Friday, July 28, 2006

Books: Magic or Just Chunks of Paper

I love books. I've always loved them, and been surrounded by them. In my house growing up, we had numerous full-size bookcases full of books. My father loved them too. Our interactions involved books; going to the library or bookstore. He'd buy me just about any book I wanted, though he'd often ask me not to finish it too fast! Any psych 101 student could tell me that holding onto my books is holding onto my father.

Here's the rub, see. I could choose to keep all my books (see below for a selection, remembering that I've already culled nine banker's boxes full of them). However, by keeping them all, I would be choosing to keep clutter, dust, old memories. The books aren't my father, I know that. But my little reptile brain may not know it.

Going through the shelves in the past few days, I've found many duplicates, books I haven't read, books I didn't actually like, books I was given that I don't want to keep. Being honest let me fill those boxes up.

I have three more bookcases to go. Once they're culled, I will organize them by subject matter (fiction and non, each sorted by genre or topic). My new rule is: no double stacking. If there are so many books they don't fit, something needs to go.

This shelf, believe it or not, has been culled. Obviously, it needs another pass!


These two shelves are ones I haven't yet gone through. The boxes contain photos.


Another view of one of the shelves I have yet to tackle:


Another shelf yet to be decluttered:


The shelf on the left has been culled; the one on the right belongs to the husband, who hasn't yet tackled books.


You can find piles like these all over my house!



These are the boxes ready to go OTD (out the door, a Flyladyism)

3 comments:

anno said...

I feel the pain on the books. But really, I try to allow myself to keep a book only if a: I will read it again and again b: I can't get it at the library c:it is in my top ten of books to lend to friends (and I really only have 4 in that list).

Clean ClutterFree Simple said...

You know, while I did try to stick to similar rules, I found myself getting weaker with every shelf, as if just by being with the books I lost my will power. Hence, the need for multiple culls!

Madame X said...

Wow, that does look like a lot of books. But you shelve them all very neatly, and I'm impressed by your magazine holders and file boxes. I have yet to tackle storing my various documents, photos and clippings in a more tidy way...