Two boxes of books, mercy. These are almost ready to be dropped off at Good Will. I think I can squeeze a couple more small books in each box and I have one more empty box waiting to be filled. Shockingly, last week, I dropped off two other boxes-o-books. Me? Getting rid of books? That doesn't sound right at all, does it? Well, the thing of it is, there was no other option. The bookshelves were already filled past capacity. Everywhere a book could be tucked in, there was already a book. Every nook, every cranny, every bit of vertical and horizontal space was filled. It had gotten to the point where I was stacking books on floors and side tables and well, if you know me, you know that just will not do at all. It's not tidy, it's not clean, it's not organized. It is, however, messy, cluttered and impossible to find whatever book you are searching for. I think that was the worst of it. I couldn't find the books I was looking seeking. I'd need GPS coordinates, a sherpa and a treasure map for an hope of success. Time after time I would stand in front of the books cases, hands on hips, eyes casting around the shelves muttering to my self," I know I own that dang book", and then walk away empty handed. Frustrating. There's nothing to be done for it except to make more space. Some books had to go. Very Sad Words. To get rid of books I have to harden my heart, narrow my eyes, roll up my sleeves and make tough decisions. I have to ask myself if I will ever read this book again AND then be honest with myself. Some books are easy. The decision is made before I even walk into the living room. There are books that I read once every year. Books that I adore and cherish that inspire me, teach me, humble me, entertain me, educate me and I simply cannot let them go. Those books stay. There are times when I do not compromise. In fact, when I decided to begin working on this, when I made that tough decision - "some books gotta go" - I stood there in front of one of the book cases and just kind of perused the shelves. Then I heard myself say (out loud by the way), "well everything on that shelf stays". And I knew this was going to be harder than usual. When I start out saving an entire shelf....not just one particular book but an entire shelf...you know it's not going to so smoothly. So I walked away. That was not going to be a good get rid of books day. I waited an entire week longer to start. And on that day, the day I truly began, I was tough, I was mean, I was the Dirty Harry of book getter ridders. I filled up those first two boxes and took them directly to GoodWill, dropped them off and didn't give them a second thought. They were books I had picked up at the $5 a bag sale at the library and some of them were so bad I never actually read them. Easy to part with those. Now we are getting rid of a different classification of books. Books that I actually choose. Books that I read on purpose AND enjoyed. If I didn't enjoy them, A) I wouldn't have read them and B) I wouldn't have kept them. Makes it ever so much more difficult a task. My methodology for making the keep or toss decision is sort of like that Marie Kondo thing. Although hers is, "does this bring me joy?". I cannot ask myself that coz if I do the answer with books is always yes. Instead I ask myself, "Am I going to read this again?" The hard part is answering honestly. My plan for the day is first to empty the shelves. Every single thing on every single shelf is going to taken off. I will clean the books, clean the shelves and clean the little tchotchkes that have somehow found their way also onto the book shelves. THEN I will group the books by subject. The next time I am looking for a particular book, I will by golly find it!! While sorting by subject, I can do one last big ask - am I REALLY going to re-read this book. That ought to get rid of the final few stragglers. When I put things back on the shelves, some of the knickknacks will also find new homes. But I will be honest, I like to see some of it up there. It looks cozy and homey and less like a library. I can use the baubles as markers between book categories. At least that's my thought at the moment. I will know more once I start grouping things. In my dream home, there is a real library. A big room lined floor to ceiling with shelves, there are even shelves above the door ways and windows. There are a few super comfy chairs with footstools, good reading lighting, good windows for natural light and a table for setting my teacup. And there are books on all of those shelves. What a lovely dream. However, since we are dealing with reality here, I will work with what I got. Have you seen how interior decorator's put books on shelves? Sometimes they line them up with the spines to the back. ???? I am baffled! How do you find the book you are looking for that way? Or they put papercovers on the books so they are all the exact same. Unless you also write the book name on that papercover, once again, how do you find your books? Occasionally I see them in magazines with no papercovers and spines out but grouped by size and colour. No no no, I don't have books on my shelves as a design statement. I have books because I read them and then I re-read them. And some of them I re-re-read in perpetuity! Which means I also need to find them. Which means a different sort of organization. I suppose I could do it alphabetically, but often I cannot recall the exact title. Same goes for grouping by author. That's absolutely not going to happen. But topic? Yes, I know what topic I'm looking for and therefore, that is how the books will be set up on my shelves. So that's going to be my day today. I'm ready. I have my dust cloths and my furniture polish, a soft brush (for old books) and a plan. No longer will my shelves looks like this: Hopefully they look a whole lot better. Wish me luck!
And, have a great weekend y'all! See you next week. Hugs all 'round
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
February 2025
Categories |