About 350-400, at a guess, plus whatever else I let go. They will go either to Oxfam or National Trust bookshops.
About 3000 already gone.
In the last twenty years I've had three major culls ... and regretted them all afterwards.
Never again!
An excellent thought - thank you.
However... Just a year ago we had to clear out my beloved mother-in-law's house after she died, and there was still about half of the book collection left after their last move. In the end, we filled about twenty boxes, and the town sent the recycling lorry for a special collection (so to speak). Many were classics and fiction that would be easy to find at the library or on line, many were art, reference and religion, and most were in poor condition. There may have been one or two with some value, but we missed them if there were. A heavily annotated life of John Calvin was never going to be cherished by the grandchildren or a second hand bookseller... It was hard to do, but there were not many alternatives in the time we had to clear the house - a common problem, I would think. (When my own mother died, my young sister just added her books to her own hoard and she still has them. Most of the floors in her house haven't been seen for years).
I get rid of some but others grow in their place. Some I've read. Others I'll never read. I've tried borrowing them from the library instead but that doesn't work.
They don't just furnish the room. They are the room.
I have a few hundred books on my e-reader, but if space wasn't an issue would prefer to have them as physical copies - my physical books are more likely to have been read multiple times.
When we moved house I got rid of books I'd had for years but never got around to reading, from that I decided that they weren't really high priority for me, though they did look interesting when I bought them. I didn't think I could justify keeping them.
As I run out of space I look at what I've recently bought and debate whether I want to keep them for the story (I mostly read fiction), and I look at the size of the book to see which book I could swap out and dispose of to replace on the shelf with books being kept. That doesn't always work, and I've bought 2 bookcases in the last 5 years.
Some things I've bought or have been gifted, I suspect are not long term keepers, say the Bridgerton novels after reading a couple my husband bought the rest of the set when they were on special. In a few years they might be able to be weeded, whereas I don't think I'll ever toss my hardcover Maeve Binchys or my Jodi Picoults.
If I had unlimited space I'd keep everything, but recognise that unfortunately it's not a realistic option and I do cast my eye around wondering whether I can squeeze in another bookcase anywhere.
If I visit someone I love to see what is on their shelves, for me it's a shorthand way of seeing who this person is and what it is that interests them.
Some years ago, before I could google for information I paid £50 for all 24 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica 1963 edition. A lot of it may be out of date but the vast majority isn't. All books came with a made to measure bookcase. It is also good furniture
This.
This.
When the electricity goes off you’ll be fine for information, if slightly out of date. 🙂
We keep buying books, Darllenwr in particular. There is a stack on the kitchen table. We have some of his grandfather’s books and also some of his father’s.
We’re not quite as bad as the parents of one of our college friends who had a room filled with stacks of books with pathways between them. Mr and Mrs D put it into their wills that some other friends should arrange for the disposal of them.
I came across someone somewhere on the internet at some point who said something like, "I tried the Marie Kondo method of decluttering when if it doesn’t bring you joy, throw it out. So far I’ve thrown out the electric bill, the vegetable rack, the scales and my bra."
Good job I previewed and edited as I had typed an i instead of a u in my last sentence.
My dad brought that set home from his school (he was a teacher) in the mid 1990s when they were going to be skipped. Much of it is not so much outdated as overtaken, there are some articles that definitely wouldn't be safe for modern sensibilities, but overall as a treasure trove of knowledge it still stands up - you just need to read it through a discerning lens.
And books don't always bring you joy. Sometimes enlightenment, sometimes a trigger for grief, sometimes escape from a cruel reality. Sometimes just a way to pass the time. All are valuable.
Wise words. During a difficult time many years ago I threw out books and papers that I have regretted ever since., but I have also thrown some that perpetuated bad memories.
Does history go out of date or is it always out of date ?
* that didn't include any of his hymnals, anthem books or assorted other books of or about church music; they were given to his successor at the Cathedral.
We have built-in bookshelves all over, and there will still be a large collection of books for my children to either inherit or get rid of when I die -- but at least it will be a meaningful collection of books I truly love, rather than a random collection of books that just wandered into the house somehow.
ROTFL!!
I don’t think she means joy in the sense here – but your mileage may vary. ❤️
Everyone is different. I find the principles in it really helpful. I just need to make myself do it… And probably with help.
They are there simply because we inherited them or bought them in second-hand bookshops and they look great alongside my late wife's 'Gaudy Welsh' pottery and other knick-knacks. I'm sure Telford's house is tidier than mine.
I've got some books climbing up the stairs now. I have a good friend who keeps buying all his pals poetry collections when he attends a reading. I've got signed copies of work by poets I don't particularly like and can't be bothered to read but would feel mean giving them away.
The guy means well and is ever so sweet. But he once bought me a whole box load of a 1960s literary journal hoping that I'd go round regularly to read through them with him. He bought himself the other set. I've not even looked at them and they're teetering on a top shelf.
Added to that, I'm putting a collection together of poems by the group I run and those of past or deceased members, some of whom published collections. So I'm going through those.
I'm also doing some historical research for an idea I have for a novel so have boxes full of books I've accumulated for that.
I do intend to downsize at some point, but so far I've resisted turning my daughters' old bedrooms into libraries, partly because there's still plenty of their stuff in there. But I can see books making their way in and colonising those spaces too.
Particularly as my brother and I need to sort my mother's bungalow out.
I am going to drown in books.
These days I go to Wikki every time, but I trust Groves 'History of Music and Musicians' will never be out of date.
Caissa wrote: »
The first thing I would throw out is Marie Kondo's book.
Chastmaster wrote:Everyone is different. I find the principles in it really helpful. I just need to make myself do it… And probably with help.
Caissa replies: Kondo suggested keeping fewer than 30 books. That syndrome will likely appear in the DSM VI.
Aaaarghh!