Like many people, I love books. And like many people, I love books too much. I’m 47 and I’ve held onto just about every book I’ve ever bought. I spent a year in Australia 20 years ago, and before I came home I sent a box of books that I’d read in those 12 months home to Ireland via surface mail!
Have I looked at those books since? Ehhhhh.
My wife would love if I just got rid of them! But it seems such a waste.
I’d various plans on making the books a “feature” in a room. My latest plan was a single shelf, about a foot down from the ceiling, running the entire length of the wall (or maybe all four walls), jam-packed with my books.
But is there any point of holding onto them? There are only a few that I’ve read more than once, e.g. Trainspotting, Generation X or No Logo. I’m unlikely to read any of the rest a second time. There are some that I’ve never read, i.e. I haven’t got around to them yet. There are some that I’ll never read. There are some that are crap, e.g. Prozac Nation, some that are disappointing, e.g. Vernon God Little, and some that I just do not get, e.g. The Moors Last Sigh.
There are some I will retain for reference purposes, like gardening books or cook books.
But the vast majority are just CLUTTER. This is how my wife sees them. This is what my mothers books were after her passing. This is what these books will be when I pass. And right now, they are just clutter.
I still haven’t rubbished the idea of the single end-to-end shelf. It’s something I could do myself but I fear it’ll just be a different form of clutter and a dust trap too.
Taking them to a second hand bookshop is probably out: do these even exist anymore?
Taking them to a charity shop is out: after the scandals of Console/Goal/ReHab etc., and anecdotal evidence of staff cherry picking.
I could slowly get through them by using them to light the stove. We light the stove nine months of the year. But paper tends to produce an inordinate amount of ash and I’m always wary of the prescient Heinrich Heine quote, “where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.”
Give them away to a library: I don’t think such library’s exist in Ireland as elsewhere?
I’m leaning towards the DoneDeal option. Advertising the books in bulk (Ian McEwan books, or misc travel books). There are a few academic books that may garner a reasonable price on eBay.
I’m very familiar with selling on DoneDeal (see above reference to my mothers passing: books, furniture, electrical, etc.)
What is leftover after, say, nine months I’ll disperse by other means. The money I’ll get I’ll squirrel away and this time next year... I’ll go on an Amazon splurge!
No!
Maybe a bottle of Midleton whiskey. Something special but will be fully consumed.
Well, there are my thoughts on old books (aka literary litter), what are yours?
Have I looked at those books since? Ehhhhh.
My wife would love if I just got rid of them! But it seems such a waste.
I’d various plans on making the books a “feature” in a room. My latest plan was a single shelf, about a foot down from the ceiling, running the entire length of the wall (or maybe all four walls), jam-packed with my books.
But is there any point of holding onto them? There are only a few that I’ve read more than once, e.g. Trainspotting, Generation X or No Logo. I’m unlikely to read any of the rest a second time. There are some that I’ve never read, i.e. I haven’t got around to them yet. There are some that I’ll never read. There are some that are crap, e.g. Prozac Nation, some that are disappointing, e.g. Vernon God Little, and some that I just do not get, e.g. The Moors Last Sigh.
There are some I will retain for reference purposes, like gardening books or cook books.
But the vast majority are just CLUTTER. This is how my wife sees them. This is what my mothers books were after her passing. This is what these books will be when I pass. And right now, they are just clutter.
I still haven’t rubbished the idea of the single end-to-end shelf. It’s something I could do myself but I fear it’ll just be a different form of clutter and a dust trap too.
Taking them to a second hand bookshop is probably out: do these even exist anymore?
Taking them to a charity shop is out: after the scandals of Console/Goal/ReHab etc., and anecdotal evidence of staff cherry picking.
I could slowly get through them by using them to light the stove. We light the stove nine months of the year. But paper tends to produce an inordinate amount of ash and I’m always wary of the prescient Heinrich Heine quote, “where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.”
Give them away to a library: I don’t think such library’s exist in Ireland as elsewhere?
I’m leaning towards the DoneDeal option. Advertising the books in bulk (Ian McEwan books, or misc travel books). There are a few academic books that may garner a reasonable price on eBay.
I’m very familiar with selling on DoneDeal (see above reference to my mothers passing: books, furniture, electrical, etc.)
What is leftover after, say, nine months I’ll disperse by other means. The money I’ll get I’ll squirrel away and this time next year... I’ll go on an Amazon splurge!
No!
Maybe a bottle of Midleton whiskey. Something special but will be fully consumed.
Well, there are my thoughts on old books (aka literary litter), what are yours?