Thursday, March 19, 2009

Book Purge 09 – non fiction, the esoteric

I am still working on the non fiction part of my bookcases. I have moved on to the esoteric case – books on spirituality, the goddess, Wicca, druids, philosophy, tarot, Arthuriana and child rearing.

Some of my goddess spirituality books

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Some of my tarot books

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Does a woman who had not really read the cards in 7 years actually *need* 36 books about tarot? That’s not counting the books that come with the decks. I have 77 tarot decks (I was a collector in my child free days), at least 30 came with substantial sized books. Do I really need 77 tarot decks? No. No I don’t, but that is a purge for another day. 

I also don’t need quite so many goddess books. I’ve been walking this path for almost 16 years now. I am beyond the ‘gather every book you can find on the broadly defined topic’ stage and my interest has drifted from the Celtic focus. Working with ruthless determination & speed I kept maybe 10 of those books and about that many tarot ones.

I wish I could show you my shelves of child rearing and Arthuriana books. But there is only about 18 inches between them & the back of the sofa and it is impossible to get a shot of them.

Most of the child rearing books were passed on to me. I am passing those on too. I am beyond the Happiest Toddler stage and my kids are finally sleeping  so the half a dozen ‘get you child to sleep’ books Havoc led me to find, can at last leave my home. I’m keeping the 3 ‘raising boys’ books and Protecting the Gift, Spiritual Parenting and Buddhism for Mothers. But the rest will be going.

I’m torn on the Arthuriana books. I loved Arthurian legends and read everything – fact & fiction about that era and those people.  The fiction ones are for the most part well done & entertaining, the scholarly ones are mostly really dry reading.  But what if the boys take an interest?

*sigh*

I can’t go there. I just can’t. If I accept that as a valid reason to keep books, then I will only be able to purge the romance section of fiction. I’ll keep the Stephen Lawhead series and Mists of Avalon but the rest need to go.

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The first of many trips to Goodwill, the library and other donation places *sob*

Fiction will have to wait until next week. Havoc and Mayhem have today and tomorrow off from school for Parent-Teacher conferences. Havoc has been getting notes home lately about him making poor choices in his behavior, so it’s probably not going to be the happiest of conferences this evening.

3 comments:

Mea Culpa Bath and Body said...

ohhhh...I feel ya on the books :-) I am thinking of giving away my fiction books - Stephen King and Koontz type books....but I keep thinking - maybe my girls will like to read them...I a such a book worm and never gave away a single book.

And non-fiction and spirituality books...wow...I dont know what to do with half of them...totem books that are general same things over and over again with little different things; wicca books that tell you how to do the circle over and over again....and I do feel bad gettin rid of them :-(

Anonymous said...

Oh you are a brave brave woman. I have stacks of books just waiting for new bookshelves but unfortunately I have run out of wall space..oops. I am able to recycle some novels, but I have great difficulty even thinking about thinning out the shelves.. and you never know when someone will need a book that only I have lol.. cheers Kim ps. I wish that I lived closer I would definitely help you clean out your book

Deana Birks said...

I found your blog from Shimelle's class and now I'm deep in your archives reading about your book purge. :) I just had to respond to this post because I used to have the majority of those books and purged them. I haven't read the cards in years, but I did hold onto a handful of books (Mary K. Greer, Rachel Pollack) and just a few basic decks. I sold the rest of the decks on eBay and actually made enough to pay for a short weekend trip! I can't bring myself to part with the remaining tarot stuff, even if I never use it again.