bell7 cleans off the bookshelves

I'm a habitual library reader and have sadly neglected my own books (about a fourth of which I've never read). I'm participating in the 1010 Category Challenge with a goal of 80 books. My goal for this challenge will be 40 - half of the 1010 books, and the ability to clean out my bookshelves a bit with books I don't want to keep forever. (Maybe I can stop double shelving? One can only hope)

Welcome bell7! I have the same problem as you (not that it is really a problem). I am also doing this challenge as well as the 1010 and 50 of that 100 must come from my overflowing shelves. In addition I have banned myself from the library until mid-year 2010. Good luck!

Welcome to the group. 40 is a lofty goal, but combining it with the 1010 challenge should definitely help. Good luck!

>Belladonna1975, well I can't ban myself from the library, since I work there, but creating this goal for myself will help me balance my reading between home and library, I think. Good luck with your 50 and staying away from the library!

>lbradf, yes 40 may well be reaching high, but I'm hoping that if I read some of these books I've had on the shelves for years that I can clean out the ones I'm not inclined to reread....

1 down, 39 to go! I finished The Wind in the Willows today - can't believe I missed it as a kid! Here's my longer review.

Verdict: A book I would definitely reread, but since my copy is a paperback with a cracked spine and 40 years old, I will put a new, hardcover copy on my wishlist. Giveaway.

Yay for getting one down! I like the Verdict section where you decide to keep it or give it away. I think I will be borrowing that for my challenge as well, if that is OK!

I never read Wind in the Willows as a child either. I bought it for my daughter though so I am sure I will be reading it to her soon.

Sure, Belladonna, steal away! :-) I figured it would help me get organized, since my goal is to whittle down my bookshelves a bit (though only to make room for more!).

I am all for whittling. I have books laying sideways and double stacked (one behind another) and that has always been a huge No-No for me. Hopefully we both have alot of luck thinning the herd to make way for new treasures!

I like the verdict idea as well. Might it help me with the whittling. We'll have to see. I've been whittling but then I find myself popping open the donation box and rescuing stuff JUST IN CASE. But I will try it out.

A quibble. If you are whittling a book you wish to replace is it actually a whittle or is it only a short term breather for that one book shelf?

9> LOL I did that just the other day. I was going to get rid of the first two book club omnibus editions of Simon R Green's Nightside series. I rescued them from the bookmooch box before I could list them. My husband saw me and just shook his head.

As for the other, would that be temporary whittling?

>9 NeverStopTrying: and 10 hehe...well, it's really a whittle if my "temporary whittling" lasts a few years, right? There will be no young children in my family for a few years at least, so by the time I get a new copy I will have more shelf space in which to put it (at least, this is what I tell myself...). I'm figuring that I'll box the books I decide to give away - paperbacks to a local bookstore that buys them for store credit, hardcovers for the local library book sale in a few months - which will give me some time to decide about a rescue. I've been known to both rescue books from the give-away pile and repurchase books that I gave away years ago, so we'll see how it goes. :-)

Doh! I forgot about the Verdict part on my books! Back to the thread to edit once again...

2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I love this classic story of Christmas, it's a perennial favorite at this time of year.

Verdict: Keep, of course! (Alright, I admit it...I'm completely cheating with a book I knew I would keep before I pick it up.)

The one bad thing about a verdict of keep or give away is that I feel rather guilty about rereads! :-)

Don't feel bad; the decision to keep a book means it's important to you and contributes to making your library a reflection of your reading through your life. Isn't it wonderful to see these old friends on your shelf and to remember how you got the book or when you read it last?

You expressed that very well. It is for that very reason that I want to increase the percentage of read to unread on my shelves. While I am happy to own the unread books, they do not have the same "friendliness" of the read volumes.

RidgewayGirl and lbradf, thanks for the reminder that having "old friends" on my shelves is part of the reason for doing this challenge (not just cleaning out the stuff I don't feel the need to keep). I'll be keeping that in mind every time I select a reread. And even a reread doesn't necessarily mean keeping the book this time around - there are probably some books that I last read as a teen that could use a revisit to determine if they should remain or no.

A couple of rereads that need no verdict - they are staying on my shelves.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - now that I've read the whole series, I love seeing random details that become important in the grand scheme of things.

4. Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman - a collection of essays that is a must-read for any book lover. "Marrying Libraries" and "The Joy of Sesquipedalians" are among my favorite selections.

You got me with "Marrying Libraries" because boy, did I! My then new husband and I chose this home four years ago preciously because it seemed perfect for containing our two libraries--and that was before I had really comprehended how many books he had in storage! I immediately put a hold on Ex Libris at the library.

You'll totally relate to the essay, then! I am not married myself, but if I were to marry a reader I imagine it would be very much what Anne and her husband went through.

I just read "Marrying Libraries" and the rest of Ex Libris a couple months ago, per an LT recommendation. I'm marrying a fellow reader in March and buying a house together about that same time, so fully expect to read it again soon.

Wasn't the idea of this group to help everyone clear their TBR piles? :) 'cause mines seems to increase every day - Ex Libris sounds interesting.

21>

But it's such a tiny book....

That's good to know, Kristen. Thanks!

My SantaThing got me Ex Libris at Christmas, but I got it too late to include on this challenge. That doesn't mean I won't read it; just that it won't count here!

I'd apologize for adding to everyone's TBR piles except for the fact that I'm sure you all will add to mine, too. :-)

I was just kidding - since I joined LT, I seem to be collecting new and creative ways to find new books that I want to read :)

haha...yeah, I know. Sorry, my sense of humor doesn't translate well in real life unless you know me really well, and it's even more difficult to convey a dry tone over the Internet.

LT says it's a book cataloging site, but really it's a way for those of us who have enough books on the TBR list to last several lifetimes to suck other readers into the void...if I can't read it all, you can't either. :-)

It's called "enabling" ...

And I am so willing to be "enabled"... :-)

lol...aren't we all? That's half the trouble. :-)

5. Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know by Paul Gravett

Well, I didn't finish it but I'm counting it anyways because I read enough to determine my verdict. Longer review here.

Verdict: Not really what I was looking for. Good intro to the topic, but not a book that's really meant to be read from beginning to end and not one I'm willing to keep around as a reference. Giveaway.

6. The Hunt for the Eye of Ogin by Patrick Doud

An Early Review book that I had really hoped to like, but disappointing. The narrative style really distracted me, and I had to force myself to finish it...
Longer review on the work page.

Verdict: In to the donation box it goes.

>31 bell7: I haven't read the Gravett book yet, but I did enjoy Douglas Wolk's Reading Comics. Some friends complained about it being too 'Comics 101' but that's what I needed. And he does cover quite a bit of older stuff.

>32 bell7: kristenn, yeah, I'd actually bought the Gravett book when I'd only read one or two graphic novels, and read quite a few more last year before I ever got to it. So I was already familiar with a lot of what he went over, yet thought he told me too much about a story to use it for recommendations on what to read next either. Ah well, I'll give it away and someone else will find it more helpful.

7. The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell

Another LTER book, but I really enjoyed this one about James, an average guy who decides to reinvent himself at a new school, but starts getting in a lot of trouble instead. Longer review here.

Verdict: It's a book I would consider rereading. But since it's an ARC there's the offchance that something might change before the final publishing in June - and I'd rather reread the final published copy. So I'm giving it to the teen librarian to read.

That sounds like a good one. I'll keep an eye out for it.

mamzel, hope you like it!

8. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

An absolute favorite story of mine. This is the third time I've read it, though only the first time I read my own book. Longer review here if anyone's interested in longer thoughts.

If only I owned the other books in the series, I could knock them off the list in short order, but unfortunately the last time I went to the bookstore there were no copies available...maybe with the fourth book in the series only recently released, I'll get a chance to purchase them this weekend?

Verdict: Keeping until it falls apart, and I'm buying it again.

Oh, and I guess this kind of defeats the purpose of this challenge and all, but after rereading The Thief and the rest of the series, I did end up buying The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia.

I have mooched all three in the series over the last year or so, but am waiting until at least summer when I will have time to read the entire series at leisure.

Hope you enjoy them, Roni!

9. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

So, I bought this book on Saturday and promptly read it over the weekend, but as I made no rules about when I bought a book or how many times I read it before purchasing, I'm still counting it. ;-)

Sophie is the eldest of three, so she's not expected to have much of a future in Ingary, but when an evil witch casts a spell on her, she goes to the Moving Castle of the evil Wizard Howl to try to get it fixed. Howl's fire demon, Calcifer, offers to free her of the spell if she'll free him from his contract with Howl. Hijinks ensue.

Longer thoughts here - my review.

Verdict: This absolutely has a permanent place on my bookshelves.

I'm reading Howl's Moving Castle with my kids right now. We all love it (which is certainly not always the case with these shared books--sometimes my youngest isn't interested, more often I am bored unto death). I do like that it is so different from the (also excellent) movie, which the kids have seen dozens of times.

Howl's Moving Castle is one of my favorite Diana Wynne Jones books!

>43 RidgewayGirl: RidgewayGirl, I want to read it with my kids someday (though that should probably read my "someday kids") - it's on my library shelf for the future and also because I want it readily available to reread. I'm glad they're all enjoying it, seems to me it would make a great readaloud story.

>44 staffordcastle: staffordcastle - one of mine too! It's up there with Dark Lord of Derkholm, and I can't really pick either of those as one favorite, it basically depends on what I'm in the mood for. But I think I've enjoyed every DWJ book I've read.

>45 bell7: True, true, but there are a few that are above the rest. I love A Tale of Time City and The Magicians of Caprona, and the Chrestomanci books too.

(There was a reason I said "one of my favorites"!)

Oh I agree, there's certainly a few that stand above. Howl's Moving Castle and Dark Lord of Derkholm vie for favorites, IMO. I enjoyed the Chrestomanci series as well, but have not yet read A Tale of Time City.

:::sigh::: so many good books to read, I will not be making much progress on the TBR list. It grows faster than I can read...

10. The Last Knight

Michael and Fisk, knight errant and squire, accidentally set a murderess free and have to scour the countryside to right their deed. More thoughts (the review says 2009, but I rewrote it today) here.

11. Juliet by Anne Fortier

An ER book, and an OK read but not a standout - longer review here.

Verdict: Give away.

12. The Quickening by Michelle Hoover

Another ER book - I feel like I'm cheating by reading books as I add them, but I made no promises about when I purchased/received books at the beginning of the challenge, so it still counts. ;)

A sometimes heartbreaking story about two women farming in the midwest between the World Wars - longer review here.

13. The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

A short story collection I've been meaning to read since reading & loving Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. These stories are essentially set in that same world and give a variety of pictures of magic and Faerie in that world. I enjoyed the complexity of the layer of history/study that Clarke gives it, with an introduction by a professor of "Sidhe Studies" and the use of footnotes. The overall tone was kind of dark, and I wasn't quite able to care about the characters in the short time I was given with each, like I cared about the characters in Jonathan Strange.

Verdict - I'm glad I read it, but don't really see the need to read it again. Give away.

Hmm...well, so much for 40. I'm going to say here and now that's not happening in this calendar year. But that's OK. I'll see how far I get, anyway.

14. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
This one has been on my shelf unread for about a year. I tried it once as a teenager, didn't get it, and abandoned it halfway through. This time, as a smarter reader and slightly better at picking up on sarcasm, I enjoyed it a lot. Longer review here.

Verdict - Keep.

I have all of Jane Austen's novels but Sense and Sensibility, and I plan on having - and keeping - them all.

15. Displaced Persons by Ghita Schwarz

Recommended if you can handle a rather depressing novel about refugees from World War 2. Bleak. Depressing. Not my thing.

Verdict: Give away

16. Death Benefits by Sarah N. Harvey

An alright YA story that might work better for those who haven't read many teenager-must-put-up-with-old-geezer-who-seems-really-mean stories.

Verdict: Gave away on Bookmooch already and forgot to post!

I'm waaaay behind on my goal of 40, huh? And I've been acquiring new books in the meantime. Oh well! I'll just keep going till I make it. :)

17. Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal Omar
Another ER book. Interesting, very personal memoir about a Palestinian-American woman who goes to Iraq to head up that branch of Women to Women International during the war (2003-2004). Verdict: Something I'm glad I read, but wouldn't read again. Give away.

18. Persuasion by Jane Austen
Reading this completed my reading of all of Jane Austen's completed novels. It was an excellent one to end on, with an older heroine than any of her other books, and a rather mature outlook overall. Second only to Pride and Prejudice, which is hardly fair since I've been reading and rereading that one for over a decade. I own it in omnibus format - Jane Austen *Pride and Prejudice* *Mansfield Park* *Persuasion*. Verdict: As it contains my now first and second-favorite Austen novels, I will at least keep it until I'm able to get individual copies of each book (made necessary because at least three of the pages are off).

I still haven't read Persuasion. It's a must read, isn't it?

>56 cammykitty: I think so! But then, I think just about all of Jane Austen's novels are. My least favorite was Mansfield Park, but even that one I would probably go back and reread.

>56 cammykitty: Absolutely must read! Like bell7, it's my second favorite of her books.

It's on my wishlist now! I'll get to it in 2011!

Just catching up here, but I completely agree with you about Persuasion and Mansfield Park. Some heroines are entirely lovable, and then there are some I'd like to punch in the nose.

>59 cammykitty: Hope you enjoy it!

>60 ffortsa: I'm not sure I had quite the same strong reaction to Fanny that some, if not most, readers do. Truth be told, I was reading it at the time to get the connection between Mrs. Norris the cat in Harry Potter and Mrs. Norris Fanny's aunt, so my perspective in reading may have been slightly odd. :) It's probably time for a reread to see what I think now.

LOL, so it was a "research project."

Yeah, Mansfield Park pretty much was. :)

19. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This one's another favorite that's definitely staying on my bookshelf. I'm trying to reread the second half of the series before Part 2 of Book 7 comes out in theaters in July. :)

20. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis - hmmmm. That's the response I have to this book in a nutshell, but if you want more, I posted my review on the work page. Verdict: Undecided. I may not read it again, but then again C.S. Lewis is one of my faves and wouldn't it be cool to someday have everything he wrote?

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be taking books off the shelf...

But you're also building your personal library. I vote you hold onto it.

>65 RidgewayGirl: This is true. One of the things I'm hoping to accomplish by reading more of my own books ...er, next year... is to develop that personal library that reflects my tastes and interests. It's hard, though, because it means not only reading the 80+ books that I haven't gotten to yet, but weeding out books that I read and once enjoyed but no longer fit me. Add to that the lack of shelf space and, well, you can imagine, I'm sure...

Regarding The Great Divorce specifically, I am leaning towards "keep" at this point because Lewis' books, in general, are of huge interest to me, and I've been collecting books along these lines for some time now.

I really liked The Great Divorce when I read it several years ago.

>67 tloeffler: I think other than The Chronicles of Narnia, which are sentimental favorites and impossible to compare, Till We Have Faces and The Screwtape Letters are my favorite C.S. Lewis books. Not that I didn't like it, but The Great Divorce had a lot to live up to in comparison, IMO.

I agree about The Screwtape Letters. I think that is one of my favorite books of all time. We read it in a book discussion group years ago, and I think it's the only time that I ever tried to talk people who hated it into liking it! It didn't work, by the way.

The Screwtape Letters is great, isn't it? Sadly, it's also one of the Lewis books I don't own...yet. I'm sorry it didn't work out so well when you tried to talk people out of hating it. :) It usually doesn't in my experience...my brother tries to talk me out of disliking books and movies with sad endings, and he's having no luck either.

21. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - though in all honesty it's cheating to count this one because I mostly listened to the audiobook, which is not "on my shelf."

22. Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis. I started reading this in the summer and was going ever-so-slowly. I started over the day after Christmas and moved through it quickly (housesitting helped). I enjoyed it, though like The Great Divorce, I came away with the feeling that, while I tend to agree with Lewis' conclusions, my mind has a very different way of getting there. I think this one would definitely benefit from a reread someday down the line. Verdict: Keep.

Oh, and speaking of Lewis, one of my Christmas presents was The Screwtape Letters. Hurray!

Well, I didn't make my goal for 2010, but that's OK. Here's a new thread and a new goal for 2011: http://www.librarything.com/topic/105968