If there’s one thing I never have enough of, it’s bookshelves. And eventually you run out of room for those as well. B and I finally got tired of the stacks of books all over our office and decided to weed out the ones we didn’t really want for donation. Our local public library has a periodic book sale, so we packed them all up and dropped them off for the next one.
My criteria was to get rid of anything I didn’t realistically think I would read in the future, whether I’d read it before or not. That may sound totally obvious, but I am such a completionist and have such a long to-read list that it’s really really hard for me to not be like, oh, but I might read that in the future because it sounds interesting or whatever. Some books were textbooks from college we’d kept for reference. Some were gifts. Some were duplicates. Some were books we’d gotten at previous library book sales!
I’d been meaning to do this for ages, and I actually thought it would be harder than it was. I was pretty ruthless about what was going, even taking some off my personal bookshelf in my bedroom. (I still didn’t touch any Star Wars books, though..even the bad ones.)
All of our books now fit on our bookshelves, and the office is much tidier (which was really my main goal, since that’s where I tend to write). I’m sure at some point we’ll need to purge again, and hopefully I will have gotten through a few more of our recent additions before then. Unfortunately the to-be-read books on our shelves keep getting put on the back burner because I keep checking out library books that I have to read in two weeks and return.
Such are the problems of a nerdy girl.
Jedi by Knight 
Getting rid of books can be SO difficult! I even have some from childhood that I just can’t let go. Good for you for minimizing your collection.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m definitely more attached to my books than most other material things! I did keep some with purely sentimental value, too. But the collection needed a purge, and I’m glad we did it. I’m sure we’ll have to do it again at some point haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
My shelves could use some purging as well, but it’s hard to let go of books, even if you have read them 3 or 4 times. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is so hard! In fact, if I’ve read them 3 or 4 times, I’m even more likely to want to keep them because I’ll probably want to read them again! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are a stronger soul than I – I once donated a bunch of books to the library in my youth, and while I am glad others got to read them, I have always regretted the dent in my collection. I tend to just keep adding shelves and cluttering up my apartment more and more to accommodate my personal live-in library. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My goal in life is to have an actually “library” in my house. I’m thinking like the one from Beauty and the Beast would be good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Suggestion if you still have the books hanging around: https://www.etsy.com/listing/170772390/ooak-book-lamp-with-book-page-lampshade?ga_order=price_desc&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=&ref=sr_gallery_10. You could clear shelf space and get Mom to stop nagging you about lamps at the same time.
LikeLike
Win-win! Brilliant 😀
LikeLike