Living in very small studio apartments and then moving twice in 3 years AFTER reaching the point of my life where I actually have to PAY movers because my friends are old and creaky has changed my view of books to some extent. So has PaperbackSwap and the online reserve system of the Chicago Public Library.
Moving/rearranging/getting new shelves is an occasion to do a bit of culling. I look at the books and unless I love them, will reread them at least every 2 years or want to have around for research purposes, I don't keep them. I can send them on to people who WANT them much more than I do. Contrarywise, I can find a new author and pick up their entire backlist in one swell foop for only a few dollars in postage. If I kind of like a series but not enough to want to buy it all, I can usually lay my hands on a copy of a book for free within 2 weeks through inter library loan.
For example - I really liked the early Anita Blake books (before they turned into porn). I used to buy them all as soon as they came out, and this even carried over a bit into hardcover. But the series really went downhill for me and pretty much anything after Obsidian Butterfly I can't stand. I even put them up on a top shelf because I never looked at them. Well, when I rearranged things today I took a close look at which books I actually WANTED to have around for rereading purposes and which I hadn't touched since the initial read. So why have I been paying to haul them around? Let's cut to the chase as I'm sure there are poor deluded people who actively want to take them off my hands. Danse Macabre is already packed for shipment and three others I'm just waiting for the members to log in and respond to their wishlisting of three others.
I still have what most people (who are not geeks) would consider a ridiculous amount of books. But now pretty much all of them are there for a REASON.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-01-05 12:31 am (UTC)Moving/rearranging/getting new shelves is an occasion to do a bit of culling. I look at the books and unless I love them, will reread them at least every 2 years or want to have around for research purposes, I don't keep them. I can send them on to people who WANT them much more than I do. Contrarywise, I can find a new author and pick up their entire backlist in one swell foop for only a few dollars in postage. If I kind of like a series but not enough to want to buy it all, I can usually lay my hands on a copy of a book for free within 2 weeks through inter library loan.
For example - I really liked the early Anita Blake books (before they turned into porn). I used to buy them all as soon as they came out, and this even carried over a bit into hardcover. But the series really went downhill for me and pretty much anything after Obsidian Butterfly I can't stand. I even put them up on a top shelf because I never looked at them. Well, when I rearranged things today I took a close look at which books I actually WANTED to have around for rereading purposes and which I hadn't touched since the initial read. So why have I been paying to haul them around? Let's cut to the chase as I'm sure there are poor deluded people who actively want to take them off my hands. Danse Macabre is already packed for shipment and three others I'm just waiting for the members to log in and respond to their wishlisting of three others.
I still have what most people (who are not geeks) would consider a ridiculous amount of books. But now pretty much all of them are there for a REASON.