I'm guessing my current lack of time to read means I may also not be a great writer right now. (Sorry about that...since you're here to read my writing!)
But I do love my books. I always have. Some have moved with me from my parents' house to college to my Marion house to our Kokomo house to our Grabill house. I often call them my book babies and have long said that I wouldn't even begin to imagine how I would go about parting with any of them.
But the truth is, my bookshelves are bursting. My dad built those shelves for me years ago. I asked him to build something that would completely fill one wall in my Marion house. He did what I asked, and at that time, I had plenty of room to grow my book collection. But over the years, that collection has grown, and now the shelves are so full.
I've tried to downsize. I really have. I sold several in a yard sale before we moved to Kokomo. I sold several more before we moved to Grabill.
But as Ryan and I evaluate our collection of stuff, I am wondering if it's time to look over that collection again and reevaluate the books that truly matter. What do I really want to keep? In this season of life when I don't have tons of time to read anyway, what should I be willing to part with to make our home less cluttered and more manageable?
I had looked on Pinterest (because where else would I look??) and found this helpful article with some guidance on downsizing. Here are some of my thoughts on the suggestions.
The author gave five questions to ask when considering whether or not to keep a book.
The first question was...is this a duplicate? I don't own duplicates, so that should speed up the process! (I should clarify that there are a couple of Bible study books on our shelves that Ryan and I each owned a copy of, because they're workbooks and we each wanted to write in our own. But as far as regular books go...I don't own duplicates.
The next question was: is the material relevant or out of date? I find that to be an interesting question. I have a few books that contain material some would consider highly out of date, but I consider it very worthwhile. I'm an old soul that way. The good news is, if it feels relevant to me, I get to keep it. I don't have to put it in front of a committee. But then again, I also try not to buy books that are terribly trendy in content. I like my books and clothes to stand on their own without screaming of a particular year or decade.
Then...have I read it before and will I read it again? I'm sure I have books I haven't read and at this point...I may never. I need to consider letting go of them. And yet there are some that even if I'm not planning to read again, I probably should keep because they matter for other reasons.
This may be the hardest one for me: why do I want to keep this book? Well, because it's my book baby! Because I've lived in it and scribbled in it and can't imagine parting with it? Hmmm. Might need to come up with some better answers than that, right? There are actually some further guides in that section that I can consider. But I think this is the category that will hold me up the most.
And finally...could I get this at the library? Probably...for most of them! So then it becomes a matter of whether or not it's a book I need for writing in and living in...or just reading.
They're hard questions for readers, right?
Where do you fall on this? Are you a mama of book babies?? Do you find them hard to part with? Or is it easy for you to keep your collection small??
Anyone else out there need to downsize?
4 comments:
I just today was thinking I suddenly need more bookshelves. I am so choosy in what I read, I never want to let go of the beloved books!
It is easy for me to keep my book collection small. I love to read; my Kindle is like an extension of me. I own books but they are mostly symbolic for how much I love the author. For instance, I recently bought a physical book that I bought after I read the book on my kindle. I will likely never read the book in physical form since I already read it digitally. But I like having the book if just to see the title of it- it reminds me of how much I liked the book. There are just a handful of authors whose books I love enough to want to own a physical copy so I can and do keep my book collection small.
I like to think of it this way: When someone stands and looks at my bookshelf, I want them to get a reflection of who I am. Whether it's a novel or a theology book, I keep it if it feels like part of the puzzle of how I became "me." If it's not important to me, or I don't agree with the content, then I get rid of it. If someone want to borrow a book off my shelf, I want it to be something I'm proud to recommend.
A friend recently downsized her collection. She put an offer out on social media that she would mail anybody who wanted one, a book that she was getting rid of. You could request a particular genre, or just let her blindly choose. It was fun for her and for those of us who got fun mail.
Post a Comment