Oh books, beloved books. What happened? How did I miss the moment in which you went from being beautiful and helpful friends to being stressful and guilt-ridden clutter?
Guilt for having bought a book knowing I would probably never read
it. Guilt because of
books that I will never
read but feel bad getting rid of because they were given to me as presents. Guilt for intending to read a book but never doing it, despite owning it for years and years. Guilt about all those unexplored worlds and all those unknown characters.
I don't want this guilt tarnishing my love for books
any longer. This needs to stop. Right now. In fact, I am already
stopping it.
At last count I had around
900 books. I've been an avid reader from an early age and have always owned a lot of books. I love looking at books. I love holding and touching them. I love being able to research things even when the power goes out. But I'm realizing that my love of books isn't
expressed through the number of books that I own. On the contrary,
how does random and indiscriminate accumulation of a certain item
show one's appreciation of it? It doesn't. Simple as that.
So
I've decided that I'm going to downsize my book collection. Big time.
I don't have a fixed number that I want to arrive at, I'll just see
how it plays out. But I do have an objective for the books I will
eventually own. In the process of decluttering my books, I've come up with five questions to ask myself to end up with a
collection of true favorites and very special books that I love and
actually read.
The five questions are:
1. Have I read this
book? If yes, proceed to question 2. If no, proceed to question 3.
2. Did I like this book?
If yes, proceed to question 4. If no, GET RID OF IT.
3. Do I want to read
this book? If yes, proceed to question 5. If no, GET RID OF IT.
4. Will I read it again?
If yes, KEEP IT. If no, GET RID OF IT.
5. Will I read this in
the next 2 years? If yes, KEEP IT. If no, GET RID OF IT.
In one of the next posts I
will tell you how I am doing working with these questions, how many
books I have already gotten rid of, what I've done with them and what
I hope to do next.
Read you soon,
Lisa
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