I’ve said this often and have said this frequently: I have way too many books.
Books are on my bookshelves (well, obviously Kelly), on the floor, on my desk, hidden in cabinets, and even double-stacked four feet tall on top of an upside down plastic crate leaning against the wall (don’t ask).
I’ve been trying to get rid of a lot of books to make room for new ones. I’ve been donating them, shoving them into friends’ faces, mailing them to good friends that lives outside of NYC, hosting giveaways, and selling them very cheaply. However, I’ve gotten to the point where I just don’t want to get rid of any more books and that’s a problem with the lack of room I have now and an upcoming move.
As of right now, I’m left with books I want to keep. I want to keep ARCs of books I’ve enjoyed AND buy the finished hardcover for my collection (which also helps to support the author). I even buy foreign editions of my absolutely favorite titles (bye bye my money). I want to keep books I haven’t read yet that looks promising, books I want to reread because I enjoyed them or want to give them another chance, and keep books with gorgeous covers. Hell, I even keep ARCs of certain books I didn’t enjoy when the front cover or back cover of the ARC is gorgeous. I know that’s an extremely bad habit to have, especially when you want to clear your shelves, but I need the motivation to get rid of them.
My question is, how do you guys get rid of books when you need room on your shelves? What is your criteria for getting rid of books – I desperately need some inspiration and motivation!
This is SO hard, so I completely understand. I recently moved all my bookshelves from my dining room into various locations (to appease the hubby) and I went through and tried to be realistic about the books I was going to read and the ones I wasn’t, which ARCs I needed to keep and those that I was only holding on to BC they were arcs – I gifted a bunch and did a lot of what you have done, but it was only about 30 this time around.
I love being surrounded by books and if you love them like you say you do you roll with the lack of space and moves bc you love them. BUT if you need to do a purge I suggest being realistic with yourself, if you didn’t enjoy the book it doesn’t matter if the cover was pretty – find the image online and save it versus keeping the book, if you read something already and have another version maybe pare down – you bought the book/supported the author, not gift it so another person can fall in love.
As much of a hoarder as I am, I love gifting books to people too, I want them to love them as much as I do.
I hope this helps :/ but it is an ongoing battle. From one book-lover to another, there will always be more lovelies to replace anything you remove…
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I’m probably not the best person to ask on this subject (since I myself am a book hoarder) but I’ll try xD
ARcs that you no longer want can be passed on or given away.
It’s really easy to hoard finished copies but try getting rid of the ones you genuinely don’t car about. If you honestly haven’t thought about a book in a year, and you can’t even remember what it’s supposed to be about or why you bought it in the first place, then you probably don’t need to hold on to it. That’s more of a library read :)
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