After my oldest had purged his clothes, and made a huge difference in his room, I decided to purge books...but what do you do with loved books.

Books that I didn't love had always moved on...but these were the authors and classics that I loved....were fabulous books.

So......I deicded to find them homes.  I posted on facebook, and had takers....and have moved 90% of my fictions and mystery novels.  and that inspired me.

I found a bunch of great kid books and passed them on to a young woman with a son, and another young woman's nephews.

then i moved the wonderful picture books and put them on a display in our church hall for kids to borrow

now i am moving through theology books

so.....what do you do with all your books?

Do you have the same challenge?

Cudos to you Pinga, I still have two shelves of books that I"just want to read one more time to decide if I can get rid of them".

I have sold some to second hand bookstores, donated some, given away some (I've got German ones- few people would want those, and I keep thinking- maybe I will read them again...

But, once I have figured out which e-reader I could download german books to and when i have enough money to buy one, then I think I might be ready to let go- because I could get them over the net anytime.

Maybe...

Mrs. Anteater, that was my challenge...the ones I wanted to read one more time.

John Le Carre, Laurie R King, Marilyn French, Jean Swanson....and the list goes on.

It is amazing to actually be able to see the shelves.  We have gone from piles of books on shelves, stacked up....to having empty shelves and extra bookcase

so, here is why i posted this....

some people think I am odd that I am getting rid of many of my favourite books.

I feel they are better being read by people who will also enjoy them or be challenged by them.....

what do you think?

I am to books as a crazy cat lady is to cats.

Fortunately, books don't poop or spray.

Purging stuff is so good - very tough for me too, but good, as you say Pinga.  We've done some of that too.  Here in my community, our local symphony has a HUGE used book sale twice a year - so most of our surplus is donated there. 

I like your idea of putting stuff up for offer on fb etc.  And we've given stuff to other families as well.  When the kids were little, I organized an annual book exchange at their school - kids could bring in books they'd finished with, we sorted them all & then they could all select new ones - right before March break.  We had a little credit system worked out, so it was like a 'shopping trip' for the kids - and EVERYONE took something home (if they wished!) regardless of whether they contributed.

We've been much better in recent years at using the public library - sadly I'm a slow reader, so I do chalk up some overdue fines!   But of course,  not everything can be found in the library - like many of your theology books I imagine.

Keep at it!

When you say you posted on Facebook, do you mean there is somewhere on Facebook where you can give books away, or is this just in your circle of friends?

I have the same problem, way too many books, not enough space.

If I could answer for Pinga-she posted in her status-for friends

But facebook also has marketplace-like Kijiji or a garage sale and I suppose she could have posted there.

Last year we passed on several boxes of kids and adult books. We still have lots and I like having them around. We are -as we still unpack and re-arrange taking about 1 box a week of assorted stuff to the Salvation Army store.

We have a great public library system in Kingston. We have a smaller home and around 1,500 books (plus a similar number is my wife's study). We have instituted a rule now: one new book in, one old book out. 

It sort of works. The pruning improves the library as a whole and the library and the new books help to keep us up to date.

There are many books in my home......office, living room, bedroom, basement.  I have drastically pared them down several times (they seem to mulitply when I ignore them for a while!).  Very few novels on the shelves or piles now.  These we get from the public library and they get taken back.  Sometimes though one of us will be given a book and foolishly put it on a shelf after reading it!

I can't make myself get rid of books full of interesting and useful information because I fear my kids or grandkids may need them someday.  Books about 'making do' -  repairing, growing fruit and vegetables and the preservation of those items, care of chickens and other livestock, keeping bees, patterns for footwear, gloves, baby items, home remedies as used by my grandmother - all may be valuable in the future.

One of my wife's complaints about my book-buying ways back in the day was the amount of space they took up. Now with e-books, if my reader gets too full I can just drop some cash for a mini-SD card and, voila, more space for books (up to 32GB). Cheaper and more space efficient than bookshelves by far. So, I may start buying more books again.

Mendalla

Tabitha is correct...and that actually was interesting, as it brought a request from someone further afield....who introduced a need at shelters for mystery novels.....and that was being looked at to be solved by someone who lived close.

all in all it was fruitful.

*************

ps, the positive feedback from people who got them was also good, so i think a couple were surprised by the volume

good points re the e-books, mendella and that is part of my thought patterns for new fiction.

also...i was buying used books at an amazing used book stores, but , i was reading 2-3 fiction books a week when on the road....as i have found my brain needs some off time which those books provided so they added up fast

also, great idea re the used book sale.

I had done them for the church and also for cancer, but, i do not have time...and no one seemed interested so giving them to friends is awesome

.

Some places to donate books:

Transition house for abused women and their children - both adult and children's books

Men's shelter - adult themes - westerns, mysteries - short stories - not children's books but some that are easy to read

Women's shelter - again adult fhemes and some that are easy to read

Half-way houses

Teen group homes  (like the adults in the shelters, these teens might be reading below their age level but will not want children's books)

Our church has a used book sale every second year - it runs for two days and thousands of books pass through its doors.   I generally send down a box of books whenever the sale is coming up.

The church will also accept books (theology and some fiction or self-help, including children's books) for their library.

Over the years I have to disperse of books, too, Pinga . . . because we only have 3 large bookshelves and once they are entirely filled something has to go.

I was thinking about this the other night . . . if I could only keep a few shelves in the bookcase for my favorites, would I have a hard time letting some go.  Of course, but if I had the need to do so . . . let's say we were downsizing our home and I wasn't going to have the space for books . . . I'm sure I could.  I think I could with the knowlege that hopefully I could get those books through a library if I wanted to read them again, or on some time of a computerized book reader.

I try really hard not to buy books now . . . especially new ones.  I don't mind buying them at a rummage sale or garage sale.  But any books I buy I pass on to someone else almost immediately after reading.  I also try to borrow from the local library as much as possible.