Monday, April 06, 2009

Book Purge 09 – final totals

Today I went through the outlying bookshelves – the ones in the bedroom and bathrooms – and purged them. Then I did some final rearrangements of the books and shelved the new books. I now have the equivalent of about two and half shelves of open space and shelves that were packed 2 deep are now single packed for the most part, allowing for some grouping issues (I have all the Agatha Christies piled on top of one another on one shelf for instance and all the books relating to Tudor England are crammed into another shelf as well). 

I’m now going through the LibraryThing booklist & matching up books. I now see I should shelve things in an alphabetical rather than an aesthetically pleasing manner. It makes tracking them easier

These are the final purge totals. (I found a stash of books from the last purge on the bottom shelf of a bookcase blocked by my sewing machine cart)

History 59
Esoteric 38
Fantasy 6
Science Fiction 35
Mystery 42
Romance 32
Humor 10
General fiction 18
Random non fiction 12
Grand total 252

 

About half of them are being donated to various places and the other half will soon be listed on ebay, half.com or bookmooch.com. If they are still in my house come the autumn equinox they will be donated as well

I feel good. I feel lighter. I feel….

empty…

those shelves look so empty…

unfilled…

vacant…

I…I…need more books!

I have a burning desire to go buy books to fill those bare spots in.

Look at the lovely open spaces, just waiting for more books. They want more books. What are bookshelves for if not to be stuffed to overflowing with books?

Must resist call of empty shelves….

8 comments:

The Four Week Vegan said...

Congratulations! You did alot of work on this purge. Of course, you need more books - there is nothing sadder than empty bookshelves - let those shelves do what they were intended to - hold books. Sorry, I am no help. I guess I am an enabler when it comes to books.

Nicole Feliciano said...

Nice work. Books are a $%^*( when it comes time to move so it is always smart to constantly have a pile to donate to the library.

Tracy said...

I still can't believe you read that many books. I'm lucky to get through 1 or 2 a year. LOL!

Unknown said...

All of our books are kids books! And I can't bear to part with any of those.

Kellie said...

That's inspiring! I need to purge my kids' books. We always read the same ones anyway.

Eve said...

LOL I hear ya! I LOVE new books, the feel, the smell..sigh....I am no help, am I? LOL

Creative Junkie said...

Congrats on your purge!

But quite honestly, I wouldn't blame you one bit if you ran out and filled those shelves all over again.

You can never have too many books.

Angela said...

How ironic! I'm in a purge frenzy - and it feels GREAT! Not getting rid of my reference books for fiction writing, but tossing a ton of fiction.

Didn't take photos, though, and I should have. I have four boxes - and counting.

Thanks for a great post! (And yes, I do feel the lonely books left on the near-bare shelves calling out to me for new friends...) Wish me luck when I take them to the used book store and try NOT to get credit to buy!!!