|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Book weeding
|
Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
|
Posted
This question is probably the opposite of the literary comfort food discussion. How do you weed your books? What doesn't matter to you any more? I am committed to a rigorous program of viciously weeding and giving away (or recycling) unneeded books to regain shelf space. At the moment, this gains me the space of about one book per year. It's not going well. There are some that I don't read and probably never will again, but they serve a purpose in reminding me of a particular time or place or person, just because they gaze at me from a shelf. As my memory develops gaps, this has been quite useful. How do you deal with weeding?
--------------------
Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
|
Posted
I moved recently, and had to deal with the exact same problem.
Part 1: I looked at which books would fetch me cash or exchange credit at the used book depot—so all my philosophy and theology from my days at the Press. Off it went...and I remained strong and said I wanted cash, rather than book credit.
That didn't do much.
Part 2: mostly light reading. You know how every Jeeves novel has the same plot, with a few different names? So you keep one or two (the special editions with the really great bindings), and the rest go into the Little Free Libraries.
Also didn't really do much.
Part 3: Pack all of them into boxes. Some of the ones you really wanted to hang on to will get misplaced. You won't be able to find them when you look to get them out of storage—and, in your focus on finding those two books, you'll forget to grab twenty others.
That actually kept me from bringing any of my graphic novel collection, aside from the one that I mentally filed into "Washingtonia." So something.
Part 4: You get two boxes. Some books—the Bible, Dante, a couple cookbooks, six works of philosophy (okay, four works, one companion guide that made more sense than the original, and the one-volume encyclopedia), a couple works of Washingtonia—are automatic suggestions. A couple art books; only one volume of the six on contemporary traditional tea ceremony ceramics makes it. 'Zines don't take up much room, so bring all thirty. A couple books that were on the "to read next" list, including those bought with book credit when you sold the ones you had to admit you'd never read and reminded you of a bad time in your life anyway. That's it.
That actually got rid of quite a bit.
Part 5: realize that there were a few that you really, really want now, but are going to have to wait until Christmas to get because you only had one of them for two days before packing it up and don't remember the title (it was a going away present), and you're not sure if you really want your parents leafing through the "adult children working through parental issues" section of your graphic novel collection.
It's not a small section.
--------------------
“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
If I have multiple copies and don't anticipate lending (=losing) a copy to anybody, time to trim.
If I bought the book only for school and never wish to crack the cover again, trim.
If there's no realistic way in this lifetime that I will ever read it (Looking at you, Harvard Classics!), trim.
If somebody wished it on me and I've not gotten more attached to it as time went on, trim.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
|
Posted
I think there's a subset of Sod's Law that observes that any book that you dispose of is the very one that you will later urgently need to consult or long to re-read.
I thought that with Google at my fingertips I could give away the heavy reference books on the top shelf, but when I'd realised that the blessing we'd been singing was from the epistle of Jude, I grabbed the Bible Companion as the quickest way to find out 'Who was Jude anyway?'
GG
--------------------
The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
I've moved a lot over the years and books have always had to be weeded to make the process manageable. Also, landlords never give you enough bookshelves.
The majority of my collection are old favourites that I've read and re-read over the years. They stay. Almost everything falls into this category.
If I haven't read it (ever) in a few years then it's clear I haven't the desire or motivation to do so, and I'm unlikely to develop that now. It goes into the Out pile.
Also destined for the Out pile are impulse purchases and unwanted gifts in mint condition (which can be sold on) and those impulse pickups from book swop tables, which can go back there or to charity shops.
Reference books and atlases go out of date. Countries and cities can change their names (occasionally boundaries), new motorways can be built, tourist attractions are added or removed and opening hours and admission prices frequently change. Language courses (unless classical languages) also go out of date after some years. Cookery books never used other than for one recipe can also go in the Out pile, once the recipe is photocopied.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
Getting rid of books??
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Do people actually do that? Even the thought of it makes me feel slightly faint.
--------------------
Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
This question is probably the opposite of the literary comfort food discussion. How do you weed your books?
Mostly, I don't. In fact, I have recently done the opposite, having been the target of a parental visitation bearing my childhood library (it turns out they want to declutter.)
So I greeted the books like the old friends that they are, found them shelf space and read most of them. Most of them I will read again (and again); a few are probably now just waiting for my kids. I have been pruning children's books, though - we have a lot, but some of them are so poorly-written that we have never read them (or maybe only once). Those are heading for the door.
But I have almost no adult books that fall into the "never want to see this again" category.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Piglet
Islander
# 11803
|
Posted
We did quite a lot of book-weeding when we were tidying up the former Château Piglet for selling it, and tried to be ruthless (though possibly not quite ruthless enough). We gave three quite sizeable boxes of books to the Diabetic Society, who had arranged to come round and pick up an old dining table. Unfortunately, by the time the van arrived the table (which we'd put out in front of the house for collection) had already been "rehomed" by a passer-by - they do that sort of thing in the neighbourhood where we used to live ... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
When the van-driver told me ours was the third call he'd made that morning with the same result, I felt so sorry for him I asked him if he'd like to take the books instead, which he did.
--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
Getting rid of books??
Do people actually do that? Even the thought of it makes me feel slightly faint.
This was exactly the same reaction I had to the OP. I assume the OP is some theoretical exercise in Alternative Universes where a person might get rid of a book. I believe DC Comics refers to it as "Bizarro World." As a theoretical exercise, it is an interesting concept. But I wouldn't want to live there.
--------------------
"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Hilda of Whitby
Shipmate
# 7341
|
Posted
I'm a retired librarian. Weeding is a fact of life in libraries. Obviously weeding should be done knowledgeably, and some materials are too unique or rare to ever weed, but the fact is that even the very largest libraries cannot realistically keep every single item they have ever acquired.
I have moved zillions of times in my life. I love books, but come moving time, they are an anchor around my neck. We retired, downsized, and moved a year ago. We have two waist-high bookcases and one tall bookcase. We culled our collection so that every book we own has a place on these three bookcases. If we want more books, we have to weed something. That's just the way it is. Otherwise, books metastasize into piles on the floor, flat surfaces, etc. Nothing wrong with that but it's not for me. At some point we'll want to downsize again. At that point, we'll weed the collection again.
I think periodic weeding of books (music CDs, etc.) is a good thing. What we have now are books we really, really like that have stood the test of time--books read and re-read and re-re-read--plus some new ones that are likely to join the ranks of "read to pieces."
We have a good public library here which we use heavily. We also are joining the local university's Friends of the Library program. A modest yearly fee gives us borrowing privileges at the university library. Between the public library and the university library, we should be very well taken care of.
--------------------
"Born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad."
Posts: 412 | From: Nickel City | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
|
Posted
I decided, after many years, to get rid of the Theology books still lining my shelves. But strangely, just as I had started to do this, Mr. C. suddenly started to get interested in the very same field. So the books moved from my shelves to his shelves and there they have stayed.
--------------------
Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
We have fourteen steel floor-to-ceiling bookcases in this house. They are quite full. We have to get rid of some books, or else we can never move.
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
I think Terry Pratchett wrote something to the effect that no matter how many shelves you install, there is never enough space for all the books. I have purges occasionally, but still recall the time I had to buy Asimov's Foundation books a second time when the BBC radio production meant that the purge had to be reversed. I am very careful.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
|
Posted
We have an inability to throw books into the recycle bin for pulping etc not even for the junkiest of books. Fortunately, a nearby Uniting Church has a second-hand book sale every second month and several times a year take books there. A problem is that we the go to the sale itself and buy more.
--------------------
Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Clarence
Shipmate
# 9491
|
Posted
Having moved a lot, I'm able to tell the removal firm to bring the extra truck because we have lots of books. A removalist's quote based on number of bedrooms always resulted in a morning's move becoming an all day affair with back up requested.
But I do try to send a few books out as each move approaches. The first pass is to identify any book which is (a) an old friend or has nostalgia /sentimental value, or (b) a book I would want to keep to share with friends. These ones stay. The second pass is to review the more indeterminate ones to see if the contents may be readily found on the internet.
So the most recent house move deleted a few lacklustre novels, the pile of 'maybe one day it will be useful if we move to...' books and a shelf-full of travel and language reference books way past their use-by date.
But we still needed the extra truck.
--------------------
I scraped my knees while I was praying - Paramore
Posts: 793 | From: Over the rainbow | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
|
Posted
We moved house 12 months ago. This has not resulted in a book weed, just in my still not being able to find books I know I have a copy of - at least in part because we are still re-decorating before getting more bookcases!
My usual criteria for waving farewell to a book are - Duplication - keep the better condition/sentimental value one
- Never read - the stuff given as gifts that's not interesting to either of us (incredibly small number of books here!)
- Seldom read - usually came out of a local charity shop as a quick read, and will be given back there when we have a stack and are passing
- Old textbooks - might eventually go, but several are interesting even though I don't work in those fields any more
So I don't prune the shelves that often. And the maternal Knotweed would like me to move the rest of my library out of the parental abode so that she can use the yards of double- & triple-stacked shelf space for some of her books... Our planned book wall may need to grow more.
--------------------
My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
We have an inability to throw books into the recycle bin for pulping etc not even for the junkiest of books. Fortunately, a nearby Uniting Church has a second-hand book sale every second month and several times a year take books there. A problem is that we the go to the sale itself and buy more.
Think of this as exchanging ten books you don't want for two books that you do. The direction is good!
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
sabine
Shipmate
# 3861
|
Posted
I'm in the process of weeding books right now, and I think I will have to go in stages. Weed now, come back later and weed again.
I'm asking myself three questions:
1) How easily could I replace the book (e.g., out of print? arcane subject matter and hard to get ahold of?)
2) Is it something I would reach for in a pinch (e.g.,emergency need of solace, reference book I use on a regular basis)
and maybe most important for my weeding
3) What are the chances that I will move to a place without a good library?
Case in point here: I love Jane Austen and didn't want to part with my books. But since I anticipate always living in a city with a library, I can check Jane Austen's books out of the library.
sabine
--------------------
"Hunger looks like the man that hunger is killing." Eduardo Galeano
Posts: 5887 | From: the US Heartland | Registered: Dec 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
I draw your attention to Project Gutenberg. Essentially, anything that is out of copyright can probably be found on line. Unless you need a physical copy of David Copperfield to display or write in or something, you have access to the complete and searchable text, forever. After years of struggling with tiny type fonts on yellowed paper pages, I am blissfully reading on an Ipad with the font pumped way up.
(I will add that 'free' books that are pirated should be carefully avoided; it's a favorite way for bad people to smuggle malware into your systems.)
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
|
Posted
I work in a bookshop, so it's fairly easy for me to pick up something interesting at a moment's notice (that's how I found Tony Hillerman's crime series about the Navaho police, for instance). I only buy the books I know will be hard to find now, or books where I want to support the author's hard work.
So at the moment I have a long shelf of books I haven't got round to reading yet - and when I do, I'll have to make room on the other shelves. Can I bear to part with my Dorothy Dunnett collection? Or the Lindsay Davis Roman mysteries? Or the fairly random selection of childhood favourites? It's always a hard decision.... but there are so many other good books out there on my wish list!
--------------------
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
I admit to doing this: I take books with me to appointments with doctors, dentists and the like. I leave a book in the waiting room. Inside I've written: please take me with you, read, and leave for someone else.
We renovated the front yard, and next spring I plan to put in a Little Free Library.
--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I think Terry Pratchett wrote something to the effect that no matter how many shelves you install, there is never enough space for all the books. I have purges occasionally, but still recall the time I had to buy Asimov's Foundation books a second time when the BBC radio production meant that the purge had to be reversed. I am very careful.
This sounds like an easily verifiable parallel to Parkinson's Law, i.e. The number of books expands to fill the available space. Therefore, weeding cannot, and will never, succeed.
--------------------
Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
|
Posted
The latest craft craze seems to be book folding - you take a book and systematically fold the pages to get a sort of 3D model. The planning group for our craft group couldn't understand how anyone could do this to a book until someone suggested it could be a way of getting rid of Mills and Boons and such like. There's a few books I could add - I actually bought a copy of the Da Vinci Code in case people in work talked about it and I could prepare a Christian response.
No-one did, and there's one book that could be recycled!
--------------------
"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
There's a few books I could add - I actually bought a copy of the Da Vinci Code in case people in work talked about it and I could prepare a Christian response.
No-one did, and there's one book that could be recycled!
A local nursery showed horrifying pictures of old books being turned into planters.
However, this would indeed be appropriate for a copy of The Da Vinci Code -- no need to add manure.
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
There is a steady business in turning old books into purses, Ipad holders, etc. You can search on it at Etsy. I must hope that these books are essentially only the covers, the interior pages being illegible or ruined.
And of course there is the much older practice of disassembling books and framing the interior pages for display. I have a quarto page of polyhymnal notation in black-letter framed -- I think I bought it in Italy. The page is clearly harvested from some hand-lettered hymnal. And I have a series of post-card sized reproductions of the works of Tououlse Lautrec, framed and hung in a very Pottery-Barn kind of way. The book had fallen apart into its component sheets, and the seller let me have it for a dollar.
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
I saw someone selling things which he had made by cutting book pages - a bit like a cross between book folding and making a peepshow. He had used old books of household help - how to make your own nesting tables, tea trolley and so on. And book shelves! Cutting up books
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
|
Posted
I saw a book origami sculpture in our local independent bookshop, of all places. It did arouse my curiosity as to which books they had chosen to use, and why. Perhaps there was something wrong with them??
--------------------
Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
quote:
Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
There's a few books I could add - I actually bought a copy of the Da Vinci Code in case people in work talked about it and I could prepare a Christian response.
No-one did, and there's one book that could be recycled!
A local nursery showed horrifying pictures of old books being turned into planters.
However, this would indeed be appropriate for a copy of The Da Vinci Code -- no need to add manure.
I was somewhere today - was it the remaindered books stand at the garden centre? - where there was yet another Dan Brown adventure for Langdon - could be a short trip? (Why does he always have a different woman?)
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
|
Posted
Oh the pain the pain. If a friend wrote it I keep it. That is now a full shelf. It would seem that I hang around with a lot of authors.
If it was a gift I will usually keep it, but now always. New rule if you want a new book you must give away two old ones. Thankfully the town senior center and library both recycle used books. Still hard.
Just now I am working on lightening up the cook books. I have a four shelf bookcase in the kitchen. I love reading and rereading them though truth be told very seldom now cook any of the recipes.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Clarence:
Having moved a lot, I'm able to tell the removal firm to bring the extra truck because we have lots of books. A removalist's quote based on number of bedrooms always resulted in a morning's move becoming an all day affair with back up requested.
But I do try to send a few books out as each move approaches. The first pass is to identify any book which is (a) an old friend or has nostalgia /sentimental value, or (b) a book I would want to keep to share with friends. These ones stay. The second pass is to review the more indeterminate ones to see if the contents may be readily found on the internet.
So the most recent house move deleted a few lacklustre novels, the pile of 'maybe one day it will be useful if we move to...' books and a shelf-full of travel and language reference books way past their use-by date.
But we still needed the extra truck.
Lots? Meh! ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
But that said ... yes, almost every time we've moved, and like Clarence that has been often, our library(/ies) have called for groans, recalculations, extra trucks, the lot. This latest time we moved ourselves. I manhandled every one of those 4,072 books.
Twice I've culled the library in the last 25 years. Each time I've regretted it. I'm with GG and Sod's law.
So don't cull. Just be a pain to your will-beneficiaries ... and build extra rooms!
--------------------
shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
Just now I am working on lightening up the cook books. I have a four shelf bookcase in the kitchen. I love reading and rereading them though truth be told very seldom now cook any of the recipes.
Rabbi Lionel Blue of BBC Thought for the Day fame, reckoned that recipes were excellent bedtime reading, as each one had a happy ending.
--------------------
But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
|
Posted
We are shortly [when we get the money!] going to build a new bedroom for me in the unused upper hall here and, when we do I can have about 27 - 30 metres more bookshelf space so hopefully bookweeding is something I can put off for a little while. I know there are books there that could go but the physical act of doing the deed is just too stressful to contemplate.
I like the idea of the Little Libraries but don't think it would work for me as all my books are in English and this isn't really an English speaking sort of place.
--------------------
I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
I did some major bookcase reorganizing yesterday and weeded out some duplicates I didn't realize I had, as well as some novels I know I'll never read again. They'll go to the Library today for their used book sale (unless the Library decides to keep some for circulation). How long do you think it will take for that extra shelf space to fill up?
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
|
Posted
My bookshelves are full but not overflowing because these days the new books I acquire are digital.
Actually I had a look last night and I could clear a lot of space by removing the ones I've got paper duplicates of, but I found I didn't really want to. The fact that I still have the copy of the book I bought as a first year student makes me want to hold on to it even though the last three times I read it was on a kindle or similar device.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
|
Posted
I have recently put a Kindle app on my tab and find that I really love using it [thanks to daisydaisy who really introduced me to the idea] but then the problem for me is the instant nature of the thing - having a Kindle equivalent, an Amazon account and a debit card could spell disaster! I'm a bit like Viv Stanshall's Sir Henry with his:
quote:
I don't know what I want, but I want it now!
Instant gratification isn't always good for me - I've just spent about UKP 25.00 on the complete 7 book set of Harry Potter despite having the books on my shelves.
Ah well, it's only money.
--------------------
I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
|
Posted
Since I figured out the library hold system two years ago, which allows me to order just about any generally circulating book in the world to my local branch of the library, I haven't really bought books. I did buy a book for a recent beach vacation, but it was with the intention of reading the whole thing and ditching it on the hotel's abandoned books shelf. So that's trick number one- just because you don't have shelf after shelf of books, it doesn't mean you aren't reading.
We balance a rigorous "how likely are you to actually read that again" rule against a general no questions asked "if it's important to you, you can keep it" rule. We also have limited shelf space, and my wife has limited tolerance for large stacks of books on my bedside table.
Our standard constitutional route takes us by five or six little free libraries, and we deposit books that are likely to be taken in those. Others go in the recycling.
(Warning to anyone considering building a LFL, not everyone is as considerate as we are when it comes to only leaving books that someone else might actually want to read. A few months back, someone dumped about ten years worth of bound volumes of the Watchtower in a LFL down the street, presumably thinking that someone might want them. So you may end up having to throw away more books than you did before you built the thing.)
--------------------
"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I have recently put a Kindle app on my tab and find that I really love using it [thanks to daisydaisy who really introduced me to the idea] but then the problem for me is the instant nature of the thing - having a Kindle equivalent, an Amazon account and a debit card could spell disaster! I'm a bit like Viv Stanshall's Sir Henry with his:
quote:
I don't know what I want, but I want it now!
Instant gratification isn't always good for me - I've just spent about UKP 25.00 on the complete 7 book set of Harry Potter despite having the books on my shelves.
Ah well, it's only money.
A lot of libraries have pretty extensive electronic collections, and once you figure out how to check out books to your Kindle, you can save yourself some money. This is especially helpful on vacation- even if I am on the other side of the world, as long as I have wifi, I can check out ebooks from the Denver library.
--------------------
"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
Yes, Inter Library Loan is a hellbeast, allowing you to spread your dark wings over all library systems like Sauron dominating Middle Earth. It helps if your library system has it for free -- some systems make you pay a fee.
Another notably evil system is on Goodreads. You find a book there, and (after perusing the reviews and ratings, which could take hours) at the bottom of the listing are buttons that allow you to see if it is in any library system near you.
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
I discovered Inter Library Loans when in college -- back when there was just one computer on the entire campus (and it was very primitive, and of course not networked with any other computer anywhere). ILL was a huge help for research. (It may have only been for colleges and universities at that time -- not sure if public libraries were included.)
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
|
Posted
Then you know about the Dark Side. There is a Dark Side to the world of letters, an anti-universe where all the rules are reversed. Where it is desirable to be incomprehensible, and dull, and have nobody know what the heck you're saying. The books there have boring covers, and are very long. Yes, it's the world of academic writing! And that world is also on line. There is a portal, over at your local library, and certainly at every university or college library. Through this you can access academic papers on your obsession. It is madness.
--------------------
Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
mark_in_manchester
not waving, but...
# 15978
|
Posted
In the UK it used to be called BIDS and ran on something called JANET. Then it morphed into (or rather the bit I was interested in morphed into) 'web of science' which was part of 'web of knowledge'. BIDS was new when I started as an undergrad - I think I can remember paper copies of a Science Citation Index being described in a library introduction talk in '89.
And now their sh*t is so easy to get hold of...the students at this (same) institution read almost nothing. There's definitely a sense of 'it's on Google, so I don't need to worry about it'!
--------------------
"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)
Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ethne Alba
Shipmate
# 5804
|
Posted
Here in the city i frequent coffee shops that encourage lending out of their books....just so long as one brings something in to replace what leaves.
For that reason, the shelf near our front door has a collection of books, all pre-sorted + bagged, ready to be snatched up should the opportunity suddenly arise.
Posts: 3126 | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
Getting rid of books??
Do people actually do that? Even the thought of it makes me feel slightly faint.
Sigh...yes, it's true. I have read and reread every Harry Potter book and got some good money for them yesterday. I've memorized them and so many more. If I could've kept them I probably would have but I moved from a two bedroom apartment to a much smaller one bedroom and lots of books just had to go.
--------------------
God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
BabyWombat
Shipmate
# 18552
|
Posted
For me the crux of the matter is that the books we keep are rather like old friends. Those we discard are more like casual acquaintances: engaging for a bit but not a substantive relationship, and one that we can let end easily.
I have not yet come to the point of discarding friends (although feel I have been by some), and I cannot discard my book friends either. I see one old friend once a year at best, but lunch with her is always a delight. And it allows me similar good company to see the titles, browse the pages, get engaged with the text all over again, if only for an hour or so. But what gentle joy they bring!
--------------------
Let us, with a gladsome mind…..
Posts: 102 | From: US | Registered: Feb 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
|
Posted
I never thought I would be able to clear out my books. And then I started following the Marie Kondo process to declutter my home and before I knew it I had been able to take 22 carrier bags of books to the local Oxfam shop.
What was really interesting was what I kept and what I 'set free' for others to enjoy. Most of the children's books stayed. And the classics. Most of the biographies, religious non-fiction (except for some outliers from my more evangelical past), travel guides, dictionaries and....quite a lot of the 'trashy' comfort reading.
What went was a lot of the contemporary 'decent' lit that I'd enjoyed at the time but would be unlikely to read again and most of the reference books where I can now find up to date info more easily on the internet.
The trashier books stayed because they are my comfort reading and I re-read them. Things like Tom Clancy or decent chick-lit (Helen Fielding, Freya North etc).
I weeded out a few recipes books but they mainly stayed. Most of the gardening ones went though. Didn't have too many books related to my degree but they all stayed - two shelves worth.
--------------------
Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Yes, Inter Library Loan is a hellbeast, allowing you to spread your dark wings over all library systems like Sauron dominating Middle Earth.
Okay, this is just a lovely image. And so apt.
Nom nom nom nom.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view
