Decluttering Books
Wednesday, November 13th, 2002 16:49![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittiwakeAt the weekend I went for lunch at my parents, and in the interests of decluttering I returned a huge hardback biography of Lord Mountbatten that I borrowed ages ago, which was in my unread non-fiction crate, as I couldn't see myself actually getting round to reading it in the next year. I also took back my mother's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park single and gave my sister's partner a Hot Club de France cassette that I never play, as he is a Django fan.
Unfortunately my parents were also giving away books they don't want anymore, so I came away with 3 paperbacks to add to the unread non-fiction crate, although luckily it probably won't take as long to read all three, as it would to read the Mountbatten book! Two of the books are about Chinese emperors, 'Treason by the Book' and 'Emperor of China, Self-Portrait of K'ang-Hsi', and one is about the Great Game 'Macartney at Kashgar'. On the cover of the Macartney book is a photo of him and Francis Younghusband, which reminded me that I need to read and return the biography of Younghusband too.
The pile of books in my unread fiction crate seems to be diminishing quite quickly, but it's a bit of a con, as I have left the six volumes of 'Remembrance of Times Past' on a bookshelf, when they should really be in the crate, and I also have a pile of unread mythology books on the dining table, when they should be split between the two crates as some of them are books of myths and some are books about myths.
I have decluttered a lot of novels to the charity shop recently, and there are some more ready to go at the weekend, including some mistakes* from the un-read crates, but I need to do the same with my non-fiction shelves next.
*There are several categories of mistake:
Books I think that I ought to have read (e.g. Madame Bovary)
Books that have pretty covers (e.g. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist)
Books that make up the numbers in a 3 for 2 offer or whatever (although I often give these away as presents to people who will like them).
Sometimes you read the book and then realise that it is a mistake (e.g. As I Lay Dying) but sometimes you don't even get that far. I had been trying to read my unread novels in more or less alphabetical order, but when I got up to the E/F/G authors I kept putting Madame Bovary back and looking for something more congenial to read. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist is still in the crate as I haven't got up to T yet, and I'm not 100% sure that it is a mistake.
Unfortunately my parents were also giving away books they don't want anymore, so I came away with 3 paperbacks to add to the unread non-fiction crate, although luckily it probably won't take as long to read all three, as it would to read the Mountbatten book! Two of the books are about Chinese emperors, 'Treason by the Book' and 'Emperor of China, Self-Portrait of K'ang-Hsi', and one is about the Great Game 'Macartney at Kashgar'. On the cover of the Macartney book is a photo of him and Francis Younghusband, which reminded me that I need to read and return the biography of Younghusband too.
The pile of books in my unread fiction crate seems to be diminishing quite quickly, but it's a bit of a con, as I have left the six volumes of 'Remembrance of Times Past' on a bookshelf, when they should really be in the crate, and I also have a pile of unread mythology books on the dining table, when they should be split between the two crates as some of them are books of myths and some are books about myths.
I have decluttered a lot of novels to the charity shop recently, and there are some more ready to go at the weekend, including some mistakes* from the un-read crates, but I need to do the same with my non-fiction shelves next.
*There are several categories of mistake:
Books I think that I ought to have read (e.g. Madame Bovary)
Books that have pretty covers (e.g. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist)
Books that make up the numbers in a 3 for 2 offer or whatever (although I often give these away as presents to people who will like them).
Sometimes you read the book and then realise that it is a mistake (e.g. As I Lay Dying) but sometimes you don't even get that far. I had been trying to read my unread novels in more or less alphabetical order, but when I got up to the E/F/G authors I kept putting Madame Bovary back and looking for something more congenial to read. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist is still in the crate as I haven't got up to T yet, and I'm not 100% sure that it is a mistake.
