Which books to keep?

I feel for you. I don't really re-read books, as I have a pretty good memory and can usually remember most of the plot and also the wording and phrases used, but I hate to get rid of books just in case I say, get amnesia one day and need to read them again.

While I don't do a lot of re-reading, there are some classics that I still like to pick up from time to time. Are there any books that you find yourself just picking off the shelf and reading? Those are the books that you should keep, while the ones you haven't touched in forever could probably go.

I just pulled out like 150 books to get rid of last night. It was a bit traumatic. But some books, while I like them, I don't love them like crazy, so they had to go. For me, I was thinking about moving. We're moving across town in a few months, and maybe moving farther in the future. Do I really want to be weighed down by hundreds and hundreds of books? So I'm slowly cutting back, and I've also reduced the number of books I buy a lot.

I've had to train myself to be ruthless in this area. Even with my Kindle, there are still hundreds of books everywhere at any given time. My criteria for staying are thus:

1. A few authors on my always-keep or always-buy-in-hardback list.
2. Series I'm still reading in case I need to reference back for a characte or story line.
3. Any books I know for a fact I'll re-read.
4. Writing Books/Reference Books
5. Any book I've had signed by the author

Everything else goes.

Sorry, I can't help. I'm in the same boat. Four large bookcases, four small bookcases, two mini bookcase . . . and still books piled on the floor.

Sorry, what? Get rid of books? Huh?

Does. Not. Compute.

The other category I keep is books which would be hard to replace, e.g., those that are out of print and had small print runs to begin with.

I can't help you either.. I can never let go...I have 2 tall book cases that is filled from the very top to the very bottom, had a small book case full top to bottom but are now sitting in boxes and a bedside table that have books stacked in rows. Sigh can I call myself an addict?

I've never had this problem, but that is likely because a lot of the books I owned were books I liked when I was younger and don't like anymore, or simply didn't like to begin with. I keep books that I reread, books that are part of a series I still follow (or that movies are coming out for), classical literature (if only for reference), and books that had an impact on me or my writing.

Of course, I've also never had the problem of limited space. My room at my parents house has 2 large (5 ft.+) bookcases, eight thin and tall bookcases, and about six wide 2-shelf bookcases (all with bookends and particularly loved series on top). I just like to be efficient.

You're coming at this from the wrong angle. The problem is not that you have too many books. The problem is that your house is too small. Now, does that help you to see where the solution lies?

Ah, never an easy decision to make.

I'd offer you advice, but I have 2 overflowing bookshelves in my tiny frontroom and my automatic response yesterday when I found I couldn't fit any more books in was "huh... well, the charity shop down the road had a decent bookshelf going for only a tenner..."

You could keep a list of all the books you get rid of and save it for the future if you get a Kindle or something...I've got a huge box of books waiting to go to the basement myself....

One can never have too many books. Then the reality strikes.

When I have to cull books, here's my thinking:
- Keep the ones with sentimental value. I have a set of books from the '30s (an encyclopedia for kids) that belonged to my grandmother. They stay.

- Keep the ones that bring you joy just to look at their binders, the series of "All Creatures Great and Small" or the "Little House" series come to mind.

- Keep the ones that I'll likely re-read.

- Keep the ones that were or will be for research or reference.

- Donate/sell the ones that don't fit in the above categories and I'll likely find in libraries or used book stores should I want to read them again.

Kitty Pryde said:

Do I really want to be weighed down by hundreds and hundreds of books?

Click to expand...

Hundreds and hundreds. How quaint.

As She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and I approach retirement age and the long-hoped for empty nesting, we're beginning to consider what to do with the 10,000+ books in the house. We won't want to be weighed down whilst traveling the world, spending the kids' inheritances as fast as we can. We've talked about opening a little bookstore to unload this trove on the locals, since this town has no bookstore at present, and hasn't as long as we've lived here. We might wind up eBaying it all. If we can figure out how to get a decent tax write-off, we might give 'em away. We'll see how it goes.

I have a massive collection of books, records (those big black plastic circles with the hole in the middle that play music and come in jackets big enough to actually read the lyrics, for all you youngsters out there) and most useless of all: comic books.

The books I thin out. The comic books I trash. The records I keep because of all three those are the ones most likely to maintain some sort of resell value.

I know I'm never going to read The Stand again, but it looks so pretty sitting in the bookcase. People always walk in the living room and exclaim at all the books in the bookcases. That doesn't happen with a Kindle.

I've left it up to my wife to decide what to do with the books if I kick off before she does. Whomever survives can bury the others books along with them.

I used to be a bit of a hoarder and it was kind of ruining my life (my closet shelf caved in due to books, no one could come into my bedroom due to books, I was spending insane amounts of money on books). I thought I was doing the books a favor. It's important to remember that, if you really have to, you could always buy them again on Amazon or download them (legally, of course, coughcough).

Here is my decision process:
1) Is it one of my favorite books of all time? Do I constantly quote it, suggest it, reread it? Do I consider buying the 50th anniversary hardcover edition of the book just because it was so damn good? If yes, keep the book.
2) Is it in my shelf because it makes me look smart? If yes, toss the book.
3) Have I owned it for over 2 years and never read it? If yes, toss the book.
4) Is it badly damaged/smells bad? If yes, toss the book (even if it was amazing).
5) Did I get it because it was free/cheap? If yes, toss the book.
6) Did more than one person urge me to read it and I am genuinely interested? If yes, keep the book, but don't let it just sit around forever.

Then, go through the books you decided to keep and repeat the process. There will be some in there that you shouldn't be keeping!

And remember, by "toss the book" I don't mean throw it in the trash! D: Oh no! I mean donate it to a local library/care home/hospital/day care/school/boy scouts/church/goodwill/whatever! Some churches and schools have programs set up for donations like this. There's a church here that sends books to Belize every year. Books are much more useful in the hands of someone who will actually enjoy them than in a box in your closet.

Getting a Kindle did a strange thing to me: I suddenly didn't want to waste the hard drive space on my computer on books I might not read (I download the books to my computer first because of wifi issues). Then I went, "Wait, why am I more concerned with hard drive than my real life space!?" Yeah...

My major problem was that I wanted to be impressive. But remember, any old fool can buy some fake decorative books, you know? Let your intelligence shine through in your words and actions. Getting rid of some clutter will make you feel so much better about everything. It's amazing.

My count isn't as bad as SirOtter, but close. If I start seriously thinking about getting rid of any, I start to twitch. Downsizing is not an option . And then there is the 30+ year collection of magazines, neatly shelved by publication and date.

MM

I really consider keeping the books I've read if I keep going back to them and wanting to read over a certain scene that I found the first time to be just... heart fluttering, or just damn good. I know not every book I have does that for me, but it's either part of a series or... I like the author and want to collect all of his/her books because I know it will be a great read.

I keep those kind of books. I have a nice little collection so far. And hey... I'm young! And many of my favorite authors are still alive and writing... so, my collection will definitely be growing.

I've been thinking of getting rid of most of my popular fiction because if I ever want to read it again (or for the first time) it'll always be available cheap used. I might as well ebay my first of Atlas Shrugged and have a few nice dinners with the money before the world comes to an end - and if it doesn't I've still got two or three other copies of it.

I've got several dozen books on making and repairing musical instruments, but the only one I've been reading lately is Reblitz. I seem to be getting a sore back, too. Need to get back into bodybuilding.

If I ever really decide what I want to do with my life I might get rid of some of my "non-essential" books.

Oh, and hard disk space to hold 500 (or 50,000) ebooks is a LOT cheaper than a bookshelf to hold 500 books, and unlike bookshelves, the cost of hard disk space is dropping by one-half every year. There's no reason not to save every bit and byte you've ever had on your computer.

A couple years ago I noticed that the clutter in my closets was getting out of hand, so I decided to get rid of several boxes of books. I donated some to my local library but have sold most of 'em on Amazon Marketplace. It solved my household clutter problem, and I seriously dig getting that e-mail from Amazon titled: "Sold, Ship Now...". That's because it means that I'll soon get a few bucks deposited into my bank account, and that's very cool. Money is always a very cool thing!

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