As many of you know I decided to have a bit of a book cull. Once the decision was made I had to formulate some sort of criteria and then actually start throwing stuff out.
The clearout was put on hold for a few weeks when my wife had her Open House day as part of the Windsor Fringe (we opened our doors to the general public to show off her ceramics). I had to remove most of the books from our ground floor to make room for the pots and tiles and bits and pieces. They ended up forming bloody great structurally unsound piles in our bedroom and it was definitely a breach of all manner of Health & Safety rules to attempt to weed through them while they were like that.
But over the past couple of weekends I have, with the help of my slaves children, been slowly putting things back in order and deciding which books to cast off in the process.
To give you an idea of the progress we have made, this is what the downstairs bookshelves looked like before the clearout.
And this is what they look like now.
One of the big changes is that the books downstairs are mainly our 'keepers'. The books we have read and loved and want to hold on to. They used to be in the bedroom. The bedroom shelves now have all the unread stuff. Much better all round.
But what difference has all this made to the title count? I hear none of you ask.
Well, allow me to enlighten you.
Excluding the kids' books, cookery books and several boxes hidden in the eaves I did have about 3,000 titles on various shelves and piled up around the house.
I now have just over 2,000.
That's right, the Great Book Clearout has killed off nearly 1,000 volumes.
May they rest in peace.
Most have gone off to the charity shop. Some have been passed on to friends. A few of the rarer tomes from my collecting days will be appearing on eBay shortly.
And you know what? It didn't hurt a bit.
I feel decongested. Uncluttered. Less clogged.
And the whole thing, the simple process of looking at every book in the house and forcing myself to make a decision on it, has got me all excited about my collection again. I have spotted lots of stuff I want to read soon and can't wait to do so.
Get rid of 1,000 books. I recommend it. It will do you good.
I had a wardrobe clearout this week and got rid of what feels like 1,000 pairs of shoes.... maybe I will tackle books next!
Posted by: Stephanie | November 05, 2009 at 07:37 PM
I did that 10 years ago - I've spent 9 years 11 months regretting it. With hindsight I should just have extended the house.
Posted by: Jane Willis | November 05, 2009 at 09:52 PM
I must work harder to get rid of the excessive number of books cluttering the apartment. The problem is, I have so little space, I can't even find all the books; some are in crates; some in boxes in the cave (wine cellar); others spread in bookshelves throughout the apartment. Disgraceful, really. You've inspired me to go through them all and achieve some sort of organisational structure and get rid of the books I won't read again.
Posted by: Paris Parfait | November 05, 2009 at 10:09 PM
I am totally with Stephanie's comment. This is nothing short of mass murder. Poor books cuddling together for so long and then brutally torn apart to be sent to new homes where no-one will know them. *sob*
Posted by: DOT | November 06, 2009 at 10:37 PM
I am impressed. If asked, I would have said I didn't think you could do it. In fact I may have already said it without being asked...
Posted by: DJ Kirkby | November 07, 2009 at 06:51 PM
The Vintage Classics held their own pretty well, I see.
Posted by: John Self | November 09, 2009 at 12:01 PM