Recently I worked with a team to help a family empty a deceased parents’ home. Both parents loved books, but the mother, who had been a librarian, had a huge selection of books. Our team boxed up over 120 boxes of books. It was ironic that on the last day one of the team came across a book entitled Living with Books.
The Living with Books stated that books offer building material for the formation of character, the activation of intelligence, and the deepening of sensitivity. The book was a guide for librarians, but some of the chapter titles were intriguing; for example, “People and Books”, “Familiar Friends and Companions”, and “Daily Help for Daily Needs.”
Attachment to books makes it hard to let books go. They do become “friends and companions”, but if books begin to take over the whole house, it also affects our style of living. This is not the first home where I have worked with this many books. How does one decide how many books to keep and what books to let go?
Some questions to consider:
How much room do you have to store your books in a way that honors the book? Books should not intrude. They should not obstruct walking space. They should not be stacked on the floor.
How many books do you have that you have not yet gotten around to reading? Make it a rule that you will read 3 of your unread books before buying one new book.
How many of these books will your reread or reference? Set a realistic number and check at least once a year that you have not surpassed that number.
When thinking back on that book we found, maybe more of our reading should come from the collections of books in our local library. Then books can be continually recycled and there is always something new for us to read.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer
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