Spring Cleaning

[rolanni]

It is not, by Maine measures, spring. It is, however, behaving enough like spring that my thoughts have turned to. . .cleaning!

Yeah, I know, how unlikely is that?

Believe it or don't, I have been contemplating lightening our load -- not only of dust and clutter (and, my ghod, can two writers who have been focusing on nothing but writing for the last 18 months produce them some dust and clutter) -- but of things.

Specifically, I intend to lighten our load of -- books. Well, ok -- the size 12 jeans ought really to go to Goodwill, as I've come to terms with the Strong Probability that I will never be a size 12 again. Yes, I once was Lean and Mean. Nowadays, I settle for Mean.

But the books. . .We've weeded shelves before, at need, but only to get enough shelf space to file new acquisitions. This time. . .This time, we really need to buckle down and get rid of some of these things, with an eye toward moving into a smaller place not too far down the lane.

So, this morning, while I should've been doing something useful, like skritching a coon cat, I did a preliminary shelf scan of one of the two bookshelves in the bedroom.

The Sue Graftons can go -- easy decision, there. But... Oh, man, a hard one already! Brother Cadfael. As much as I loved them, am I ever really going to read them again?

*deep breath*

...no, probably not. The Brother can leave the shelf.

The Heyers -- stay. And no one is removing Peter Wimsey from my sight. Just sayin'.

What else? The Golden Hawk -- another tough one. I've had that book since I was fourteen, and read it over and over again. At one point, I think I had it memorized. But...haven't touched it for years. It may be time to say good-bye.

The Shellabargers...Lord Vanity ought to have gone long ago; I never liked it. Prince of Foxes, though. The book that taught me that not every satisfactory ending is happy. And that it's romantic when the girl dies.

Sigh.

This may take longer than I thought.

Who's given their shelves a really good cleaning recently? Any tips for the reluctant weeder?

Comments

[reedrover]

A friend of mine suggested weeding out all of the "haven't read in ages" into a set of nice-looking book boxes. Make sure that the boxes are left somewhere super-convenient (like make them your end tables). Now wait a year. The books that don't belong in the boxes will magically migrate back onto the shelves or off into the libraries of your friends. The books that happily stay nestled in the boxes are eager to go to new, unknown homes.

[cynthia1960.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try this one. Getting rid of books is hard for me.

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

I view my shelves as a lending library - If I'm never going to read it again and I'm never going to lend it out because I'm not going to stake my reputation for bookmatching on *that*...well, it can go into the pile by the door. Also, any numbers of copies over 2 that are not specifically in the "I expect to loan this out and never get it back" category.

Because of how much I entertain, there is a box of books by the door - "Free to a good home". Doubles, triples, and books that I've decided that I don't need go in the box for people to dig through and find something to take home and read.

spring cleaning

[(Anonymous)]

My heart sobs for you. I have several boxes of books I should part with, but used bookstores don't want them, and I have no time to futz with Amazon, or ,yech, ebay. I Hate the thought of Goodwilling them. :(

BUt! You read Shellabarger! I never thought anyone else did. Mind you, it was 45 years ago... still remember those titles though.
Hope someone comes up with a good suggestion, maybe even one I can borrow!!!
Nanette
Oh, and of course not Heyer or Wimsey! Never!

Re: spring cleaning

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

You read Shellabarger!

Didn't everybody? Like Thorne Smith, and Elswyth Thane, and H. Allen Smith, and Edith Wharton. . .

[wynnsfolly.livejournal.com]

The spousal unit is emptying shelves as I post, in anticipation of redoing the floor under the paperback wall, but I would be willing to provide a good home for bro cadfael since I never got but odds & ends beyond the tv series

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the offer, but there are only a few of them -- mostly mystery book club editions; probably not worth the postage.

[ebartley.livejournal.com]

Separate into three piles, not two: stay, go, and probably-go. Get rid of the "go" books immediately, and rearrange things so the "probably-go" books have their own space. Any time you want a "probably-go" book, move it to "stay." Closer to the move, go through the "probably-go" shelves with a maximum percentage you're allowed to keep, then box the others immediately.

[mardott.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid our books have the status of Collection, and must not be Moved. This is why, when we talk about moving after retirement, it's to a bigger house.

*sigh*

So I have no solutions to offer.

Lots of empathy. But no solutions.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Would the library be interested in any donations?

[k1ndleuser.livejournal.com]

My local library is always interested in SF/Fantasy in good condition. Mysteries and romance I gave to Blue Star Mothers where every care package has a book.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

I did this when my church did a collection to send books overseas to the military. It was... heart-wrenching. Some books were easy as they were 'read once' books. Those went into the boxes immediately. Then the 'read twice' books went into the boxes. Books that I had two copies of I chose one copy, either the best shape or the earliest edition etcetera.

There are other books which I have given to my children and some which I have given to other relatives or friends. I also have some which have gone into storage for my grandchildren as well as two bookcases downstairs to read to or loan to my nephew & niece.

After that I looked at what was left over. I considered what I would read again and what so touched my heart that I just couldn't bear to let it go. I'm rearranging my bookcases right now and I'm about to go through culling myself. If I come up with anymore ideas, I'll let you know!!

[prismakaos.livejournal.com]

Put them in boxes and if you don't miss them after a year, it's probably time to say goodbye.

If you find a book that you're really torn about, see if it's still in print and/or easily acquirable through amazon. If it isn't, and you get rid of it, but then miss it, it will be a *lot* harder to reacquire.

Additionally, I'd recommend posting on here a list of the books that you want to get rid of, and see if your readers will take any -- at least that way you know they're going to a good home instead of languishing at a Goodwill. (I just purchased a copy of Prince of Foxes, based on your comments, so you see? You have influence. :) )

My sympathies

[(Anonymous)]

The prospect of a move in the (hopefully) near future lead me to cull my collection late last summer, before my condo went on the market. I haven't yet gotten rid of anything, but 4/5 of my books are in storage and have been since August. That means I only have 3 book cases full, instead of my usual 13. I've been in serious book withdrawal since then!

I wish I'd had the time (or the backbone) to actually donate a bunch of them - I usually give them to my local Friends of the Library for their sale. But I'll have that to look forward to once my condo sells and the move actually happens. On the other hand, a lot of the books that have been in storage for months will look new to me when I get a chance to unpack them - and that will be fun!!

Mary

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I just purchased a copy of Prince of Foxes, based on your comments,

Well, I hope it doesn't disappoint you. I should perhaps have said that it provided these revelations to me when I was twelve. Still, Shellabarger wrote a clean hand, so it ought to be readable.

[timepiece]

I, also, tend to let go based on the ease of re-acquisition, if necessary. Those classics which will never go out of print and which will be available at *any* library? Don't need my own copy. Not-so-classics which also seem to remain in print? Also can go. Any series which took me over a year to acquire due to rarity? Stays. All that of course is only applied to not-so-favorites - favorites stay regardless.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't help you with any suggestions on thinning out the herd as I am a book saver also. As far as where to send them, if your local library isn't willing to accept them please consider calling your nearest hospital and checking to see if they have an internal library that might be interested in them (especially if they are a childrens hospital).

Nathan
New Orleans

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

The reality is that a lot of the books that savers/collectors/hoarders have are old, falling apart and full of dust/dust mites. Hospitals don't really want that kind of thing around the sick people.

Out of Sight - Out of Mind

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

I had (note past tense) a LOT of books that I was going to "read again someday", like if I broke a leg or was laid up for weeks/months whatever I would go back and read those books (and watch those video tapes). Then, it turned out that I was laid up for 2 months. Afterwards I had read zero old books, and watched zero old video tapes. An epiphany. There are always new books to read, and new TV/Video/Movies to watch (and easier ways to view then digging through old tapes.)

After making that mental decision, its a little easier making emotional ones. Remove books from shelves and put into boxes/bags that you can't see inside of. Put full containers in the garage or out of sight (not in a closet or basement because they will never move from there). After a a few (days/weeks/month) it is much much easier to contemplate getting rid of "that stack of boxes" or bags (see we aren't thinking of them as "me beloved books" anymore). Then hard covers to Half-Price books, or donate somewhere, or just trash them. I'm assuming you don't really have the time to eBay them. Another thought, if you are driving, haul them to your next SF con and just abandon them in the hotel lobby or con suite with a "free" sign.

Once you do a first major cull, subsequent culls become much easier. You start enjoy being able to put the occasional nicknack on a shelf. Or only having books, one layer deep.

[(Anonymous)]

As a professional librarian who is supposed to weed for a living, you have my complete sympathy...even when you have no emotional attachment to a book it is really really hard to get rid of it...and just because I'm a professional doesn't mean that my home library isn't in need of a good culling right now .

Kathy

[(Anonymous)]

Me. We moved in November for the first time in 34 years, and I had to reduce my library by about a third, cutting down from about 3000 books to about 2000 (and am grateful I got to keep so many of them). This was the first time I've ever had to do that, and it was painful! But, stilll, some of them were easy choices of books I was never going to read again. The hard choices were the ones that I might not read again but still wanted to keep around, just in case!

You'll be pleased to know, though, that all my Liaden books made the cut.

[jane-barfly.livejournal.com]

Arrrgh - the unsigned anonymous post was me.
We've just been through *the move* for my in-laws, and boy, has it given me impetus to clean and weed our entire house. We've started moving things into four categories, and have already disposed of the "I don't think I'll read those again." We're lucky that we have an active Friends sale, and that we live about ten minutes from Half Price. (Five from B & N, and twenty from the ILB.)
But the other three categories are a little more intractible. (I use/read this book at least once a year; I've been meaning to get to it/get back to it; But I used to love it.) So I've started putting books into clear plastic boxes, and marking the date on the box. If a box goes a year (maybe just six months) without being opened, it goes, unopened to the Friends of the Public Library.

In addition to the above excellent suggestions,

[(Anonymous)]

I would add the VA hospital/residential/physical rehab unit. I've
sent boxes of ARCs to a unit in Afganistan and it's embarrassing
how grateful they were. They even shared them with the other units
posted nearby...they told us relatively new fiction was hard to
come by out there. They read everything, including YA (Inkdeath was
positively jumped on). The soldiers who come back are no different,
and if they're stuck in hospital beds they are looking for
distractions!

My heart grieves for your choosing, even though it rejoices in
your taste. The only comfort I can find in sending out favorite
books into the world is to treat them like kittens and puppies -
make sure they go to good homes that will hug them and squeeze
them and call them a Darn Good Book.

sniff
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

PS I had someone walk up to the cash desk Wednesday and, with a
maniacal light in her eyes, say "You have Josephine Tey!"
:)

Weeding out

[dvdscar.livejournal.com]

I recently had to go through that exercise in order to make room for things that I had acquired that I didn't have room for. Two comments:

1) If you haven't re-read it in more than 7 years (your time frame may vary), it's a serious candidate for removal. I recently purged Stephen Donaldson for that reason. You are allowed two exceptions. Mine are Tolkien and Andre Norton. :-)

2) If condition 1 is met and you're still torn, look to see if it is available electronically via Project Gutenberg or some such. If it is, away with it.

[(Anonymous)]

I have recently thinned my shelves. I have more to go. Here are my questions:
1) How well do I remember this story?
Don't? - Toss.
The high points - Toss.
Every detail - Next question.
2) When did I last read this book.
More than 3 years ago? - Toss.
Less than 3 years ago? - Next question.
3) Am I going to read it again?
Maybe - Toss.
Probably - Next question.
4) Is this book one of my hundred favorites?
Yes - Keep it.
No - Next question.
5) Is it worth having in eBook form so I don't have to dust it?
No - Toss.
Yes - buy the ebook and sell the hardcopy quick while the used bookstore still buys used books.

I find it interesting to note that 10 years ago I sold 6 boxes of books at the used bookstore for $300. This spring I sold 6 boxes of books for $45. Yes, they were the same mix if hardbacks, best sellers, and paperbacks. I'm betting that eBooks are going to have a major impact on used bookstores too.

Adrianne

[wolflahti.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid all I can offer is bad news. Years ago I got rid of a lot of books--

And in the intervening years, I've replaced most of them. I don't mean with new titles--I mean I've replaced the same titles, usually spending quite a bit more the second time around. (And of course I've added many, many more new ones since.)

I need books around me. As A .E. Newton said, "We cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance." And in a letter to John Adams, June 1815, Thomas Jefferson said succintly, "I cannot live without books."

Other pertinent observations of books:

"Home is where the books are."
--Richard Burton

"What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books."
--Thomas Carlyle

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
--Cicero

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." [“The Durable Satisfactions of Life”]
--Charles W. Eliot



On the other hand, Louisa May Alcott very tellingly warned, "She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain."

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Trust me, there is no danger that I will be left in a bookless desert. If I got rid of every sixth book in this house, we'd still be comfortably surrounded.

[ellenru.livejournal.com]

I have periodically done the massive cull, otherwise I would have several thousand - most of it crap that I am now embarrassed about having read. Uusually the impetus was a move of the books to a new location - attic to the (fortunately high & dry basement); obtaining new metal shelving for the books and finally moving to my condo 18 months ago. It was amazing how much I could get rid of each time. I am in the process of culling again, as I have to make room for the books currently at my mother's and which are going to have to come home to me in the next year. I hope to weed out to something below 2000. Lee & Miller always make the cut. In fact, as the canon grows (esp. with the new ones coming later this year and next), other books have to leave in order to have room on the Liad shelf.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Ahem.

I think you should have pointed out that when we moved in together we started a used genre shop with our duplicates and triplicates.

Me

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

...Perhaps I should have done. But we sold those books, after all, and no longer have them. I think the only dupes we have now -- excepting our books -- are Hellspark and The War for the Oaks.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I have an instant it goes box near the door.

For the rest about once a year I cull but I am not good at it. As I can't lift the books en mass I have someone help, someone who is not attached to the books. They hand me the books and encourage me to not hand them back for re-shelving. Culls mostly go to the local public library for sale.

I box up stuff I cannot get rid of and label and then have stacks of boxes of books as insulation in the two finished rooms in my cellar. The walls are mostly full and I have run out of places upstairs to have book shelves built (about 30' of floor to ceiling book cases currently).

This summer I'll be doing another major cull AND include the stuff from the cellar. I may need to include my sister in this cull, she LOVES to remove excess from anyone's house. She is the anti-collector, as it were, useful in this situation.

To be continued....

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

Every time I try to sort books to cull my collection into "keep" and "go" piles a third pile always magically appears.

It goes by the name "oh! I think I'd like to re-read this again," That pile usually at least doubles the size of my TBR pile.

If I don't watch it it will usually out mass the "go" pile.

[readinggeek451]

I haven't done a major cull since moving out of my parents' house after college. At that point, I got fourteen boxes of books down to four by being ruthless. (It helped that there were a lot of kids' books that I had outgrown--along with a quite a few that I hadn't.) Since then, I do periodic sweeps to whittle down the collection a little. My main criterion: If looking at a book doesn't inspire a little tingle of wanting to pick it up and read it, the book goes. There are a few things that I haven't read in years that I want to try re-reading first before making the decision. Some of those have ended up staying, but some have gone out the door.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Gah! You sound downright vigorous next to me ... and I am moving next month.

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

I don't dare read the other posts first to see who else is willing to offer the Good Brother a new home! What? I see no reason for you to mock me just because there are still 18 boxes of books in my basement that haven't been unpacked! I haven't built all the bookshelves yet! Weatherproofing takes priority, ya know? Cause a soggy book is a sad book!

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Check for first editions before you get rid of them. I once saw a first of A IS FOR ALIBI for sale for a couple of thousand bucks!

Other than that... I'm the very last person in the world to offer advice on clearing bookshelves. I still have 45 boxes of books to unpack, and I've been here 2 1/2 years now.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Homeless shelters and battered womens shelters are also an appreciative depository for used, good condition, books. The local county jail used to take3 them until the overcrowding got so bad that the library they had was eliminated.
Children's books are especially appreciated by shelters that take in families.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I went thru some serious weeding when we moved from California to New Mexico. I don't keep every book I've read anymore. (I did wind up buying "Skull Full of Spurs" again.) I'll probably never read those I keep, but my criteria is "If you gave me great pleasure, you stay." I usually take the other books as donations to the local SF club's monthly meetings.

the cull

[(Anonymous)]

I moved 10,011 pounds of books from Alaska to California 12 years ago... I left my piano, so I could take more books! That was nuts and at least now I admit that. Since then I have managed to purge a few times and am planning a new round, after all I have no place to put the new Lee and Miller that will be coming out in the next year! I think I might be able to even get rid of Anderson, Donaldson and all most all of the McCaffery co-written stuff that I only read once, I will of course keep all the Pern cycle, but I do wonder if I really need to keep copies in hardback, trade and paperback?

Sigh...

And what about James Schmitz? I have almost all of his work in their first edition vintage pulps and then every published addition I could get my hands on, even as ebooks. He takes up eight feet, nine inches of book shelf!

Sigh...

Maybe I should move to a bigger house.

Or buy a silo and strap it to the back of the house and turn it in to a turret of books.... let's see a twelve foot diameter silo, times pi, times forty vertical feet of shelves, less a couple of portholes and there should still be room for a comfortable chair in the center... so my turret should have about 1700 lineal feet of bookshelves, so it should hold at least 1500 cubic feet of books shelved around the inside wall (assuming I can still do that kind of math).

sigh, OK I will get a box and start the cull, right after I have read the final of Saltation, since rumor has it Dark Carnival and/or Borderlands might have it in stock... and I can't wait to get my signed copy... and some authors you really do need several copies....

sigh

Hap

weeding

[(Anonymous)]

My biggest problem is the TBR pile, I mean shelves. As a bookseller I handle many ARCs every month, and they're FREE, and therefore easy to take home. I actually have a full case of TBR, mostly galleys, now mostly old galleys. Do do I just dump them, since if I haven't read them by now . . . . Or is there still hope? Then there's the stuff I'm half way through, but got distracted by the shiny new galley -- do I finish that, or give it up? So many hard questions.
Plus with 8 month old kitties in house, all piles are constantly subject to rearrangement!

Good luck to all!
kate the bookpusher

[scrapcat.livejournal.com]

I used to have to cull every two years or so when my husband couldn't stand the book clutter. The authors that always stay - Anne McCaffrey's Pern, Miller and Lee, Elizabeth George, C. J. Cherryh, Judith Tarr, Guy Gavriel Kay, Sharon Kay Penman, - these are FRIENDS, authors whose universes I find comfortable and want to come back to over and over. After all else, that consideration always wins out.

Weeding

[(Anonymous)]

As a school librarian who has packed and moved two libraries, I am a ruthless weeder of books. I need room for all the great new books I'm buying. However, weeding at home is not as easy. I've donated to shelters and church resale shops authors like DeBlasis, Dick Francis (that was hard), Tannenbaum, and others. Kept Moon, Lee and Miller, Weber, et. al.
The put aside for a year is a great idea. One idea I've been considering is buying a Kindle and buying the e-version of the books I know I'll reread. These are the ones on my "comfort shelf" as Anne McCaffrey referred to in discussing her Liaden books. The Kindle would also come in handy on vacations. My vacation book bag is always overflowing. My nightmare is running out of books to read on vacation - make that good books to read. New Lee and Miller books can't come out often enough.

cull vs e-books

[(Anonymous)]

I used to have a large enough house that I stopped getting rid of books for years. Now I'm in a smaller house and not enough space to move around the clutter and books. Some of the same authors you'all have been mentioning and some others.

I'm keeping the collectibles until I got them all in one place, then an auction or a local collector/seller or EBay or whatever. The lust for collecting is being overridden by the burden of keeping them safe.

A few authors, I grab one of my books by them to re-read after not re-reading that author for years. Sometimes, I find I've outgrown that author, my tastes have changed. I can now cull them sans angst.

Anywho, I've been buying the books I feel compelled to keep to re-read (and I do re-read), as eBooks. (Mostly thru fictionwise.)

For instance, I HAVE to keep my Agatha Christie's. Fictionwise just added over 70 AC's, and on sale with major rebates, so once I've downloaded them, I can get rid of many paperbacks / bookclubs / hard covers without panicking that I can't read them when I want to. That clears up a lot of shelf space, and allows me to pick up a pile off the floor somewhere (in or out of a box)

Now if I can find all the Andre Norton's as ebooks, (she was even more prolific than Agatha). I don't re-read her as often a I used to, but I can't get rid of them yet.

It's been working for me,

Angie Hogencamp

[laurajunderwood.livejournal.com]

My method of book gleaning involves asking myself several questions.

Have I already read it?

If not, will I read it in the next five to ten years?

If yes, will I read it again in the next five to ten years?

Reference materials are exempt. Favorite authors are exempt. I hold on to my collections of favorites and am more willing to let go of a book I have not read an don't show any inclination to read soon.

Yes, I have the very bad habit of buying books I think I will read and never reading them, either because a book by one of my favorites came out, or I started the new books and got distracted by a writing project in the works...

I am a terrible person...

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

After years of living with books everywhere, my new house has one largish room where the majority of the books live, with shelves everywhere except in front of the windows. So far, I've successfully limited my book shelving to the available shelf space in that room. I suspect that the non-fiction will eventually get its own room and the fiction will take over those shelves.

When culling, I use the same criteria that others have recommended:
1) won't read it again (series complete or deteriorating, not that great or worse) - it's gone,
2) is anything taking up more shelf space than it's worth (mystery series, except favorites like Dick Francis),
3) is it something that won't go out of print / can I get it in any library?
4) Is it in deteriorating condition? (discard, replace or repair)

Keep everything else. I culled my Evangeline Walton retellings of the Mabinogian at some pont, and want to re-read them now... will have to try to get via interlibrary loan.

However, there's always the remote storage option. If you move to a smaller place with an attic or big closets, books that don't need to stay on the shelves could be packed, stacked and catalogued so you can find them if you need them. (what's in Box #1?)

Barbara