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Post by lesaulerouge on Jun 6, 2014 8:15:26 GMT -5
My best tip is a touch radical, but it has worked for me - emigrate to another country where the books don't come easily in English I am lucky enough to enjoy the same kind of fiction as both my mother and father, so when they come over to visit they bring me a stack of books, and take back the ones that I have read. Now only very rarely do I put something on my wish list that I would like, and MY book count has not gone up hugely in the past 12 years. I also got tough and books that I had read and was unlikely to read again, books that I had been handed down that I might never get around to reading etc, have all gone, sent back with my folks for a secondhand book sale (charity for their village hall) they do once a year and what they didn't sell was given to a charity bookshop (goodwill?). I recently had a declutter of cookery books that had never been used or that didn't work, and put most of the travel books away upstairs. I like having a few useful reference books downstairs, and have been quite ruthless with weeding those out I think. However, we are struggling with children's books. Our kids read in both their languages, and accumulate loads and loads. Knowing that we cannot get English books here our large families often buy them books, for which we are very grateful, don't get me wrong, but each has a huge bookcase overflowing. Dd can declutter with help. Ds finds it almost impossible, and being older what he declutters often only goes as far as his sister's bedroom! They have outgrown picture books, but there are favourites that I cannot bear to part with, though I try to limit these to one big boxfull. Will be hard as dd is getting to the end of a much loved series of which we have loads and loads (Charlie & Lola). I had given loads of lovely outgrown books to English friends with small children, and was happy they were gone, but eek, they have just given them all back which I was not expecting. Have given away to more British friends, but still have a boxfull that are too young for the second family's kids. I also have boxes of learn to read books that we used to teach both children to read in English. Outgrown early readers and picture books in French I have given to the village schools for their libraries, and some to the village store when it opened up as they have a reading and games room. Then we were given hand me down books by our parents and family, so older children's books in English. How do I know what they might want to read later? It is hard to declutter those.
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Post by Jannie on Jun 6, 2014 8:21:57 GMT -5
Just some random thoughts from me. Why do we save books after we have read them? Do you ever re-read a novel? Or are they art, used to decorate our homes? A shelf full of hard-bound books seems to indicate we are cultured, educated, thoughtful people. But who the heck do I need to impress? Releasing books is hard- most libraries don't accept donated books. I know because I once saw a library employee unloading the book return deposit box. He had stacked up maybe 50 books someone had donated-er, dumped. I asked if I could take a look through them. He said, of course, take anything you want, they're going in the trash anyway. So now I tend to leave books I'm done with at the hospital lobby, in doctors waiting rooms, even my local laundromat. etc. I'll often drop back later and find them gone. And why on earth do I buy new books when I've already got a pile of "to be read" books on my nightstand? Better to get books on my Kindle, at least they don't take up space. Buying books I may never get to...now that seems like "hoarding", yes, keeping unnecessary things for possible future use.
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Post by PaperGrace on Jun 6, 2014 8:32:35 GMT -5
Husband and I struggle with this, and some of our problem lies in combining our collections! He has a bunch of books he might be willing to release, that I want to read, and I have some that I'm done with that he wants to read. At this rate we need never buy a book again, but of course there is always something new we want to enjoy together!
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Post by lesaulerouge on Jun 6, 2014 8:36:44 GMT -5
Maybe I should feel grateful that dh doesn't read!
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Post by lucie on Jun 6, 2014 8:38:22 GMT -5
I do reread books - I actually need to have my favourites at hand, they keep up my sanity and often help me to recover from a stress. I borrow books from a library and only buy those I keep borrowing again and again. I do have a Kindle, but I need my favourites in paper. And not all of them are available as ebooks. Mind you, I only have about 160 of fiction books in paper (not counting childrens books I save for future kids - about 150 of those) and some non fiction (about 60).
Our library has a good system for donated books - pick out those needed for the library and the rest goes on the shelf for other visitors to take.
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Post by Di on Jun 6, 2014 9:23:05 GMT -5
Jannie, I think that your experience with the library was the exception rather than the rule. Most are glad to get books for their book sale/book shop, although I am sure that some books do get tossed: children's books with writing in them, damaged books. Books with rot, etc.
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Post by Reader on Jun 6, 2014 12:37:01 GMT -5
Looking around.... eh... yeah, I am definetly a book-hoarder... But I LOVE books!! I think I could live in a library... . Not all of my books are read, yet, but I`m planning to.... But often I find new books that I read instead. I have books I have read a several times, and plan to read them again... But I really think i should consider getting rid of a "few" of my book collection... maybe start with thoose I never ever will be reading again.. but in some strange way my books are decoration to me... Oh well, I am a book - hoarder, I realize that now..
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Post by guihong on Jun 22, 2014 21:58:54 GMT -5
When I moved, I was determined to prune all books. My criteria were: 1. Did it have great sentimental value? (that is, signed by my father at Christmas, or a special gift) 2. Did it have regional value? (I have many, many books about Cleveland's history-including crime and disaster ). 3. Could I get it easily at the library? (This meant I could give up all my classic novels. If I want to read them again, they're in the library) 4. Did it tie in with hobbies? (especially genealogy) 5. For the cookbooks: 1) I had to have made at least five recipes from it, and liked them; 2) I had to have done so within the past six months. 6. If it repeated much the same information as other books (like my history books), I kept the most complete one. I really don't need six books on the Tudors. I ended up donating six boxes of books and three boxes of just cookbooks to the library book sale. After that ordeal, I'm going to apply my criteria to any book I consider buying, or even magazines (that was another story).
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Post by Di on Jun 22, 2014 22:20:53 GMT -5
This weekend, between R. and me, 5 Huge boxes of books were purged!!!!
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Post by ohblondie on Jun 23, 2014 11:56:13 GMT -5
A neighbor on the next block constructed one of those tiny free librarys. She placed it closer to the road and included two nice adirondack chairs so people can sit and read if they want. My hubby is handy and I think we have enough scraps of wood to build one. I know we have extra fence posts. I cannot think about this for this summer though. TOo much other stuff to do. So I will continue to hand them out on the bus or at work (I saw a fellow rider reading one of my "hand me down books this am. What a kick.)
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2014 17:56:13 GMT -5
We have a book room in my house with a large bookshelf we built into the wall. I recently organized it into different catagories, like: Cooking, home repair, photo albums, etc. I kept one shelf for transistion books, mostly fiction, that gets a turnover when they are read. I find it helps if all the transisiton books are in the same place for when I go to the thrift store to donate. and I can refill it when I get back. But I must admit, my favorite tool is my kindle.
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Post by lucie on Jul 2, 2014 3:56:13 GMT -5
Does anyone else have a favourite book you reread when you are feeling down? The one that never lets you down and always helps you to feel better?
For me, it is Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series, specially the Swallowdale.
I would love to hear what works for you.
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