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Post by wind on May 29, 2014 21:49:25 GMT -5
A lot of us are fighting this. So...what's up with book hoarding? It's apparently the most common form of problematic "collecting." The Japanese even have a specific word for it: tsundoku  source: writersanontaunton.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/dmc9nyy.jpg My own theory is that books have so much VALUE, even when it's not *monetary* value. Even if the book is worth 50 cents in money, it can be 8+ hours of mind-blowing, transformational entertainment. And it's entertainment that connects different cultures and generations, spanning human connections through over a hundred years. So, I think we see the value, and want to hoard the value, maybe. And generally, the act of hoarding that sort of value is a positive, adaptive, life-sustaining behavior for us. How to deal with it, and overcome it:These are just ideas, some of which I've tried, and have worked for me. - If you have a friend or family member who also loves hoarding books and has ROOM to hoard them, take yours there. Evil, I know. But this can work. I've done this with some of my books, but I did it kindly, only bringing over books they hadn't read yet and wanted to read. - Craigslist "free/curb alert" them, with a "Free to GOOD home" caption, with a picture of a cute puppy. Admit your deceptive tactic in the text. Explain how you feel about the books. Ask for a library reference, perhaps, if you're nervous. - To locate the ones you want to keep, 1) find the book shelf(s) where you want to store the keepers 2) take everything off and fill it with your undeniable very favorites that you want displayed attractively 3) make the really hard decisions after that - Have your partner do the physical removal of them to the thrift store. You sort, they transport. If single, pay a friend or neighbor to do it. - Look up the price of ones you feel ambivalent about on Amazon. I've bought a lot of used books for ONE CENT there. I just had to pay for shipping. You can ALWAYS buy it again (unless you're some collector of actual rare books, but if we were that, we wouldn't be on a squalor forum, you know?  ) - Imagine what you'd have to pay per year for a storage unit to house the books. You can have a functional house + the books, but a storage unit is a necessity in that equation, unless you live in a very large house. That's it for now. |
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Post by Di on May 29, 2014 21:57:58 GMT -5
My theory is to buy the books I want to read at thrift shops and then return them before buying more. Books are easy to buy used and the quality never suffers from the pre-reading before I get them. I do not check books out of the library lest I forget to return them... but I buy a LOT of books at the library Book Nook. They sell the pulled books for next to nothing and you find every genre in the shop.
I also like "releasing" books into the wild. Doctor's offices, hospitals, on park bench, etc. I put a "free to a good home" sticky note on them. They never last long. I have seen quite a few homeless people grab them from the park benches and sit down to read immediately. Now that I have thought about it, I am going to suggest to the Arts Council that they establish a book table at Art Walk where people can pick up a book or two for free.... There is an empty building that they use on Art Walk night that could have a few tables placed inside where people could pick up, drop off, browse and chat.
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Post by wind on May 29, 2014 22:05:21 GMT -5
My theory is to buy the books I want to read at thrift shops and then return them before buying more. Books are easy to buy used and the quality never suffers from the pre-reading before I get them. I do not check books out of the library lest I forget to return them... but I buy a LOT of books at the library Book Nook. They sell the pulled books for next to nothing and you find every genre in the shop. I also like "releasing" books into the wild. Doctor's offices, hospitals, on park bench, etc. I put a "free to a good home" sticky note on them. They never last long. I have seen quite a few homeless people grab them from the park benches and sit down to read immediately. Now that I have thought about it, I am going to suggest to the Arts Council that they establish a book table at Art Walk where people can pick up a book or two for free.... There is an empty building that they use on Art Walk night that could have a few tables placed inside where people could pick up, drop off, browse and chat. Awesome. And maybe drop off? |
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Wannabee
New Member
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6
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Post by Wannabee on May 29, 2014 22:42:52 GMT -5
Di, that is a wonderful idea! I will check local shelters to see if they would accept books and magazines.
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Post by Di on May 29, 2014 23:46:18 GMT -5
The hospitals here accept books in good condition. Some are put on carts and offered free to patients. Some are priced low and sold in waiting rooms and the grft shop. If hospitals have a children's center they are almost always glad to get good quality/good condition children's books.
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Post by OnTheMend on May 30, 2014 2:34:09 GMT -5
www.bookcrossing.com/Bookcrossing.com is an interesting concept. You mark a book, release for a finder to pick for free, and you can follow where the book travels online. The idea is to relese the book again once you've read them, so the book can really start its travels - maybe around the globe! It's a bit too much of an hassle for me personally, and I have only ever found 1 bookcrossing book here from my town. But many people get kicks from this, and it is really fun idea!
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2014 13:51:18 GMT -5
I usually am able to read and release very efficiently. It hasn't always beent his way, I had used to have a few thousand books stacked up in my garage. I need to find the picture I took. Anyhow, I had a hard time finding homes for them, until I found books for soldiers. You can send books overseas to soldiers, and they really appreciate them. Look at BOOKS FOR SOLDIERS.COM. I now have only the books I really want. And having a kindle helps, you can sign out books fromt he library via your kindle and read them for free. the library automatically takes them back in 2 weeks.
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Post by charis on May 30, 2014 14:04:19 GMT -5
the teeny tiny library movement is something I found out about from a coworker whose own example was in our company newsletter. She only puts children's books in hers but sometimes people drop off adult books. The teeny tiny library can be in a yard or a whole neighborhood can do it. They are mostly birdhouse size www.jinglebellejackson.com/itty-bitty-teeny-tiny-libraries-love-em/ |
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Post by ohblondie on May 30, 2014 14:17:20 GMT -5
We are buidling a tiny free library in front of our church. Another woman has one in front of her house. We will stock it with kids books and novels, etc. The hope is that people will take something and read it - and feel free to return it OR place their already read books on the shelf for someone else to read.
I love to read my books then pass them along to my bus buddies........
I still have WAAAYYYYYYY too many books. But I am plugging thru them
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Post by nifty50 on May 30, 2014 14:43:11 GMT -5
I love the tiny curbside libraries. Some of the homeowners in my town have built and stocked them, and they are lovely! I have zero carpenter skills, but if I could someone get one of these little things built and put up by the curb, I would have a lot of fun stocking it and letting the books go out into the wild.
We've released magazines to our county jail, and I imagine they would also take books. I'll have to look into that.
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Post by dieverdog on Jun 2, 2014 21:43:10 GMT -5
You can also donate to prisons -they need books, too. Also libraries take donated books. Our library (at the university where I work) takes the donated books they don't want to add to our collection (ie, most of them) and gives them to a company called Better World Books that sell them online and we get a good chunk of the proceeds which benefits the library. It is great and we actually earn thousands of dollars off books we never would have been able to before. It's a win-win. I'm starting to buy more eBooks for my iPad and not physical books as much so less physical clutter at least.
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Post by lucie on Jun 6, 2014 6:08:07 GMT -5
I have a question regarding fiction series: when you do not like some of the books in the series, do you keep the whole series anyway, or just books you like?
Same goes with books by one author - do you keep a complete work, or just books you like?
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Post by OnTheMend on Jun 6, 2014 6:51:28 GMT -5
lucie - I keep only the ones I like. I used to try to collect some authors' whole work, but had a change of mind some years ago. I have x space recerved for books and they have to fit. I only keep ones I know I want to re-read (I'm one of those who can reread a book tens of times if the book is great one) and some books which are valuable to me otherwise even if I don't nesseserily read them (family heirlooms, Finnish national epic, mom's wedding bible, Darwin's On the Origin of the Species, handful of my childhood favourites...). I love books and am a literature major, but I have become quite minimalist with them, and have donated loads to libraries over the years (but I never had huge amounths to begin with and am not a book [or any kind of] hoarder).
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Post by lucie on Jun 6, 2014 6:57:56 GMT -5
lucie - I keep only the ones I like. I used to try to collect some authors' whole work, but had a change of mind some years ago. I have x space recerved for books and they have to fit. I only keep ones I know I want to re-read (I'm one of those who can reread a book tens of times if the book is great one) and some books which are valuable to me otherwise even if I don't nesseserily read them (family heirlooms, Finnish national epic, mom's wedding bible, Darwin's On the Origin of the Species, handful of my childhood favourites...). I love books and am a literature major, but I have become quite minimalist with them, and have donated loads to libraries over the years (but I never had huge amounths to begin with and am not a book [or any kind of] hoarder). Yes, that is exactly what I do with books now, I just wanted someone else take on it. Thank you, OnTheMend. I spent more than a year collecting books from one author, read them all more than once, kept them for two or three years and than started donating those books I was not fond of. I have not read the rest of them since, but I am still keeping them. |
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Post by canna on Jun 6, 2014 8:04:17 GMT -5
Well I don't call it a hoard. But, I collect Alice In Wonderland/Through the LookingGlass books. Have a bookcase that has only Alice books. No duplicates, but I like different book covers,different artist illustrations, old ones especially. Not a hoard but a nice "collection"  Even one in Chinese. Lots of Disney too. No other figurines, dolls, chotchki,(that would be tooo much), just books.
I also have a nice collection of Frank Lloyd Wright books. The homes, buildings, drawings, autobiography, and ideas of F L Wright. And a calendar too. I keep some of them in a nice metal Frank Lloyd Wright designed book rack.
I had a HUGE collection stacks and piles, of books by many different authors. This -was- a hoard toooo much! Could not pass a book sale, and thrift book shelves. Donated most of them and freed space in the shelf unit for other things. Don't miss the ones I donated.
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