Boxes of Books: What to keep and what to pitch?!

[Adcurium]

I'm going to start cleaning the basement and I'm anxious to thin out my 'stuff'. I know I've got boxes and boxes of books; paperbacks, hard cover, etc. While I fantasize about having a large study someday that is filled with books, I doubt I'll ever read them again. And... Perhaps in te future I'll end up owning an iPad it a Kindle. So, do I keep em? Pls convince me one way or another. PS... I'm a packrat and I know I shouldn't be....

 

[rue]

I could never get rid of my books. A kindle is fine I guess, but I would rather hear and feel the turning of the page while I'm reading and no machine is going to smell like the real thing (yes I love the smell of books). How about getting rid of the ones you don't like and replacing the paperbacks that you do like with hardcovers?

 

[sheeplady]

I'd keep them, unless I knew someone to give them to. But I am very sentimental. Perhaps you could give some of them as gifts, with nice inscriptions inside? That way you know they are going to a good home, and you could ensure that they go to someone with the taste to like the books you chose.

Please no one ever come to my house and ask to see the basement. We do not allow anyone in the basement, that is how bad it is. (It is actually not THAT bad, but I seem to be surrounded by minimalist people who buy a new fake tree each year and then throw it out- they don't store anything, not even off-season clothing. And they all feel the need to comment on the fact that I keep my decorations from year to year.) We're going to have to move in about 3 years too. That should be *fun.*

 

[rue]

That's a really great idea

Oh so you're like me huh? No one has EVER seen my basement. I never throw anything away either lol

 

[Romy Overdorp]

I love books! And you love them too since you have boxes full of them. I say keep them!

 

[sheeplady]

That's a really great idea

Oh so you're like me huh? No one has EVER seen my basement. I never throw anything away either lol

People come, and we give them a tour, minus the basement. I once had guests ask to see the basement, and the answer was "NO!" I may have to rethink this though- I've been stripping the door from the kitchen into the basement, and I'm going to want to show that off when I am done, since it is the first door I've done. Maybe I'll just clear the stuff one can see from the top of the stairway... and learn to open the door and stand so they can't get past me into the basement.

You can't throw stuff away that is useful! And the sad thing is that being raised on a farm, I know there is a use for *everything.*

 

[Bluebird Marsha]

Cleaning out books is something that is just fraught with pain. It 's not just a possession; it's the written word, ideas made flesh, etc. , etc. I think we must have some genetic memory of life in a world where books were rare, and we just can't bear to toss them! But I'd like to put in a heretical suggestion to go tossing. Books and magazines are capable of overwhelming a house, and they're a bear to move. Don't do it all at once. Take a stack, and evaluate each item. Will you ever read it again? Is it valuable (in a monetary sense- check Ebay or AbeBooks for confirmation), do you like it? If the answer is yes to any of those- keep it. If it's no on all counts, throw it away. Instantly. If you keep it, put it on a nice shelf where it's protected. If you want it, it must be worth treating nicely, right? And picture what you can do with your basement when you've cleaned it up. Maybe it could eventually be that nice study. BTW, been in your shoes and seen plenty of folks in the same boat. I've got some books that I have duplicates of in paper, hardcover, AND Nook version, so I'm a fine one to talk!. But you have to control those critters.

 

[Adcurium]

So I've been boxing books little by little and taking them to the local library for donations. I've got to say, it's somewhat liberating! The last three books we bought were for the kindle and the iBooks reader. Hello 21st century, goodbye clutter!

...well, I'll have a lot to do before I'm really clutter free but, it's a step in the right direction!

 

[DNO]

I have floor to ceiling bookshelves in two rooms on my house...packed full. There are books in every room and the basement...well, like others in this thread, that is totally off-limits to visitors. Last fall my wife and I decided to clear some stuff out. We filled 50 boxes of books and donated them to Goodwill. Once we got started it was fairly straightforward. I basically asked "Will I ever read this book again" or "Do we need this for reference"? The "no's" ended up in a box.

Having said that, I have no idea what happened to the space we created. We basically just made room for more art and more books. We are both avid readers and, after being a collector for 50 years, I cannot turn down a book that may be a useful reference tool....and there sure is a lot of those!

 

[Puzzicato]

I seem to be surrounded by minimalist people who buy a new fake tree each year and then throw it out- they don't store anything, not even off-season clothing.

That's just weird. Not to mention extremely wasteful! I can understand not necessarily wanting to see it in the middle of summer, but how can you live that way? Maybe I am just unhealthily attached to my possessions.

On the book thing - if I didn't enjoy it the first time AND I don't think I need to refer to it again AND the person who gave it to me isn't likely to notice that it is no longer there, then I will give it to a charity shop. I don't see a need to hang onto those books. Anything else gets to hang around a while.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

I'm originally from Illinois (small town). I took four WW2 books that I didn't like that well, but that were unusual. The librarian wasn't all that thrilled to get them. Of course, Illinois has a 0.1 or 1% property tax for the library, and each library board is allowed to set their rates. Anyway, she didn't seem to like getting books that she hadn't ordered. Wichita Public Library takes it all, and sells what they don't think will get read, or doubles of books that they have.

Later

 

[Doctor Strange]

Both my parents died last year, and as it happens, my sister and I have been going through their books for the last few weeks. Understand that we both already have too many books - I've got thousands: several 7'x3'x1' bookcases with doubled rows! Though I have occasionally given some to friends or donated to libraries, it is simply not in my archivist nature to toss out books!

Anyway, they left behind many hundreds of books: About half are hardcover popular novels, which I have no personal interest in; there are many volumes on photography (which was their business), art, Judaica, movie history/criticism, and some antiquarian rarities. I've already brought home three boxes and put five more in a storage unit... but I expect to grab a couple of more as we keep sorting through the piles and shelves!

We will ultimately donate about ten boxes to an independent bookstore, library, or VA hospital... and will keep at least as many for ourselves. I have no idea where they're going: I'll put more in the storage unit as needed. But I cannot bring myself to throw out books - not the yellowing paperback SF novels I read 40 years ago, not my college textbooks from the seventies, and not the books I know my Dad enjoyed.

Yes, it's a sickness. But compared to today's transitory digital files, books are unique artifacts that don't require eventually obsolete hardware for interpretation... and there are certainly worse things to be drowning in!

 

[tonyb]

You're a man after my heart, Strange.

I have nowhere near as many books as you do, but I have no interest in being rid of a single volume in my relatively modest library.

And a library is what it is, too -- housed in a small room given over to books, mostly, and old furnishings and other small, precious things.

I once asked a friend who happens to be in the used book business what these electronic reader gizmos bode for his business. He said he wasn't the least concerned. They'll just make "real" books all the more collectible, he figures, and hence all the more valuable. For those of us who have no intention of parting with our books that's but an academic consideration, but still, it's nice to think these old volumes are appreciating in value.

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I just don't engage with electronic media the way I do with print on paper. I get a link to the electronic version of The New Yorker emailed to me a few days before the print edition arrives in my mailbox (the real mailbox, the one on the four-by-four post out by the street), but I rarely look at it, even when I'm looking forward to reading a particular piece I've heard mention of, because I just don't sink into a screen the way I sink into actual print.

 

[Bugguy]

This is killin' me... I have 400+ vintage science fiction paperbacks - each cataloged and bagged. I brought 6 tubs up to the garage last month to finally sell for one money. Fortunately no takers. Back to the garage and now back in the basement. I figure I won't have any pension money left after social securtity tanks, so at least I'll have something to read.

 

[Wally_Hood]

There's about four hundred books in the book cases and in boxes in the garage (maybe more: I last took count about twenty years ago, and the total ebbs and flows a little). I, too, cannot turn loose of my books, even if I know I probably won't read them again.

I generally take those I can bear to part with to the Good Will or Salvation Army, but I think in the future I will donate to the library.

Many years ago I read a quote that went something like "Next to big game hunting, book collecting is the most thrilling sport of all."