Short of a wonderful opportunity dropping out of the blue and begging to be seized the kind of change I want will take time to achieve but one thing I can confront immediately is the way books have taken over my flat. I love being surrounded by books but given my limited. Living space they've gotten totally out of control, they are everywhere. When I pulled out my weekend bag, unused for a month, to stay with my mother over Easter I found a Waterstones bag of books I'd already more than half forgotten about. There are books in every corner, on every surface, in bags, in the bathroom, under, on, and above their shelves. It's impossible to find what I want, overwhelming to consider the amount that are waiting to be read, and all very, very, dusty.
With all this in mind my mission for today is to clear out somewhere between 500 and a 1000 of them. That would be a maximum of about a third. Whilst I write this I'm looking a a substantial pile of about 250. Already I can't imagine where they went - for such a big pile it's made very little impact on the shelves and I'm running out of easy choices.
These books are ones I've read, ones I realise I will almost certainly never read, old textbooks from undergraduate days, cookbooks I simply don't refer too (which I would love to keep but they take up so much space which could be better used by books I will use), unsolicited review copies that are creating pressure rather than pleasurable anticipation... Those, and a few which have been gifts are causing the deepest pangs of relative guilt but that helps nobody.
It was easy to discard what felt like yards of Mitford letters, Noel Cowards letters, the diary's of Duff Cooper and Harold Nicholson - all fascinating and amusing, none of which I've seriously read in the many years I've had them. Gardening books have mostly gone - I don't have a garden of my own, rarely read them, and am much more the sort to plant and see than properly plan. Besides they no longer reflect the sort of things I want to grow, for that I have a collection of River Cottage handbooks.
This isn't about de cluttering, I'm much to acquisitive to ever successfully do that, but whilst my mind has turned to gardening it feels more like having a good pruning session for the stronger growth of my personal library. What will be left are books that work better together, which don't threaten to bury me in a cascade of paper and obligations, and hopefully a flat that resembles a home more than a warehouse.
I *so* know where you're coming from! I have four large boxes in the garage awaiting charity collection, and that's just the start. I really don't want to one day lumber my offspring with so many books to get rid of that they can't cope. I've actually cleared out some I've been carrying around for 30-odd years and still not read - it's surprisingly liberating.
ReplyDeleteLiberating is just the word! I want my flat back, and maybe space girl new books... And in all honesty if I didn't read those social history texts at university and not in the 20 years after I'm probably not going to now
DeleteI was just going to say the same thing, that while I am still collecting books, I am also finding it very liberating to weed out the shelves & let books go. Though like you I can't really see the difference him the shelves themselves. My clearing out is on a much smaller scale, and I'm a bit in awe at the thought of getting rid even of 250, let alone 1000. I hope you'll keep us posted on progress.
ReplyDeleteProgress is covered in dust and has a sore shoulder today...
DeleteI do this on a monthly basis Hayley. I have to else I get overwhelmed. I live in a small flat too and know what it is like. I get rid of a out fifty books a month, review copies, charity shop buys make up this number and I have learned to be ruthless. If I lived in a house heaven knows what I would do!
ReplyDeleteI don't have as many books coming in as you so it's taken me a bit longer to get here but it's time for a proper purge. I'd like to have had a book sale but don't think it's practical.
DeleteThis pile looks impressive!
ReplyDeleteMore so, as I have been attempting to weed my own books and for me the process goes so much slower (then again - I try to read the non-read ones before finding new places for them to go)
And - the deaths in family do spur this kind of activity.
It's long overdue for me to have a clear out. Normally nothing separates me from a book!
DeleteWow! That number is LARGE. Although when you started describing what would go, it sounded more manageable... but then you mentioned losing the Mitford letters and I went back to being overwhelmed.
ReplyDeleteI have lots of collections of letters, all unread, and much prefer the idea that they might find a more appreciative home than that they continue to sit gathering dust here. if I had a bigger house they'd all have stayed though!
DeleteIt's so personal isn't it, despite their not being always personally meaningful? - the books people give one, for instance, that don't quite hit the spot. Good luck - I suspect the feeling of achievement will be well worth the pain. (I rather like Elaine's commitment to regular clean-outs - perhaps that would create less anxiety for me.)
ReplyDeleteAt thus stage the pain is mostly physical. I will have a week or two before the books leave so there's time to rescue anything I think I might come to regret.
ReplyDeleteI can't get rid of collections of correspondence even though I never read them. I know one day they are going to be the perfect thing to dip into. Perhaps when I have reached full Anita Brookner status. What I wish I had is the five volume set of Elgar's letters that I relied on quite heavily for my Senior Thesis in history about 25 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI've had them for so long unread that it seems unlikely I'll ever get into most of them now so they'll go. If I ever change my mind I'd probably try and get some sort of e copies which don't take up space. For now the prospect of not being crowded out by books is outweighing any other consideration...
ReplyDelete