In my office, I have four bookcases; about 3.5 are full of books. Most of the books are not available on line. Most contain something that is unique to them.
Most of them are probably in the university library, though I know from experience that not all of them are. To go to the university library to get a book at present, I have to give up my parking spot, drive over to the library, spend time circling the parking spots near the library until someone leaves, go in, get the book, drive back to my own building, see whether I can find a faculty parking spot, sometimes give up and go to the pay-to-park spots where you have to pay even if you have faculty parking, sometimes have to go half a mile away to a lot that does usually have space, walk back to my building, and then I have it! Yay! Did I mention the sub-zero weather part of the year, for the final trek? (Before anyone gets on a high horse about walking over there, right now I cannot do that without pain, and I am having physical therapy for that.) Also, did I mention the sub-zero weather part of the year?
This would create a high time cost and a high barrier to retrieving the information that I actually need for my work, and right now have at hand easily.
I no more keep these books to prove that I read than I keep a set of plates that are sufficient for our family in order to prove that we eat.
At home, our books are important to us. We re-read or refer to them from time to time. I do cull the shelves occasionally, but I don’t know–would you cull an infrequently seen second-cousin from your family?
^^ I don’t think Marie - or anyone - is advocating to get rid of books - or things - you love. Books are both a luxury and source of comfort for many - let alone the pages of knowledge they contain!
However I think they can become a burdensome collection for some - they just keep acquiring and they keep on piling up - literally!
I think the question is to not look at the 3.5 shelves of books but to look at least book individually and decide if it is purposeful for you. Maybe in your case once you have done that you would still end up with 3 shelves of books that you want to keep. Someone else may be able to narrow those 3.5 shelves down to two.
Someone I know loves books, but decided to remove many of the books from sight - from her shelves - that were not really being used or referred to. She didn’t get rid of them initially, but pared down visually and only keep ones out that she grabs often. She boxed the rest up and put them in the attic. She realized that she got so much satisfaction from removing the visual weight of all those books from the room and didn’t miss them at all from her daily life. The room felt energized to her and she was able to still reach and enjoy her books that really, really were necessary in her life.
Books could be like clothes - collected and stashed but often not used and just taking room.
3.5 shelves of books is nothing! When my older son was given an assignment in early elementary school to count the number of books in the house he burst into tears. When he explained the issue the teacher said he could just count the books in his room - which were already over 100. There are books I could get rid of in our house.
Long ago I purged books thinking the libraries would always have them. Then I discovered my library was purging all my favorite fantasies. (This was just before Harry Potter revived fantasy.) Amazon has made it easier to find used books, but I’d rather keep the books. There’s plenty of other stuff to purge first.
Hi abasket, I should clarify: it is 3.5 bookcases, so 25 shelves of books, rather than 3.5 shelves. Math, physics, and chemistry, plus a bit of biology for when I am slumming (definitely just kidding about that). A few language dictionaries. A few biographies, which I use for sideline comments in lectures, to humanize the scientists in question.
I am live and let live on the book issue–to each his/her own. Kondo did suggest getting rid of books that do not have information you need currently. The books at my office pass the test, if “currently” is interpreted very generously.
The books in my home are mostly not for information purposes, though. For information purposes, I do have some travel books for places I am scheduled to visit, have visited and enjoyed, or hope to visit. I suppose I could toss old income tax preparation guides, if I have not done that already. The other books are mainly for entertainment and inspiration. I do reread books from time to time. Also, looking at the physical object seems to evoke memories of the book that just looking at the jacket cover online does not–an interesting effect, perhaps one that will die out with my generation of physical book holders.
I am just sort of resentful of the implicit suggestion that my family is keeping books to show off that we read (in effect).
Unlike religion, you don’t have to subscribe to or follow every single thing MK teaches. If books as a whole make you happy, keep them. Purge socks or whatever. Organize your shoes but keep all socks if that’s your thing.
Speaking of science books, we have quite a few. Biochem and MolBio books get outdated fast, but others keep their information value (my Mr. would never part with his ratty Organisch-chemische Experimentierkunst Weygand-Hilgetag even though the individual “recipes” can be easily googled and found online. ).
@QuantMech , listen, anyone who has shelves of math, chemistry, physics and biology books is not going to get any question from me that they “read”!
You should keep your books and fully enjoy them as you clearly do. As long as that area where they are stored does not frustrate/pain you but gives you joy/satisfaction/comfort!!!
This is just my opinion. When I watch the Marie Kondo series on Netflix I see people out of control. As my H pointed out the tidying up is just a temporary solution. No one is addressing the whys of how they got to the point of needing to go through mountains of clothes or Christmas decorations. With that being said, there’s also the flip side of people having things that they want or need for reasons not everyone understands. If @QuantMech you have 3 or 30 bookshelves with books you enjoy, want and need, then keep them. They are on bookshelves, not scattered all over the place or in stacks because there is no place to put them.
Personally, I like the series. She gives many of us a jumping off place as to how to get started in decluttering. It’s a logical method, but it’s not for everyone and it’s certainly a ymmv situation.
Huge difference between needing books for one’s work versus just displaying every book you ever read. I do agree, QM. And a huge number DH’s fall into either needed ongoing for work, or could be. Due to the nature of the work, not online or in a usual U library.
In contrast, bff had the rows of bookcases, only occasionally picked up one she’d alread read. The books became more decor.
In our child raising house there were two walls of bookcases, 20 ft long, 10 ft tall. Then an upstairs wall, 12 long, 8 tall. This didn’t include the children’s books. They each had several bookcases in their rooms or husband’s necessary home research library, floor to ceiling walls of books. It isn’t unusual for me to visit friends and family in similar situations. Sometimes people worry about retiring because there’s no room at home for the office books. I enjoy Kondo very much, but never imagined her advice useful for those with true home libraries. Weeding out and deaccessioning books for a move or after a death in these cases needs a much more specialized approach. imho
I do think books look cluttery unless all bound in matching leather. That was always my fantasy.
One way to make the books look less cluttery is to sort them by height. The actual book depth does not matter - just keep the spines all lined up. Use bookends!! And paperbacks… those are meant to be read and passed down to the next reader.
I’m thinking about how in the romance novels, there’s often a scene where the governess discovers the duke’s library and starts falling in love with him because he has so many books. Or the scene from Beauty and the Beast where he shows her his library.
I was very sad when my old library system finally discovered our new address and cut me off from their excellent ebook collection. They’d already automatically renewed my card once so I though I was safe. Our new library system is not as extensive.
Yes, that helps. It’s the different colors that bother me. A nineteenth century English country house library, with all the books bound alike in dark leather is calming. For a while decorating magazines showed book shelves full of books in matching paper jackets. I could imagine doing the book jackets, but not all the labeling.
In the empty nesting house all the books are in one room where I can just close the door, except for two antique glass fronted Secretary desks holding sets of matching leather bound books that were gifts to me of authors I re-read regularly. They are old books in original bindings.
This article is a simple but good read about her methods and books - and how you should make book decisions for your own situation.
I do appreciate her saying that by saying goodbye to books you never touch or have true interest in you can have more room for new books that you will touch or have interest in!
This tops anything I ever thought. BFF, due to being the closest location to her parents’ home, received 95% of the stuff from their house that was saved. Some were good antiques. The rest sat in the basement for the past 15 years- and now she’s preparing to move to a second home in a dream spot, for her. Now tackling the parent boxes.
84 - you read that right- boxes of china. No, not the Queen of England. One full set that would accommodate up to 26 at dinner. (She gave that to a friend who has the same pattern and 5 kids to distribute it to.) She sends me pictures and it’s all beautiful. But her parents lived near several outlets and china gave her mother some joy- we aren’t sure just what pleasure that was. Not big entertainers.
Sure it would be nice to be made of money and rebind all my books in leather. But it’s more important to me to be able to find my books. Fiction is alphabetical by authors. The rest is sorted by subjects. I wish that publishers had better standard sizes. My bookshelves in the bedroom are the right size for 90% of my books, but there are a few publishers of hardcovers which make the books just a bit higher than that. Grrrrrr.
Wow 84 boxes of China! My parents had a lot of china due to diplomatic parties, but nothing like that. It makes me happy that my younger son (who hates spending money) was glad to take my Mom’s old wedding china. It’s a bit worse for the wear, but it gives me happy memories of my childhood when I eat off it in his apartment.
My husband is pretty minimalist, but he has a book collection that he loves. He also enjoys the process of looking for specific books for his collection. It’s a hobby that he enjoys and results in lots of books, which live at our vacation home. We recently downsized to a smaller vacation home and H is considering selling a part of his collection because we don’t have space for all of his books. Currently his books are in a storage unit–climate controlled, etc. etc.
Books are making me anxious at the moment. Twenty five years ago, when my parents moved from the book filled house in which they raised us to the book filled house in which my father was raised. We got rid of so much and I took care of removing all my personal possessions, except my books. I took the ones I wanted and was boxing the remainder for a used book store when my parents told me not to bother with that. They wanted them. Movers put the boxes in a barn. Right after the move, my father died unexpectedly and a bunch of stored boxes were never unpacked. Or so I thought. I never really gave it much thought until a box of my childhood books arrived in the fall from a sister who had had them on her own bookshelves, unbeknownst to me. I didn’t even remember them but they have my name, a date, the bookstore label. Obscure Alcott titles. I was 12. I thanked her. Then another box arrived from another sister. I thanked her, too. There is a lot more to the story, including the fact one sister is downsizing. On my to do list for January is making sure a pod full of my long forgotten books doesn’t show up here unexpectedly.
The whole story would probably be a good episode for some tv show, if not for Kondo. It could probably be a stand alone mini series.
My father passed this last summer and my mother was able to easily let go of his clothes by taking all the usable one to less well off family members out of state. The relatives kept what fit and passed along the rest to other men. Having in mind the purpose of blessing someone else eases the pain.
