Take my books ... please!
I've mentioned my struggle with Stuff before, and rjw1 suggested a "cleansing fire". I'm surprised at how tempting that sounds. In my first year at Durham, I went home for the Christmas holidays and left lots of stuff in my college room. When I got back in January, I discovered that a water pipe in the ceiling had burst, so I effectively had a hosepipe pointing at my bookcase. The pipe had been fixed, and everything else in the room was fine, but several of my books were soaked through. (Fortunately they were just novels rather than expensive textbooks.) After they dried out, they were still readable, but they "inflated" a bit, particularly the ones that I put on top of radiators. If an equivalent thing happened now, i.e. a highly specific disaster that eliminated a lot of the Stuff in my flat, I think I'd actually be relieved. There are some things that I use every day (e.g. my bike), so I wouldn't want to lose them, but other things I'm just keeping out of habit.
So, following up on my Sony Reader post, it's time to start getting rid of some old books. My goal here is to clear five shelves worth of space, so that I can get rid of the bookcase in my hallway. Some of these I've never read. Others I'm not likely to read again. Others I might re-read, but if so then I'll look for the electronic version. I don't really like the thought of paying twice for the same thing, but the money that I've already spent is a "sunk cost". I might be able to reclaim some of that money by selling these books second hand, but that would take time/effort. I've marked the water damaged books with a *.
***
Readers Digest
Each hardback contains 4 novels. They're in quite small print, so I don't know whether they're abridged.
1:
Dan Brown: "The Da Vinci Code"
Gervase Phinn: "Up and down in the dales"
Henning Mankell: "The Return of the Dancing Master"
Jennifer Donnelly: "A Gathering Light"
2:
Robert Ludlum: "The Janson Directive"
John Rickards: "Winter's End"
Peter Lovesey: "The House Sitter"
Niccolo Ammaniti: "I'm Not Scared"
3:
Val McDermid: "The Distant Echo"
Clive Cussler: "Trojan Odyssey"
Tracy Chevalier: "The Lady and the Unicorn"
Steve Hamilton: "Blood is the Sky"
4:
Barry Eisler: "Rain Fall"
Michelle Paver: "The Shadow Catcher"
Peter Robinson: "The summer that never was"
David Baldacci: "The Christmas Train"
5:
Robert Harris: "Pompeii"
Dennis Lehane: "Shutter Island"
Peter May: "The Runner"
Gay and Laney Salisbury: "The Cruellest Miles"
Media tie-ins
"Babylon 5 Omnibus 1"
"Battlestar Galactica" #1-3 (adaptations of the old TV episodes)
"Magic the Gathering: Prophecy"
"Red Dwarf: Primordial Soup" (scripts)
"Red Dwarf: Programme Guide"
Star Trek (adaptations):
"The City on the Edge of Forever" (Harlan Ellison's original script)
"The Classic Episodes" vol 1-3 (all of the live action TV episodes)
"Log 4-6" (some of the animated series)
"Star Trek III"
"Star Trek IV"
"Star Trek VI"
"Star Trek Generations"
Star Trek TOS (original novels):
"Chain of Attack" *
"The Romulan Way" *
"Bloodthirst"
"Yesterday's Son" *
"Time for Yesterday" *
"The Final Reflection"
"Timetrap"
"Double, Double"
"Ishmael" *
"The Kobayashi Maru"
"Black Fire" *
"Mindshadow"
"Home is the Hunter" *
"Ghost Walker"
"Crisis on Centaurus" *
"Legacy"
"The Rift"
"Sanctuary"
"Doctor's Orders"
"The Captain's Daughter"
"Crossroad"
"Memory Prime"
"Probe"
"Prime Directive"
"Sarek" (hardback)
"The Lost Years"
"A flag full of stars" *
"Recovery"
"Federation"
"The Return"
"Section 31: Cloak"
Star Trek Vanguard:
"Harbinger"
Star Trek TNG:
"Survivors"
"Strike Zone"
"A Rock and a Hard Place"
"The Eyes of the Beholders"
"Q in Law"
"Grounded"
"Possession"
"Diplomatic Implausibility"
"Immortal Coil"
"The Battle of Betazed"
"A Hard Rain"
"Metamorphosis"
"Vendetta"
"Dark Mirror"
"Q-Squared"
"Imzadi"
"Triangle: Imzadi II"
"Section 31: Rogue"
Star Trek Voyager:
"Section 31: Shadow"
Star Trek DS9:
"The Siege" (nothing to do with the TV episode that had the same name)
"Wrath of the Prophets"
"The 34th Rule"
Star Trek DS9 (relaunch):
"Hollow Men"
"The Lives of Dax"
"The Left Hand of Destiny" #1-2
"Avatar" #1-2
"Section 31: Abyss"
"Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness"
"Mission Gamma" #1-4
"Rising Son"
"Worlds of DS9" #1-3
"Warpath"
"Fearful Symmetry"
"The Soul Key"
Star Trek New Frontier (all written by Peter David):
"New Frontier" #1-4 (half-length books to introduce the series)
"Martyr"
"Fire on High"
"The Captain's Table: Once Burned" (the best Trek novel I've ever read)
"Double Helix #5: Double or Nothing" (it says TNG on the cover, but it's really an NF book)
"The Quiet Place"
"Dark Allies"
"Excalibur: Requiem"
"Excalibur: Renaissance"
"Excalibur: Restoration"
"Gateways #6: Cold Wars"
"Being Human"
"Gods Above"
"Stone and Anvil"
Star Trek SCE:
Book 1: "Have tech, will travel" (collects ebooks #1-4)
Book 2: "Miracle Workers" (collects ebooks #5-8)
Star Trek Mirror Universe:
"Obsidian Alliances"
"Glass Empires"
Star Trek other:
"Articles of the Federation"
"The X Files: Book of the Unexplained vol 1" (big hardback)
Other novels
Michael Crighton: "Jurassic Park"
Clive Cussler (Dirk Pitt stories):
"Pacific Vortex"
"Mayday!"
"Raise the Titanic!"
"Vixen 03"
"Night Probe!"
"Deep Six"
"Cyclops"
"Treasure" *
"Dragon"
"Sahara"
Graham Edwards: "Dragoncharm"
Frederick Forsyth: "The Day of the Jackal" *
Neil Gaiman: "American Gods"
William Gibson: "Neuromancer"
Andrew Harman: "The Sorcerer's Appendix"
Robert Harris: "Fatherland"
Donald Lindquist: "Berlin Tunnel 21"
Robert Mayer: "Superfolks"
Garth Nix: "Mister Monday"
Luke Rhinehart: "the dice man"
JRR Tolkien:
"The Hobbit"
"The Fellowship of the Ring"
"The Two Towers"
"The Return of the King"
Misc
"What Would MacGyver Do? (True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life)"
***
Meanwhile, here are a bunch of comics that are left over from my last clearout:
***
Black and white reprints
DC Showcase: The Haunted Tank vol 1
Essential Captain America vol 1
Strips (mostly black and white)
Dilbert: What would Wally do?
Dork Tower vol 1: Dork Covenant
Dork Tower vol 2: Dork Shadows
Dork Tower vol 3: Heart of Dorkness
Dork Tower vol 4: Livin' La Vida Dorka
Dork Tower vol 5: Understanding Gamers
Dork Tower vol 6: 1D6 Degrees of Separation
Dork Tower vol 7: The Dork Side of the Goon
Dork Tower vol 8: Go, Dork, Go!
Other comics
100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call
Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
It's a Bird...
Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby, vol 1
Nightwing: Ties That Bind
Puffed: The Unauthorized Movie Adaptation
Robin: A Hero Reborn
Supergirl: Wings
Thor: The Eternals Saga
The Astounding Wolf-Man vol 1-2
X-Factor Visionaries (Peter David), vol 1-4
Zot! vol 2-3
***
So, here's the plan: I will be at home all day on Sunday. If you would like any of these, let me know, then pick a time when you can come over and collect them. (I'm making the same offer on Freecycle.) Anything left on Monday morning will go to the charity shop or the recycling bin. If there are particular items that you'd like, and you really can't get here on Sunday (e.g. because you live a long way away) then let me know, and we may be able to sort something out, but I want to get rid of this lot as quickly as possible before my motivation wanes! Despite what I said at the start of this post, holding each book as I typed this list has made me want to put some of them back on the shelf (particularly the Trek novels). Ah well, at least I know which ones to buy first as ebooks.
There are more things that I want to turf out, particularly comics, but it will take me a while to identify them, so I think it's better to make a small amount of progress now rather than waiting until I can do the whole lot in one go.
Edit: All items are now "taken" (subject to collection) except for the Windows 2000 book. I suspect I'll wind up dumping that one.
So, following up on my Sony Reader post, it's time to start getting rid of some old books. My goal here is to clear five shelves worth of space, so that I can get rid of the bookcase in my hallway. Some of these I've never read. Others I'm not likely to read again. Others I might re-read, but if so then I'll look for the electronic version. I don't really like the thought of paying twice for the same thing, but the money that I've already spent is a "sunk cost". I might be able to reclaim some of that money by selling these books second hand, but that would take time/effort. I've marked the water damaged books with a *.
***
Readers Digest
Each hardback contains 4 novels. They're in quite small print, so I don't know whether they're abridged.
1:
Dan Brown: "The Da Vinci Code"
Gervase Phinn: "Up and down in the dales"
Henning Mankell: "The Return of the Dancing Master"
Jennifer Donnelly: "A Gathering Light"
2:
Robert Ludlum: "The Janson Directive"
John Rickards: "Winter's End"
Peter Lovesey: "The House Sitter"
Niccolo Ammaniti: "I'm Not Scared"
3:
Val McDermid: "The Distant Echo"
Clive Cussler: "Trojan Odyssey"
Tracy Chevalier: "The Lady and the Unicorn"
Steve Hamilton: "Blood is the Sky"
4:
Barry Eisler: "Rain Fall"
Michelle Paver: "The Shadow Catcher"
Peter Robinson: "The summer that never was"
David Baldacci: "The Christmas Train"
5:
Robert Harris: "Pompeii"
Dennis Lehane: "Shutter Island"
Peter May: "The Runner"
Gay and Laney Salisbury: "The Cruellest Miles"
Media tie-ins
"Babylon 5 Omnibus 1"
"Battlestar Galactica" #1-3 (adaptations of the old TV episodes)
"Magic the Gathering: Prophecy"
"Red Dwarf: Primordial Soup" (scripts)
"Red Dwarf: Programme Guide"
Star Trek (adaptations):
"The City on the Edge of Forever" (Harlan Ellison's original script)
"The Classic Episodes" vol 1-3 (all of the live action TV episodes)
"Log 4-6" (some of the animated series)
"Star Trek III"
"Star Trek IV"
"Star Trek VI"
"Star Trek Generations"
Star Trek TOS (original novels):
"Chain of Attack" *
"The Romulan Way" *
"Bloodthirst"
"Yesterday's Son" *
"Time for Yesterday" *
"The Final Reflection"
"Timetrap"
"Double, Double"
"Ishmael" *
"The Kobayashi Maru"
"Black Fire" *
"Mindshadow"
"Home is the Hunter" *
"Ghost Walker"
"Crisis on Centaurus" *
"Legacy"
"The Rift"
"Sanctuary"
"Doctor's Orders"
"The Captain's Daughter"
"Crossroad"
"Memory Prime"
"Probe"
"Prime Directive"
"Sarek" (hardback)
"The Lost Years"
"A flag full of stars" *
"Recovery"
"Federation"
"The Return"
"Section 31: Cloak"
Star Trek Vanguard:
"Harbinger"
Star Trek TNG:
"Survivors"
"Strike Zone"
"A Rock and a Hard Place"
"The Eyes of the Beholders"
"Q in Law"
"Grounded"
"Possession"
"Diplomatic Implausibility"
"Immortal Coil"
"The Battle of Betazed"
"A Hard Rain"
"Metamorphosis"
"Vendetta"
"Dark Mirror"
"Q-Squared"
"Imzadi"
"Triangle: Imzadi II"
"Section 31: Rogue"
Star Trek Voyager:
"Section 31: Shadow"
Star Trek DS9:
"The Siege" (nothing to do with the TV episode that had the same name)
"Wrath of the Prophets"
"The 34th Rule"
Star Trek DS9 (relaunch):
"Hollow Men"
"The Lives of Dax"
"The Left Hand of Destiny" #1-2
"Avatar" #1-2
"Section 31: Abyss"
"Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness"
"Mission Gamma" #1-4
"Rising Son"
"Worlds of DS9" #1-3
"Warpath"
"Fearful Symmetry"
"The Soul Key"
Star Trek New Frontier (all written by Peter David):
"New Frontier" #1-4 (half-length books to introduce the series)
"Martyr"
"Fire on High"
"The Captain's Table: Once Burned" (the best Trek novel I've ever read)
"Double Helix #5: Double or Nothing" (it says TNG on the cover, but it's really an NF book)
"The Quiet Place"
"Dark Allies"
"Excalibur: Requiem"
"Excalibur: Renaissance"
"Excalibur: Restoration"
"Gateways #6: Cold Wars"
"Being Human"
"Gods Above"
"Stone and Anvil"
Star Trek SCE:
Book 1: "Have tech, will travel" (collects ebooks #1-4)
Book 2: "Miracle Workers" (collects ebooks #5-8)
Star Trek Mirror Universe:
"Obsidian Alliances"
"Glass Empires"
Star Trek other:
"Articles of the Federation"
"The X Files: Book of the Unexplained vol 1" (big hardback)
Other novels
Michael Crighton: "Jurassic Park"
Clive Cussler (Dirk Pitt stories):
"Pacific Vortex"
"Mayday!"
"Raise the Titanic!"
"Vixen 03"
"Night Probe!"
"Deep Six"
"Cyclops"
"Treasure" *
"Dragon"
"Sahara"
Graham Edwards: "Dragoncharm"
Frederick Forsyth: "The Day of the Jackal" *
Neil Gaiman: "American Gods"
William Gibson: "Neuromancer"
Andrew Harman: "The Sorcerer's Appendix"
Robert Harris: "Fatherland"
Donald Lindquist: "Berlin Tunnel 21"
Robert Mayer: "Superfolks"
Garth Nix: "Mister Monday"
Luke Rhinehart: "the dice man"
JRR Tolkien:
"The Hobbit"
"The Fellowship of the Ring"
"The Two Towers"
"The Return of the King"
Misc
"What Would MacGyver Do? (True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life)"
***
Meanwhile, here are a bunch of comics that are left over from my last clearout:
***
Black and white reprints
DC Showcase: The Haunted Tank vol 1
Essential Captain America vol 1
Strips (mostly black and white)
Dilbert: What would Wally do?
Dork Tower vol 1: Dork Covenant
Dork Tower vol 2: Dork Shadows
Dork Tower vol 3: Heart of Dorkness
Dork Tower vol 4: Livin' La Vida Dorka
Dork Tower vol 5: Understanding Gamers
Dork Tower vol 6: 1D6 Degrees of Separation
Dork Tower vol 7: The Dork Side of the Goon
Dork Tower vol 8: Go, Dork, Go!
Other comics
100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call
Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold
It's a Bird...
Jimmy Olsen: Adventures by Jack Kirby, vol 1
Nightwing: Ties That Bind
Puffed: The Unauthorized Movie Adaptation
Robin: A Hero Reborn
Supergirl: Wings
Thor: The Eternals Saga
The Astounding Wolf-Man vol 1-2
X-Factor Visionaries (Peter David), vol 1-4
Zot! vol 2-3
***
So, here's the plan: I will be at home all day on Sunday. If you would like any of these, let me know, then pick a time when you can come over and collect them. (I'm making the same offer on Freecycle.) Anything left on Monday morning will go to the charity shop or the recycling bin. If there are particular items that you'd like, and you really can't get here on Sunday (e.g. because you live a long way away) then let me know, and we may be able to sort something out, but I want to get rid of this lot as quickly as possible before my motivation wanes! Despite what I said at the start of this post, holding each book as I typed this list has made me want to put some of them back on the shelf (particularly the Trek novels). Ah well, at least I know which ones to buy first as ebooks.
There are more things that I want to turf out, particularly comics, but it will take me a while to identify them, so I think it's better to make a small amount of progress now rather than waiting until I can do the whole lot in one go.
Edit: All items are now "taken" (subject to collection) except for the Windows 2000 book. I suspect I'll wind up dumping that one.