Bizarrely, Is Not Feeling Guilty
I've been going through and weeding my bookshelves over the past 2-3 days. And I'm not currently huddled in a little ball on the floor, sobbing about destruction and desecration, which is pretty much an absolute first for me. (I've weeded before, but mostly only in a half hearted manner where books got banished off to a little pile in my cupboard, or "donated" off to my parents/siblings shelves)
Of course, I wasn't absolutely ruthless. Pretty much every title I picked up I looked at, flicked through, and listened to see if there were any second thoughts. Second thoughts gets you put back on the shelf, even for "it might be nice" or "I'm still not ready yet".
I removed a bunch of duplicates - all the ones I had unknowingly (damn you, UNSW Book Fair and your 50c paperbacks!), and a couple of ones I very knowingly had. The starred Harry Potters are going. It's all right, I still have my copy of Sorceror's Stone, the 4 original adult edition covers, the original cover paperbacks up to OotP and all the hardcovers.
I also have ruthlessly removed pretty much all of the random paperbacks I bought at the Book Fair and thought might be interesting, and discovered I really didn't care for. And the old Star Trek novels I've got got cut back to "actually have plots I like" or "are hilariously slashy" or "are the ST:TMP novelisation, and thus contain Roddenberry's own Slashy Comments".
A bunch of my old school books I was holding onto for sentimental reasons went too. There're still some left, but they're the ones I actually like. That weeding had happened previously, but I never had to do it to my HSC texts, so they were all still there. They're all gone now - the only HSC text I've 'kept' is Brave New World, and I actually used Dad's school copy for that.
It very odd, but I actually am quite happy. And a bunch of books have suddenly acquired Shelf Homes which did not have them before (mostly new ones, but also a couple of old ones that got bumped last time I rearranged). And my 'to read' pile is down to only 20-something books, and I'm already on top of the reading for the next two months of review groups.
Donation. It's good for the soul.
Of course, I wasn't absolutely ruthless. Pretty much every title I picked up I looked at, flicked through, and listened to see if there were any second thoughts. Second thoughts gets you put back on the shelf, even for "it might be nice" or "I'm still not ready yet".
I removed a bunch of duplicates - all the ones I had unknowingly (damn you, UNSW Book Fair and your 50c paperbacks!), and a couple of ones I very knowingly had. The starred Harry Potters are going. It's all right, I still have my copy of Sorceror's Stone, the 4 original adult edition covers, the original cover paperbacks up to OotP and all the hardcovers.
I also have ruthlessly removed pretty much all of the random paperbacks I bought at the Book Fair and thought might be interesting, and discovered I really didn't care for. And the old Star Trek novels I've got got cut back to "actually have plots I like" or "are hilariously slashy" or "are the ST:TMP novelisation, and thus contain Roddenberry's own Slashy Comments".
A bunch of my old school books I was holding onto for sentimental reasons went too. There're still some left, but they're the ones I actually like. That weeding had happened previously, but I never had to do it to my HSC texts, so they were all still there. They're all gone now - the only HSC text I've 'kept' is Brave New World, and I actually used Dad's school copy for that.
It very odd, but I actually am quite happy. And a bunch of books have suddenly acquired Shelf Homes which did not have them before (mostly new ones, but also a couple of old ones that got bumped last time I rearranged). And my 'to read' pile is down to only 20-something books, and I'm already on top of the reading for the next two months of review groups.
Donation. It's good for the soul.