Weeding the Library
For once, I'm Booking Through Thursday on Thursday:
When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularlykeep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom intosomething out of control the minute you turn your back, like a gardenafter a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)
And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming thatyou do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate themto a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Tradethem on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?
Get rid of books? I don't understand.
I am a pro at acquiring books. Letting go is not my forte. I am far more likely to own multiple copies then to get rid of a book. My habit of buying The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galexy books when I come upon them is getting silly. But. I. Can't. Stop. For ten cents or a quarter, I love to have a spare to lend.
A good book stays in almost all cases. Two questions: would I read it again? Or would I pass it to someone to read?
If in doubt, I keep. For example, I doubt I'll ever read The Va Vinci Code or Angels and Demons again. I enjoyed the ride, but have no desire for a return trip. Still, I keep them. They had such an impact on popular culture, I feel they are important.
I think I do this because my mother has books from the seventies and eighties that were smash bestsellers in their day, but virtually unheard of by the time I was in high school. I wouldn't have discovered them if they weren't in the house.
When a book does not qualify for the collection, it is hard to find an acceptable way to get rid of a book bad enough to give up.
It goes without saying, throwing a book in the trash is not acceptable. I have had a Goodwill bag. I have given okay but not awesome books to friends and coworkers. I looked into BookCrossing where you "tag and release" books. I just couldn't do it. Even though you can report to the site when you are setting a book down in a public place so those signed up for alerts can try to find it, I am not comfortable with leaving a book where it will likely be tossed in the trash. As exciting as it would be to have someone report a book found, I'm too attached to books to risk the waste. I know they are just objects, but I cannot bare to treat a book like used water filters to be disposed of with no further thought.
My new favorite way to get rid of my unloved books is PaperBackSwap. I have mailed nine and ordered eleven. When you sign up and your first ten books, they issue two points. Points sell for $3.75 each or free with each book you mail. All I have invested is postage.
It is the perfect solution. I get to send books I don't care about to people who will care about them, then order books I want. All for the price of postage. What could be better?
Agree! throwing a book is something we can't do!!
I don't own so many books yet because I'm a picky buyer...I only buy books from writers that I have already known...and therefore I know for sure I will like the book and will keep it forever
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I'm a picky new, full priced book buyer, so I can understand. Spending $7.99 and up for one book is beyond my budget more than a couple times a year.
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"Get rid of books? I don't understand." LOL, I'm with you on that one!
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Part of my feeling is that once I acquire a book, it doesn't cost me anything to keep it.
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"The Creative Nerd" has been included in this weeks Sites To See. I hope you like the image I featured, and I hope this helps to attract many new visitors here.
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Thanks. That is so nice of you.
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I'm always struggling with this problem. The three full height and seven half-height bookcases in my office are overflowing. We have books piled everywhere.
The bookcase in the bedroom is full. There are stacks on top and on the dressers that are considerably closer to the ceiling than the surface on which they rest. I worry they'll topple at any time.
I tried to give some to a used bookstore, but they really weren't all that interested. (Their loss.)
I looked at some of the book buying sites, but no book I ever tried came up as something they would buy.
I think it's time to give PaperBackSwap a try. It sounds like you've had good experiences with the service.
Now if I could only get rid of all my damn comic books!
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I think you'll like PaperBackSwap. The only problem for you may be that for each book you get rid of you earn a point to order a book.
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I've lately, with reluctance, started to clear out books. To make room for new ones, of course!
I'm signed up with BookMooch (http://www.bookmooch.com) which sounds very similar to PaperBackSwap, and it's a great way to pass things I don't want on to people who do want them. And to get things that I want too.
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I plan to use the service in two ways:
1) As way in which to gauge which books are really unwanted. If I post one and no one requests it for months, I can toss it guilt-free. That should decrease the overall number.
2) To trade ones I no longer want for ones I do, which should help keep the overall number of books at a steady state rather than continual growth. (And maybe save some money, too.)
So far, I've already shipped out 4 books. And 20% of the stuff I post gets immediately reserved. And it's often oddball stuff that people have reserved. I expect an even higher ratio once I start posting my wife's vast mystery collection. (With permission, of course.)
It's sort of like NetFlix for books.
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