Thinning the herd

[pbray]

The Great Book Cull of 2010 continues, with more paperbacks boxed up for donation tonight. Every book needs to be gone through first, since my habit of using random bits of paper as bookmarks means that there are all sorts of treasures in there, from credit card receipts from the days when they printed the entire number on the slip, to an old student loan coupon which had my social security number and current address on it.

I've started the cull with romance and general fiction. Most of the romances are Regencies, and it's a catalog of loss as I look at all the publishers and lines that no longer exist, and the receipts from bookstores that closed long ago. I laughed as I realized that yes, I own four Regencies that bear the title A LONDON SEASON (mine, by the way, was a Zebra Regency 1997 release.)

Moving on to cull the F&SF will be harder, but it's time. Do I keep sentimental favorites like the Star Trek episode novelizations by James Blish? If I haven't read a book in more than 10 years, is it time to let it go? Or do I keep the ones I remember enjoying? My goal is to cut down my book collection by at least half--if there's zero chance that I'm going to reread it, then it needs to go.

Comments

[jemck.livejournal.com]

I may have to adopt the Nancy Pearl rule - new to me and useful, thanks.

We've reached maximum possible bookcases unless we build another room onto the house and once a year or so I do the 'read once, won't read again' cull - and still we end up with more books than we can shelve...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

The majority of my collection is in plastic storage bins, rather than in bookcases, because I simply ran out of space.

I've done periodic cullings through the years, getting rid of one or two hundred books at a time, but nothing on the scale of what I'm trying to do now.

And don't get me started on the research books....