I’ve mentioned this (Okay, gone on about this) in a couple of other threads as well - we got rid of many books and scores in June 2008 in preparation for showing the house. We moved out to temporary quarters in Oct. of 2008, and everything went into storage; we moved into the new house late Dec. of 2009 when it was at the bare minimum required for occupancy. From there, it was Sept. of 2009 when I finally got to unpack the books and put them in their new shelves.
Recently, I went to read or re-read some of our Robertson Davies and couldn’t find any. Funny… Oh, well, maybe I’ll read some Timothy Findlay - Hmm, can’t seem to find any of his, either. Funny… What about Margaret Atwood? Nope, missing as well… Michael Ondaatje? Phew, he’s here… So, either one of the 20 boxes still in the midst of the basement getting finished is mislabeled and full of books, or we somehow gave a bunch of Can Lit to a friend’s church rummage sale… It fits the pattern - I’ve never yet purged the book collection without wanting or needing something that I gave away within the year.
steadierfooting - I do use the libraries as well. Here in Toronto, we are extremely well served by the Toronto Public Library, where you can place a hold on books and they will be brought to your neighbourhood branch as they become available. I also have a Research Reader’s card for the University of Toronto library system, and it has just become part of my routine to go there once a week. That being said, I still go past bookstores all too frequently. There’s no time limit on books that I own, I can re-read if I wish, I can go over things I didn’t get the first time around, I can catch up on author’s references (“Isn’t that the name of a character in Dickens?”). I have always accumulated books at a faster rate than I can read, and I’d rather change my surroundings to accommodate that fact than suffer the consequences of trying to change that habit.
Then there are the times when I’m after something that even the U of T library doesn’t have, or has lost. That’s how I came to own a copy of Hoffman’s “The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr”, the book upon which Schumann’s “Kreisleriana” is based, for one example.
Just saw this and found it slightly humorous as I just started the process with some old computer books. I filled up two paper grocery bags at least and made a dent in my office.
The big job is removing about half of my sci-fi and fantasy books. I also need to figure out if I should donate them or try a book swap/used book store. I won’t go the Internet route as it will be too much work.
Just wanted to agree with this part. Are you moving back to Ocean County area?
Yup – back to Brick. We moved away, and then found that we were driving the hour back every weekend to spend with family. We finally decided that it would save us a lot of time to just move back.
but…but…
A wall of books are great insulation on that cold north wall.
What else could I put under the corner on the couch if not
a little stack of paper back books.
.
and where would I put my drink while typing at the computer.
and I would have to buy something to prop my feet up and the end
of a long day
.
and sometimes…just sometimes…I even READ them:rolleyes:
ok I do donate those books I just can’t stand anymore
but, there is more than a little truth in all I have posted.
I purge as often as I can stand, and I still have about 15-20 boxes of books. Once I gathered up all my old Dell sf stuff from the 70s that had those lurid painted covers. The guy at the used book store was very happy to get those - apparently there are people who collect them.
I’m about to start another purge. I just don’t have the room for them any more.
Some years ago I downsized, and took 45 boxes to the local used bookstore.
They took 23 boxes worth, said that was unheard of (Bookbuyers in Mountain View CA for the record), gave me something like 800 in cash and 1500 in credit.
As I lived within walking distance, I figured if I ever needed them back, I could grab them off the shelf and buy them with the credit.
For years, the staff marveled at my credit total whenever I did get a book (I took very few if any back).
The rest I left in front of the nearby Mountain View library return slot.
Did I mention I had to rent a UHaul just to move these books?
I joined PaperBackSwap.com to get rid of books. The idea was that I could transfer my book credits to the sister site SwapaDVD and build up my blu-ray collection.
I now have several more books than I started with. So much for my plans (To be fair, I also have a few more blu-rays as well)
I can also recommend The Last Word, on 40th between Walnut and Locust; cash or credit, and they donate the books they don’t buy. Not a huge store but crammed with stock. Handsome tuxedo cat, too.
So you’re the one who provided the Perry’s I bought for ten cents each in South Lake Tahoe.
I have about the first 90, give or take one or two, but I feel a connection to them because we provided Forry with some of the German magazines when I was MITSFS librarian.
Over break we dragged boxes of books out of our storage area, and my daughter took about 8 - 10, including some of her old kids books, to Half Price Books where she got about $80. They donate the ones they don’t use to hospitals, which is nice. But you’ll have to pry my 6,000 or so sf books out of my cold, dead, fingers. They are in my will, in fact. A complete run of Galaxy has to be worth something.
The best book exchange I’ve been in was a poker game, with books for chips. It worked well because you can keep out the ones you want and bet with the ones you don’t. I was very lucky that day, which is how I wound up with The Best of Barry Malzberg.
I do use the library for recent, expensive, non-fiction books. But the library doesn’t carry sf magazines, and in any case my sf collection is probably 5x the size of the library’s, with no Robert Jordan books either.
