March 5, 2016

Caring About Books


2007: The big bookcase downstairs when it was Sci Fi and cookbooks.

When I was a kid and teen, I was sent to my room every single day for some failure or other.  Books were my solace.  I would read and reread the same childhood books over and over again banishing my days’ failure in their comfort.  The Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden were all Victorian era stories of lost and sad children that had happy endings.

When I reached adulthood and marriage, I was introduced to Science Fiction and Mysteries.  I gobbled them up like popcorn and was very grateful for a county library nearby.  After my divorce, many of my books burned in the fire that destroyed my Victorian.  I moved to the beach with only one bookcase, my grandma’s old white one.  I filled that over the top.  At the big house, George built me many bookcases.  Imagine floor to ceiling science fiction. 

This week I started discarding books.  Last week I did only one shelf: three bags of architecture books went to the discovery shop.  Today I am upstairs in the mysteries, WWII, and White House books. 

Don’t do one little thing at a time, says the Japanese tidying expert, “Do it all at one time.”  There isn’t enough of me to do that….to get that deep into dust and memories all at once.  I seem sentimentally attached to every book on every shelf.  “Will I read it again,” is my mantra today.  I’ll let you know my success.


                                                                    
  • Himself:  Computer games, scrambled eggs and work at the museum.
  • Herself:  Bookshelves and a shower.  Dinner out.
  • Reading:  Craig.
  • Gratitudes:  That I have all these wonderful books to re-read and share.


  • 11 comments:

    1. You certainly do have a lot of books. They appear to be nicely arranged. I'm at a point where I should bag up a stack of books and take them to the library. They accept them for their book sales.

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    2. It's not easy to let go of books. It is a great accomplishment though. Good luck.

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    3. Having to put most of my books in plastic boxes and storing them in the basement, where they are hard to access, has kind of weaned me from actual books, and I read almost exclusively from my Kindle reader now.
      I do like seeing a display of books like yours and would probably want something like that if I lived in a climate where they would not get moldy or eaten by insects.
      Even my Kindle is not safe; it got infested with fire ants a couple of times! Which didn't kill it, oddly enough!

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    4. Art had a ton of science fiction books too. I had my mixture of books, but we got rid of most of them when we moved to Hawaii. Once in Hawaii, I borrowed books from the library until I bought my Kindle. Nowadays, I only read my Kindle which takes a very teeny tiny amount of space which I love.

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    5. It's hard to recycle books, and I have to look through them. I have found notes and other memorabilia hiding inside them.

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    6. It's like letting go of children.

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    7. I grew up poor, but our house always had books and they took me to places I could only hope to see someday. Books are like friends or pets. They can be so reliable and if you take care of them, they will take care of you.

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    8. Three bags of books from the upstairs bookcases. So far.

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    9. When I go though purges, the most difficult things to give up are books. So I don't. You appear to have a lot of turquoise-bound books on your shelves!

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    10. I should do a purge of my book collection, though it's really hard to part with books that have gifted you with knowledge.

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    11. I read but don't keep many books around for long.

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