Culling the Herd

[#1]

Hmmmm.  I don't really have "rules" for the culling but recently I've accumulated a measly 2 boxes of books to cart off to the Friends of the Public Library (I'm working on culling more but that might require a Valium first; painful).  Things that went into the box were:

Books I had duplicates of and kept the nicer/better annotated/less tatty copies

Books I bought for a dollar out of interest, read, and promptly forgot about

Books I bought for a dollar that I will never, ever read (what possessed me to buy Euclid's Geometry? - that is easily my worst subject hands down)

Super-old mass markets I've had since junior high and haven't read since high school

Old textbooks (I've slowly been clearing the old pre-med curriculum out of my library, much as it hurts; the epidemiology textbooks were schlepped to my work office)

Things that don't go into a box are:

Books that I might have to read again if I go to grad school for English (and since I haven't got a field of study yet, the possibilities are wide open)

Books that are part of a set (e.g. I have all the BN classics, all 220 or so of them - none of them leave in the box for the sale)

Anything with Winnie-the-Pooh in it

Anything signed by the author

Things I haven't read yet (and this is the kicker - I accumulate faster than I read....so not much ever goes out of the house to the library sale)

I have another problem in that I scribble in my books and the library sale doesn't like books that are marked-up (or textbooks, boo).  IMO, they shouldn't be picky since the CR library is in the toilet after last year's flood and needs all the help it can get.

Bethanne - what do you do with ARCs?  I've occasionally passed them on to friends but if no one wants it I don't think they should be sold in the library sale (seems wrong - possibly illegal too - so I've never taken any there not that I've accumulated a huge number of ARCs).

[#2]

I don't and I won't. That's the rule. If the office gets to cluttered, shelves will be placed elsewhere. In my last place there were books in every room except the bathroom, a problem I suggested solving by getting some books printed on Yupo, a waterproof paper, but I could find nothing I would want to read on Yupo. I even refuse to get rid of different editions of the same book because the notes aren't the same from edition to edition.

[#3]

I can't do it.  I made the mistake of getting rid of some books when I was younger and have been kicking myself ever since.  I am now having to buy back the books I got rid of years earlier.  Now there are always exemptions to the rule and they are generally the books I bought for a dollar from Dollar Tree or some of books I've bought from the Friends of the Library Book Store.  If there is even a .ooooo1% chance I may choose to reread the book I will not let it go.

[#4]

Blasphemy! 

If I have more than one, ok.

If I couldn't stand it, ok.

If I have just the one, NO WAY!

Of course I'm going to read it again, perhaps 10 years from now. Perhaps next week. So the only reason why I'd buy a book more than once is I read it to pieces the first time, or I'm planning to give it to someone else. Dumping wanted books, blasphemy.

[#5]

Pedsphleb, I send most of my ARCs to a avid-reader friend who used to be in bookselling -- so she understands what can and can't be done with them. She also lives in an area that has superb recycling facilities, so once she's read the ARCs (or doesn't read them, as it may be), she strips the covers off and puts pages in bin.

[#6]

I take my books to my high school classroom and freely lend them out.  Throughout the year, my current and former students know my books are there for the taking.  At the end of the year I strongly urge students to take something for summer reading.  Some  books return, but some do not.  It has been an exercise in coping with loss to let them go out the door that way, but I figure a lot of the books get into many hands that way.  If you have 'extra' books, why not give them to a high school teacher with the understanding that they are to be "lent"?

[#7]

If by culling the herd you mean buy a new bookshelf then, yes, I totally do that. And I will do that until I run out of wall space. 

I do get rid of books. Just not that often. Or very many. Usually they are books that I bought for $.25 at the annual used book sale in college. They were $.25 for paperbacks and $1.00 for hardcovers. I bought a lot of books from them over the years but, hey, it was for charity. Of course I didn't read a lot of the books I bought from them. I've started getting rid of the ones I'll just never read because if I've owned it for 8 years and I haven't read it I likely never will.

I also get rid of books I bought or was given that I just didn't like. If I don't even have the desire to skim it again it goes. Typically if I buy a book new I keep it, especially if I've bought it in hardcover. I very rarely get rid of books I've bought new because when I buy them I make sure they've been recommended by people I trust so the likelihood that I won't like it is pretty low.

But I got rid of so many books from my childhood (all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys) that I'm still kicking myself over doing that unless it's a wallbanger I keep it.  

[#8]

I almost never get rid of books.  But when I moved from SF to NYC last year, my girlfriend and I went through our collection and basically took anything that could easily be found at a public library and which did not have sentimental value, left those on the shelves, and packed the remaining books that we wanted to keep (ended up being about half).  Then we had a big party and invited all our friends over and told them they could take anything that was on the shelves.  There was only a handful of books left at the end of that, and we donated those to a local organization.  I can't say I regret it, still have the books I truly love and since I started working here at BN.com I've acquired a ton of new ones, so I'll probably end up doing the same thing again next time I move anywhere long distance. 

[#9]

I personally don't know anyone who keeps books like I do. I am thrilled to read  about this subject. I have books in everyroom of my home and I also do notes in margins (which most places prefer not to recycle). I like to scan used bookstores for 'margin notes' to find out what others are thinking.

As for recycling my books;

I have a'will not reread' stack.

A stack of 'reference books' I won't use,again.

And books I bought and can't figure out why...will never read.

Otherwise, I keep books, magazines and newsletters, sometimes sharing with friends. I recently have been thinking of switching to electron versions but it is not as enjoyable as the feel of paper in my hands with the option of writing notes with pencil in the margins. So I continue to collect and enjoy my freedom to read and enjoy.

Cora

[#10]

Jon, you bring up a good tradition -- the book swap! I'll write more about that in a future post (some excellent stories), but for those of us with more limited shelf space, swaps can be a good way to keep reading new books without getting buried.

[#11]

Likek titusville, I am a teacher and love to have kids free reign on any books in the classroom.  I actually had one returned after two years!  (My classroom books I write my name on the edge of the pages, with the book closed. - This usually lets parents know at a glanced where it came from and where to return it.)

My adult books at home have different categories.  Most mysteries are donated or traded at a local second-hand shop - once they're solved, I'm not interested in reading them again.  I have a few author-signed books and pop-up books that no one's allowed to touch. And everything else stays - somewhere.

Gardening books are as close as I can get them to the back door, and thus the garden.  Knitting books near the yarn collection.  Computer books near the computer.  My religious books are quite old, mostly, so up they go, high on the bookcase, "closer to God".  Sci-fi books are anywhere and everywhere.  Magazines stay in a basket until I clear them out periodically.

Guess I don't clear out much, after all.