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I’m in the midst of a life transition and I’ve found that it’s a good opportunity to do some culling. I’m fine with some extravagances (I have probably about 15
by dhosek 3y ago
I’m in the midst of a life transition and I’ve found that it’s a good opportunity to do some culling. I’m fine with some extravagances (I have probably about 1500 books, of which I’ve cataloged 1,166 on LibraryThing (my transition has paused cataloging activity as my library is mostly living in boxes now and part of the cataloging is shelving everything by Library of Congress call number). On the flip side, I have a very well-defined wardrobe now, with 9 long sleeve shirt, 9 short sleeve shirts, 4 pairs of trousers, 10 pairs of socks and 10 pairs of underwear (I make a point of doing laundry once a week, the more than 7 of everything allows me to occasionally let laundry day slip a little). I have a complete list of all the furniture in the house, which is going to end up being reduced somewhat. I don’t know that I’ll be down to 200 items (excluding books), but I think that once I’ve finished my transition, I will be definitely much more deliberate about what I allow into my home.
- ocdtrekkie 3y agoA ways ago I started sliding towards DRM free digital books. They take up much less hoarding space.
- cookie_monsta 3y agoI like the way a bookshelf looks on a wall. I like that friends can browse and discuss and borrow. I like looking at book titles and thinking about when I bought them or how I felt when I read them. An e-reader is amazing for travel, but doesn't give you any of the above.
- dhosek 3y agoPretty much that. My bookshelves are not merely a collection of books, but they’re also an expression of myself. Many of the books I have, I can tell you where, when and why I bought them. Even books that I’ve let go for the sake of space still carry that memory with them. Not to mention that many of the books I own are not available as ebooks and likely never will be (a lot of my collection veers towards the esoteric and specialized).
- ocdtrekkie 3y agoSure, but you should be intentional about the books you want a paper copy of. "I will read this again regularly", "I want to page through this for reference often", "I want to display my love for this book" are all good reasons to own a physical copy. But if you have 1,500 books, how many fall into that category? Maybe a hundred?