General discussion and place to groan and brag

My first thread covers 2017 and 2018. I neglected to count through 2017, (eta 156). But last year I discarded 414 books. You'd never know it though. My house is still dripping in books.

I brought in only a few handfuls, avoiding temptation for the most part. I recall only two visits to bookstores... no make that three. And the annual book sale at Trinity Church, where I was completely restrained.

Progress is being made. I promise!

I have managed almost every month (since September 2015) to discard at least the 10 I promised, and the thread does not include books I discarded immediately on first reading them. Lots of bags of books have landed at the UN Women's Guild. Others at the Mistplatz. And many have even found homes that will love them.

But, as you say, you'd never know it. On the other hand, I do bring new books in. Since the UNWG bazaar and a few other temptations, my TBR is almost up to 300. Two years ago it was 282, a year ago it was 277, now it's 295.

BTW, technology is a wonderful thing. On New Year's Eve we watched Die Fledermaus, and my husband was complaining that we had no libretto to follow the words of the songs. (see October 2015) so I found it on my iPad, and he could follow it in a reasonably sized font.

Whoops! That was before my husband drove me to the library.

Quiet confession.

While I'm making progress on tossing paperwork during this shutdown, I've acquired three books this week.

Dropping off books to sell at the used bookstore, the clerk encouraged me to browse instead of standing there while she sorted and looked them up. (Understandable)

Excuse: One is a hardback (easier on the eyes) omnibus and I'll be able to discard two others.

Excellent work :-)

Heh, heh. Managed to sell 2 boxes of my discards this past weekend. It's somewhat of a chore to haul them around, but there are rewards. The monetary is the least of it.

In the first, the clerk was a young woman who didn't take but a few of the newish hardbacks. But we had a nice chat about fantasy/science fiction, and I may bring a couple of titles around just to let her borrow them. It's kind of a social duty to shepherd young readers to valuable authors. (It's the librarian in me wanting to escape.)

The book dealer in Kentucky always seems to dread seeing people with books to sell to her, but she took nearly half of my discards. She said this isn't 'the season' and I wish I had followed up that remark. Didn't know there was a season. She did say my offerings were astonishingly eclectic. Yep. That's me. Hers is a genuine college town book store with long roots in the community. She pays slightly better for store credit instead of cash, and I told her my daughter will be spending the credits for more picture books for baby Theia. She said she looks forward to meeting the baby.

Guiltily, I stopped in another store that I reckoned would have some Lois McMaster Bujold and hit the jackpot. My Vorkosigan saga keeps being disassembled with loans out to various people, so I have to build some redundancy into it. Also trying to move to hard cover editions. Came away with 5 titles and one of the Hobbit films.

Sounds like a good weekend.

Most of my discards go to a local charity. Jerry hauled a bag in recently, and they sat in the office for a while before he got them where they belong.

One of the women pulled out Fleisches Lust saying, 'Jerry I didn't think your family had books like this!' (We don't have what she was thinking of, and wouldn't dispose of them that publicly if we did.) But German Fleisch can be meat, and Lust enjoyment. She was disappointed to see that it was a meat cookbook, and not a big pornographic work.

Since most of the discards are mine, not his, she didn't find any thrillers either. Hey, if I liked the books I wouldn't be giving them away, or perhaps to one of the more specialized places. (Like LT friends, the two schools I have bags for, the church book shelves...)

This may be a missed month for me. I squeezed a nerve in my neck a few weeks ago, and although it does seem to be getting slowly better, I'm not at the point where I want to be hauling books around yet.

Ha! I might keep Fleisches Lust on my shelves just to catch reactions like that!

Do take care of yourself!

All I did was fall asleep in an armchair. But I have spinal problems, including a disk operation in the neck. This too will pass. I hope. In the meantime I'm getting a lot of English paper piecing done. That and spinning ( with a spindle) seem to require about the amount of concentration I can give something.

>9 MarthaJeanne: How's that neck doing?

Dilemma! Last month I borrowed The Christmas Crèche: Treasure of Faith, Art, and Theater from the library and enjoyed and reviewed it thoroughly. And returned it with no feeling of need to own it. But last week, a copy in excellent condition arrived at the Goodwill store with a $2 pricetag. Should I buy it for my permanent presepi collection?

You gave it 4 1/2 stars. For $2, I would go for it. If you really don't have space for it, my bookcase does.

Getting better, but very slowly. I am so tired of constantly hurting. I am so tired of not sleeping through. It should help that the pain is now at 3 or 4 and not 8 or 9, but not as much as you would expect.

Package came today with more cloth and two quilting books. English Paper Piecing seems to be about the only thing I can concentrate on right now. I'm working on a bird quilt showing off some of my husband's bird photos. This package includes pelican cloth.



This was laid out a week ago. The centre rosette will be cross stich - a kingfisher. If I get back to doing that. I want to sew the ring around the centre together this week. Something of a time limit, as we spend Palm Sunday weekend at a bird event. Jerry mentioned the quilt on Facebook. When he emailed the vintner b&b we stay at to make our reservation, we were already penciled in, but Frau Gartner wants to see the quilt. Actually, I was already planning on trying to be able to do the quilting there. Yes, I'm a show off.

I waited to get a good look at your photos on my oversized monitor at work. How cool! Of course you must brag about it!

Well drat! I never expected the crèche book to catch someone's interest. I don't ever see book people shopping this dinky Goodwill. It's gone. It would have been yours, MarthaJeanne. Sorry.

I have this problem. I sort of committed myself to trying to reduce the number of To Read books I have. And certainly to stay below 300.

But yesterday I was at Werkbuchcafe. Now I don't buy books every time I go, but she has such good books, and besides I want to support her shop... two more this week.

And of course I did have to go to the library today, to return Becoming and several other books. (What a classy lady!) And of course I found several interesting things to borrow. But if I enter them all as I should I'll go over the 300.

Never mind the two Amazon packages (one order, six books) on the way.

One book in there with finished dates on it. That helps a bit.

I've now moved six books from To Read to Currently Reading, but I'll have to do that again When the Amazon books arrive, and it feels like cheating.

>14 MarthaJeanne: Must Read Faster.

BTW, I took the prayer book to my weekly meeting, and the other ladies are in love with it as well. I'm to make copies of some of the prayers for them.

Oh, lovely! I'm so glad.

Part of the current problem is those weeks when the pain made everything difficult. I couldn't concentrate, and therefore read less than usual.

Argh! I went downtown this morning for my weekly magazine fix. On the way to pay I haveto go past the table where they set out the newest nonfiction. My eye was caught by Mein Kräuterbuch für das ganze Jahr. I probably don't need another herb book. Stop! it's by Elisabeth Lust-Sauberer. A new book by Elisabeth Lust-Sauberer! It opened in my hand to directions for making Sage lozenges. Somehow it stayed on my pile.

I have no resistance to temptation. I have since favourited her. Even if the rest of LT has yet to recognize how great her books are. OK, Austrian publishing in German about household and kitchen topics. I get that this is a minority interest. But I like her books.

>17 MarthaJeanne: Just remember - We're not eliminating our collections; we're refining them.

Apparently I was just trying to celebrate my Thingaversary. 9 so far. That means 4 more to go. Lets count the two quilting books I bought recently. Yes, I have bought 11 books so far this month. I'm just spreading the Thingaversary books over the whole month.

But I'd better do some discarding, too if I want to get credit for 'refining' my collection and not just growing it.

Tuesday is my Werkbuchcafe day. Lovely time lovely new book on display. Looks like I will manage to fulfill my Thingaversary obligations.

I also got a lot done on my quilt.

Progress on *all* fronts! Good work!

Whoosh! Did I find some dust this past weekend! My fantasy collection is all in the upper hall, mostly in one medium bookshelf, which I measured at 4.25 linear feet. I pulled every book out and examined it for tenancy. The discards were mostly books I have never read, probably picked up randomly for their interesting covers. One or two may have belonged to daughters way back when. I kept a Vegemorphs title, just to recall younger daughter's fascination with the Animorphs series.

I was able to re-sort and give the remainder some breathing room. There are still some I haven't read yet, and they will move closer to the TBR stack. Mostly, what remains are well loved sets that I like to visit periodically.

Duane, Bujold, Tolkien, T. H. White, Pratchett, Adams, Westerfeld, the Kedrigern Chronicles. Tamora Pierce is in the shelf on the other side of the hall. I used to read everything O. S. Card, but eliminating all but the Ender series and some of the Alvin Maker books now, as I won't return to them. Of course, Ender is more SF than fantasy.

The kingfisher is done. Now just have to sew him into his space.



(If you are wondering, since the picture above, I have bent one of the green hexagons over to make space for his tail.)

Very nice! I really like those white stroke threads. And the colors!

Those white stokes were a #&@*'£ nuisance to stitch. But the result is worth the hassle.

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Well, it looks like March will end without my having bought all my Thingaversary books. However I did order a book over a week ago, and haven't yet heard that it has arrived. I guess that will have to count for the last one even if it gets bought in April.

Of course I already know that I will buy books in April because if I don't see any books I want at the Schneiderei Markt on the 7th, a week later we will visit a needlework shop that carries English language quilting books on our way to Bird Experience which always has a good book stall.

Sometimes it just takes a bit of desultory picking away to make progress.
Here's the short shelf in the bathroom that caught my attention this week:



There are plenty of floor-dwelling candidates eager to move in on the ground floor.

I've been practicing some "refining," ordering a few books from Abe Books and a couple of DVDs from SecondSpin.com. I still have a handful of beloved VHS films, but my old TV died and it's replacement doesn't accept the VCR connection. I could get an adaptor; but how long will my player live?

Sadly, some titles have never been released on DVD.

One of the bookstores I check the windows of frequently, but don't go in very often had their annual flea market set up today. I thought I was doing very well to only end up with 5 books.

On the one hand, this is not the way to lower my 'to read' count. on the other hand Kunst & Glaube for only €3 instead of €36. How could I have left it there?

>31 MarthaJeanne: Just from the cover image, that might have jumped into my bag as well.

I'm proud of you bringing home only 5.

I've begun stopping by Half-Price Books in Lexington on Sundays, passing through.

I'm very pleased that I finally acquired my own copy of the film The Importance of Being Earnest. (and a few others added to my collection as well.)

This is a coffee table sized book full of pictures both of the manuscript Bible, and of the same owner's palace (lots of frescos). And comparison pictures as well. This is actually a catalogue from a special exhibit in 2016. The art is mostly 16th century.

I also bought Wie kam der Vanillerostbraten zu seinem Namen? & andere Wiener Küchenfragen which in the right mood I might have bought at full price. Trivia about Viennese kitchen questions. BTW Vanillerostbraten does not have any vanilla in it. But rather a lot of garlic.

Das Buch der Ketzer

Luther gemeinsam betrachtet

(This is a bookstore run next to the cathedral by a religious publisher. Not that they published any of the books I bought today except the cookbook)

Salz küsst Karamell This is a baking cookbook, which I do not need, but the title 'Salt kisses Caramel' grabbed me. Besides, 5 books made €15, so the money was easy.

Three of these books are new to LT, and the big one only had one other entry.

However, I just moved a big bunch from To Read to Currently Reading, so even with the new books, I 'only' have 288 books in To Read.

>34 MarthaJeanne: 'Salt kisses Caramel'

Snacks are at your house, yes?

Sure. Come by any time (with the gooseberries?) Right now I have bread, banana gingerbread, and banana cookies available. Or panetone if you give me enough time to defrost them. All wholegrain and reduced sugar, of course.

Suddenly real local fruit has come on the market and the bananas I had bought didn't get eaten. Baking used most of them up. So there might be something with cherries and/or apricots in the next few days.

Actually, if I know you're coming I might try to bake something really interesting.

I've incorporated a stop at the Lexington Half Price Books on my way back to WV on Sundays. I've managed to fill in my set of hardcover Vorkosigan series from their shelves.

I have established a particular look-see routine through the store.
There is a short list of films I still want to acquire. And I always take a look at the corner of antique books. And then a scan of the children's collection. Always up for another iteration of The Wind in the Willows.

Recently, I brought home a newer copy of Blue Willow, hoping to share this lovely story with my grands. My copy is sadly tattered and not appealing on its surface.

Also acquired A Celebration of Beatrix Potter, which I read and reviewed in the last couple of years. Y'all know I love examining how various illustrators interpret the classics.

Oh well. Give me a free day and an excuse to go into the antiques mall....

I intended to make squash relish this year, but I didn't expect a co-worker to bring a ton of yellow squash into the office this early in the season. Most of my canning supplies and food processor are in KY. I thought I might have a rotary Salad Kutter in the pantry, and I have the frame, but danged if I can find the steel blade cones for it.

But I had errands to run this morning, so I thought to stop at two places that might have a machine I could pick up for cheap.

One of my other errands was to the assessor's office to sign up for Homestead Exemption. In WV, seniors get a break on their RE tax bill. Well, she told me the exemption pretty much wipes out my bill. Hey! I feel prosperous today.

Did a quick look around the nearest antique mall. A dealer said she has one at home and promised to call me later. Meanwhile, I found
- a box full of my silverware pattern; cheap.
- A wooden Snoopy pull toy
- a scrabble game
- two folding stools
- an old-fashioned kitchen chair with fold-out steps
- an oak chiffarobe in pristine condition for a mere $200 and the lovely brass key is still with it.

Now, I need none of those items. But my daughters will love these things.

Then I went to the second place and did find what I was looking for for $15. But I managed to up the bill to $60 or so with odd bits of this and that. Mostly other kitchen implements.

Now I need to empty the van and go pick up the chifferobe.

PS. I forgot to list the book I bought - Impollutable Pogo

I decided to clean my largest bookshelf/cabinet in the living room. It was getting disorganized and plenty dusty. Took down all the knickknacks for washing. I realized that the entire top shelf hasn't been catalogued. It's a short shelf in height, so it has been where I've put all my small antique volumes. I'm nearly done listing my set of International Textbook Company construction books. They are from the first half of the 20th century, and they are terrific. I'll be carrying one down to daughter's because it illustrated the hidden hardware for pocket doors - something she needs to know.

That accounts for about half the length. Most of the others are vintage Audels sets.

We got rid of a big bag of clothing that seems to have shrunk since the last time we wore it. In the process we also made Jerry's closet floor visible. It's not only books that have to be discarded.

Good work!

We just got back from England, so my TBR is over 300. Got to get that down. I am not responsible for the new book added today. While I would have seen it and might well have bought it anyway, I bought it at the request of my husband, who knows the photographer (at least over the internet). So I don't have to take the blame for that one.

I had a funeral to attend in Wheeling Saturday. So I decided to pack a bag and go the rest of the way to Pittsburgh and visit siblings I haven't seen in a little while. (Hey, grandbaby is in the other direction!)

My sister dragged a trunk up from her basement and we sorted through old family photos. Some I had never seen! She suckered me into taking the whole thing to sort, scan, restore and distribute. Ai! I will love the job... but it will take up floor and table space that ain't there yet.

Sigh.

I've also managed to finally finish a repair project on a church statue. The plaster of paris is so vulnerable to chips and breaks. So, once I get the paint the way I want it, it's gone. Only two more to go.

So, a friend from my church group invited me to an Usborne books party.

Ahem!

These are very appealing and well-built books for toddlers. Well, of course I had to buy something; that's only polite to the hostess. eh?

I bought three:
Boy - about a deaf child who manages a peaceful resolution between king and dragon. Lovely story, and shows the townsfolk signing "Thank you" on the last page.

Beast Feast - has all kinds of interesting signage and complexity in the illustrations, besides a friendship story.

Dragon Post - with letters in envelopes on various pages to further the story.

I wrote down several more, and checked for them on AbeBooks, scoring three more at reduced prices.

Sigh.

They do quite good children's guidebooks to various topics, but many might be too British oriented for US consumption.

Just trying out the pin.

I established a Little Free Library at my new house, hoping to pass on the box or two of discards that didn’t make it into the great library donation haul. It’s not going so well. More contributions than withdrawals. I even put a mug with envelopes of cocoa out; and no one has taken that.

>47 2wonderY: I tried that too earlier this year and ended up with more than I started with after two weeks, so then I gave up.

I’m pretty sure I have everything from the old house catalogued; but not the books upstairs in the garage. And certainly not all the books I’ve acquired over the last decade and have shelved at the ridgetop house. I ran up there yesterday on several errands and brought a few volumes back to town. It is never ending!

Confession here. I’ve been meeting with a couple of prayer friends at the library recently because it’s too cold to meet outdoors. There is a lovely space behind the free-standing gas fireplace at the back of the building. And I’ve avoided the Friends of the Library book sale, because you have to ask at the desk for a key to the room. Ah, I asked for the key today.

Oh my! Everything is in new condition; and the prices! I spent $7 and came home with
1 classic with gilt trimmed cover
2 picture books (Mini Grey’s latest and another featuring silver buttons)
2 audio books by Douglas Adams
8 dvds

I was helpless. No will to resist at all.

I have been thinking about next week. Stores are open (with limits) from Monday. We have to go to the big shopping centre on Wednesday. So when do I go downtown (including my favourite bookstore that has been holding a magazine for me since Christmas Eve) and when do I go to the library? I will be glad to get rid of weeks worth of library books. There are going to be long lines on Monday. I just know it. I was also thinking of visiting a yarn store, but have changed that project for a similar one that will use my homespun yarn.

One advantage to lockdowns: My To read collection is down to 249. Won't stay there once I get to the library and the bookstore. Still, compare with >2 MarthaJeanne: and you will notice progress.

>50 2wonderY: Oh; and then three of the Helen Ward books I recently ordered online came in the mail today. And I had even forgot to buy my favorite, so will have to jump back to abebooks a shop again. Part of this adding to picture book collection is daily play with granddaughter and a much poorer local library. We’ve been playing Three Little Pigs over and over and over (and over) and all we’ve got here is Galdone, where the piggies get eaten. No! They scurry to brother’s house while T shrieks with delight.

>51 MarthaJeanne: You are so accomplished and productive all the time! And your reading rate is impressive too. Would love to have been able to watch you when you were younger, dynamo. I would be panting just to keep you in sight.

Dropped by the public library today to manage some business. The Friends of the Library room is no longer locked. I came home with 2 books and 7 dvds bought. And I never watch film anymore. I doubt I’ve watched all those I bought a year ago. They are a mere 50cents though. Couldn’t pass up White Christmas and sweet and lowdown.
The books were Screwtape Letters (which I’ll gift as I probably have a copy) and picture book by one of my favorite illustrators, Jeannie Baker.

Oops. Two more books arrived on my doorstep.

*mumble, mumble* I’ve gotta stop going to the library. This time I managed to bring home only three slender pieces. But very good items!
Fortunately, the Milk
two films
Everybody loves… Babies
Much Ado About Nothing, Joss Whedon’s take on it. Very good!

On his book collection, featured in BiblioStyle:

“I’ve always sort of dreaded knowing the exact number. I couldn’t even begin to guess; it’s in the tens of thousands. Those of us who are readers, I find, are rarely counters.”

—-Michael Silverblatt

Ha ha! Saw this on Instagram and it could be describing me:

Buy the weird stuff.
Buy the stuff that makes people ask “What is that?”
Buy the stuff that makes your home the best estate sale when you die.
Buy the weird stuff!

Ahem. I still have credit at a secondhand store in WV. So I went browsing this morning to try and use it up. I did find half a dozen titles I’ve been wanting that are not on audio. As I was leaving, I saw a box of FREE. Only a beautiful set of gilt-edged American politician biographies. She carried the box out to the car for me.

>60 2wonderY: I miss having an independent 2nd hand bookshop just a couple miles from my house/apt. The place I visited regularly in Des Plaines was tiny -- in fact, I always called it a death trap -- but crammed full of paperbacks. The place in Denton was a corner anchor shop on the town square -- two stories and also crammed full of books with very narrow aisles.

It occurred to me this week that I didn’t own a copy of Three Men in a Boat. I had saved a newspaper clipping of someone recommending it (for at least a decade) and finally borrowed it from inter library loan quite a while ago. I think I’ve even listened to an audio version. But now I need my own copy in order to snuggle down in bed with it this winter. So I hopped on AbeBooks and searched for a hardcover version. Jackpot! It arrived yesterday - a Folio Society copy, still in the slipcover. It’s a bit on the large size for cozy bed reading; but I am very happy to have acquired it for under $10.

Trying to help with SantaThing recommendations, I thought of the delightful Ella Minnow Pea, and realized I need a copy to lend out to children and grandchildren. Or maybe a straight up Christmas present.
While I was at it, picked up a copy of Mainly the Truth, so I can toss that scrap of paper.

What I won’t do to lighten my load of paper scraps!

I was coming up light on gifts for my 12 year old grandson, so I texted his mom. She suggested books on aviation or psychology. Hmmm.
As a quick, but unlikely source, I went to the library Friends room. I should NOT do that. I did find a couple of books he might enjoy, one of cats, the other of dogs.
But because I looked at every book on the nonfiction shelves and the YA shelves, I came home with 17 books and a CD (can’t pass up Bolero.)

A few of those will also be gifts for others, but the rest get piled on my tbr someday mountain.

>64 2wonderY: mountain forest.

(see https://www.librarything.com/topic/346560#n8001703)

>65 MarthaJeanne: It doesn’t work for me. My piles are much more like geologic formations than a woods to wander through.

I did pick up a couple of titles I’ve been wanting
Beeconomy and Grace (Eventually)

I got my hair cut today. And because it was still raining afterward (conveniently), I stopped next door to browse at the Mini Mall. You know- booths filled with random stuff. The jigsaw puzzles are gone😞, but I picked up a few groceries. Don’t know why they can be had cheaper than at the grocery store , but that is so. Bought a couple small things for T for the weekend. Found a lovely sweater coat. I thought I’d give it to daughter; but I put it on to wear it home, and I may never take it off again!! I am completely warm for the first time this winter. 50% acrylic, 25% wool, 25% alpaca.

>67 2wonderY: I love alpaca, wool makes me itch, even lambswool.

If people want their topics updated to 2023-24, I can try to do a whole bunch at once. Make a reply in this topic if you want it.

>69 MarthaJeanne: can you update my title? If so, just change it to "fuzzi's Ouster Accounts for 2023 - 2024"

>69 MarthaJeanne: I know I can do it, because I have done it, but I can't figure it out now. I will do this as soon as I figure it out.

Well, today I am discarding an ancient borrle of marsala - into my lanb stew.

>72 MarthaJeanne: A fitting end to that pesky bottle!

>71 MarthaJeanne: no problem. I can make another thread if it doesn't work out.

This is just a repeat call for a new admin.

The way things are going, I don't know how long I will still be able to be here. Both reading and typing are getting very difficult. I's not that I do much of anything as admin, but this is an official statement that if an admin is needed for anything, I don't promise to be able to do it, and you need to get someone else.

I'll copy this to @Kristi, so staff know.

I guess I will take over. What’s one more?

I’ve submitted the request.
I do hope you start feeling better.
My eyes are failing too.

Thank you, Ruth.

I'm not sure how this is supposed to work, but I have sent Ruth (2wonderY) an invitation to become an admin here. Since she is admin for other groups, and is one of our most active posters, I know that the group will be in good hands.

I am now all powerful. I need a crown…Where’s my crown?

If ir were summer I would make you one from our climbing rose.

Do you want me to retire or just stay empowered without doing anythig?

>81 MarthaJeanne: You can be the power behind the throne! And the baker… and run errands…

T wrestled herself into a knight’s costume that fit her three years ago. She needed a queen to report to, so I was Queen Nana. Her dad was a knight in training, nameless, of course.
She managed us very deftly, even writing royal proclamations for me to announce.

It's always useful for a queen to have a speech- I mean proclamation-writer.

>80 2wonderY: Oh, All Powerful One! How do we get rid of the notice that we are looking for an admin?

>85 MarthaJeanne: It shall disappear tomorrow. I so decree.

>82 2wonderY: And if people want baking, they have to go over to https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/22144/A-Quiet-Corner.

Hint: Bread just went in the oven.

>80 2wonderY: here you go:

It’s not hoarding if your stuff is cool!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6r22ELphDe/?igsh=d2NpbTBtbW5mZ3A0

I should have joined this group a year ago getting ready to move. I'm now on the other side, thankfully. I'm also looking seriously at the size of current bookshelves, my reading habits, and future residential plans. I don't really want to grow more physically at this point--so the weeding needs to continue.

What I did do before packing: cut down childhood books from 3 boxes to 2 and sent 4 boxes to the local secondhand store.

Harder to face are the 3 boxes of newly acquired and TBR that will not have any shelf space. I previously stacked them on a window seat, but new quarters now and a dilemma.

>90 amarie: We share your concerns. Books have a way of reproducing when we aren't looking. It is very difficult keeping the pile of TBR in reasonable order.

Anyway, welcome. It sounds as if you will fit in here very well.

>90 amarie: You need a more comfy reading chair! Get down off that ladder. Hey! You can shelve some books on the ladder!

The number of books I have is nothing compared to the books I don’t have.
Let’s just keep things in perspective.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCwdGn2RPAm/?igsh=MWhuOWd1cDh1czVrMA==

Happy 2025!

I'm hoping to get rid of lots more this year.

Happy New Year!

I joined this group a while back but haven't been tracking my discards. You do inspire me, though!

I finished out 2024 by discarding about 80 books. With those and the ones I've already deselected, I have about 5 boxes to drop off at the public library for their next book sale. I also gave them three boxes earlier in the year.

My goal this year is to reduce the TBR pile. As of today, it has 89 books on it, which is only one more than it had this time last year. I'm not sure how that happened - I really didn't think I read as many off the pile as that, and I added a substantial number to it.

Anyway, this is relevant because not everything on the TBR pile ends up going in the permanent collection. I can discard many of them as I read them.

Well, I got rid of probably 100ish books in 2024. I could have posted abt those. Ah well. Maybe next time.

Am looking at purging my own books in the general sorting and donating of my husband's possessions. Some will be gifted to our granddaughters.

My body doesn’t produce its own antiques; therefor I need to supplement

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DK9jiUPMRQu/?igsh=czMybDM0endzd3c2

Well, I haven't read any faster so the TBR pile is getting side-eyed to possible oblivion. I set aside a pile that needs to be read this year or they're out. I'm in a book club that provides new titles to keep up with anyway.

I dug deep in the shelves and let go a dozen generally popular paperbacks that I enjoyed but don't plan on reading again. I've started saving the paper bag from the local used bookstore from purchases to turn around and take back for credit, a little at a time.

I don't think the 15-20 year old graduate school books will be wanted anywhere. I'm not using them professionally and the knowledge will have moved on for any current students. It's hard to just trash them though...

>99 amarie: About 10 books dropped off at the used book store - earned about $25 in credit! Also donated some less interesting (but still okay condition) titles I mentioned earlier to the thrift store. Who knows, maybe they'll just recycle them all. I'm becoming surprisingly unsentimental about all this. I really like seeing no piles on the floor now.