I just finished paring down my book collection to the absolute essentials. I'm donating anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of a ton of books to my local library. *
On the one hand, I feel like I'm letting old friends go. I'm a bibliophile at heart, and my books feel like nest featherings to me. On the other hand, going from six bulging bookshelves to a scant two feels liberating. My Norton Shakespeare made the cut (I want to be BURIED with that book) and Harry Potter did too, but my stolen collection of Gideon Bibles** did not. I kept Dimitri's Computer Science Textbooks but am ridding myself of my Faulkner collection. My leather-bound books stay, but my coffee table art books go.
Why? I need to make room in the second bedroom for my desk so that the loft can accommodate the new office furniture Dimitri bought. And, too, I guess because I am ready to get rid of them. I'm keeping the possible internment-worthy books, but I don't see much need in keeping books I haven't cracked in years. If I want to visit them, I can go to the library. They'll come to better use there, anyway.
The sucky part is that the Library does not offer a pickup service, and so I have to haul my library to the Library one truckful at a time. I shake my fist in the air at you, Library
*sniff*
*No, I'm not exaggerating.
**Quiet, you.
Posted by Jen at January 13, 2005 5:18 PMdude if you let me have some you can come over and visit!!!
Posted by: kat at January 14, 2005 7:57 AMI go back and forth about buying books. Usually, I'll just read books once, so it really is not practical for me to buy them. The problem is that I *love* owning them!
Posted by: JennySmith at January 14, 2005 8:40 AMI had to hold myself back from echoing Kat's comment. I just keep telling myself, "Self! You do not need more books." But then the argument starts.
SELF: Do Too!
ME: Do Not!
SELF: Do Too!
ME: Do Not!
I'll let you know who wins.
Posted by: susan at January 14, 2005 11:08 AMJen,
it's nice that you are not just abandoning your friends. You are putting them in a nice orphanage where they will be cared for and placed with a series of unmonitored foster parents.
And Susan and Kat can visit them whenever they want.
Kat, since you're coming over tonight you can have your pick of the litter, as it were.
Susan, you can make requests of Kat and she can bring you whatever you like. Trust me, if it's in print, I own it.
John - I'll never get to see my friends over the holidays - the library is closed! Maybe we can work out an "Every Other Weekend" arrangement.
Posted by: Jen McNamee at January 14, 2005 11:51 AMooh, I just realized that "my stolen collection of Gideon Bibles" is gramatically askew. It should say "my collection of stolen Gideon bibles" since I stole the bibles, not the collection...
I apologize for misleading my readership (all four of you).
Posted by: Jen McNamee at January 14, 2005 11:53 AMoh i am SO getting faulkner for susan. heh. and i will pick my puppies baby! you've already removed the cash, right?
Posted by: kat at January 14, 2005 2:05 PMThere's no way I'd ever want the Faulkner OR the Gideon Bibles. Maybe you can give the Bibles back to the Gideons... :)
Posted by: JennySmith at January 15, 2005 8:57 AMOh, Jenny. Faulker's not that bad once you've gotten the taste for him. However, one of my students renamed As I Lay Dying to As I Die Reading. That cracks me up every time I hear it.
Posted by: Jen McNamee at January 15, 2005 1:33 PM