Good god, who am I? Did I really just say that? I don't know myself anymore.
I know the feeling! I lugged around
so many
boxes of books, move after move after move, for two decades, because I felt like those books were
me.
If I didn't have my whole library of every book I ever read, somehow I wouldn't be
me
anymore. But I don't feel that way anymore. My house was (still is, really, just less so) overflowing with books I was never going to read again, and a lot of books I never had read and honestly never would. They were covering every available surface, forcing me to have towering bookshelves where I wanted to put other things, and it was starting to feel oppressive. Giving myself permission to get rid of any books I wanted to get rid of - and finding a way to get rid of them that felt like I was doing some good, with the SPCA - made a huge difference to me. I'm not going to keep a book just because I bought it, anymore. And, I'm finally going to go to the local library and get a library card, so I don't have to buy every book I think I want to read. I'm a book-lover and a voracious reader (used to be, anyway, before depression), and I haven't had a library card in decades. Isn't that crazy?
Argh, someone is setting off fireworks in the street. Scared dog pees in the hallway. Thanks, neighbor, very festive.
It's too bad that you can't sell most books for anything near a price that makes it worthwhile. Used books just aren't money. Hell, if they were, I could pay off all my debts tomorrow. I took a few bags of books to a local bookstore for store credit before I discovered the SPCA, and now I have almost $200 store credit, but I really don't need the temptation to bring more books into the house! But it's good, I guess, I just have to focus on getting books I really want. Odd and unusual books are always welcome!
I guess I could take the better paperbacks to the used book store, but I don't need credit to bring in even more books.
The upside is you bring back many fewer books! I mean, upside if you're trying to shed stuff.
So I just saw Louis CK, in a surprise show at my local theater. (Surprise as of the other day, anyway.) That was fun! At one point, he was doing a bit that wasn't quite going anywhere, and he was like, "That's going to get better -- you paid thirty bucks!" Which was true.
I am so in the mood to get rid of stuff! I'm even culling books, which I never could bring myself to do before this summer.
I need to do this, too, although somehow I doubt I'll be as successful at getting rid of books as I have been with other stuff. At the very least, I can get rid of books where a) books that came into my possession that I didn't want, b) my feelings about the author have changed, and c) I can admit I'm never going to read it.
Edit: man, you guys posted a lot while I was thinking about this. I need to do what Zenkitty is doing with my library.
I've been thinking about weeding out my bookshelves for a month or so now. I should jump on the Buffista Book Divestiture Train.
I'm not gonna hop on that bandwagon just yet. Go y'all, though!
I've been thinking about weeding out my bookshelves for a month or so now. I should jump on the Buffista Book Divestiture Train.
I really, really need to do that.
I also need to stop buying random lots of vintage gothic occult romances. But they're such silly fun!
do this, too, although somehow I doubt I'll be as successful at getting rid of books as I have been with other stuff. At the very least, I can get rid of books where a) books that came into my possession that I didn't want, b) my feelings about the author have changed, and c) I can admit I'm never going to read it.
I got rid of anything I have electronically or that I had just bought because I needed something to read and not because I really liked it. That's six boxes of books.
