Just take those old records off the shelf.

[hannah]

I'm tired of looking at these piles of books hanging around. I've been tired of it for a while. I've known it'd be a good idea to get rid of them, and it never managed to be something I got around to doing. The wind wasn't right, the moon was in the wrong phase, I wasn't feeling it just yet.

I looked over at the piles again today, thinking I didn't want them there. I've got a lot of books I want to get around to reading someday, eventually, at some point.

Then it hits me, the entire Las Vegas strip's worth of light bulbs going off: The library might have copies of these books that I want to get around to reading at some point. This popular novel. This children's book that got turned into a movie. This breezy microhistory. This poetry collection. All books I want to get around to reading at some point.

It doesn't have all of them, but it has enough that my "for later" list is coming along nicely, and there's a lot of objects that I'm finally getting around to saying my goodbyes to.

Comments

[melannen]

Not to discourage you from getting rid of objects you don't want to have around - something I need to get much better at! - but the library having a book *now* doesn't mean it will have it when you get around to reading it. (Especially the breezy popular stuff, which tends to be flash-in-the-pan for libraries.) Maybe not, because I think where you are you have access to a very good library system that includes at least one location with large archival stacks, so you might be safe assuming they'll keep at least one copy indefinitely (as long as they aren't too damaged by use and they're still in print.)

But my book-hoarding problem has actually gotten worse since I started working at a library, because now I know far too well just how unlikely the library *is* to still have that book when I get to it. (In fact most of the books on my "get around to it later" pile at home got pulled out of the the library's bin when I realized they'd withdrawn the last copy on me...)

That said if it makes you actively unhappy to see them laying around your house, you should get rid of them regardless. Keep your list so you remember what they are, but the more you look at them and feel bad the less likely you are to ever get around to reading them anyway. Even if the library doesn't have them in five years, a used bookstore somewhere will.

[pwcorgigirl]

I donated so many of our books to our tiny city library, which depends on such donations. I look on it as off-site storage for the ones they keep. The rest can be enjoyed by those who bought them at the Friends of the Library sale.

[slaymesoftly]

I just had that same thought recently as I was wondering if I wanted to spend money for a couple of books I feel like I should read - Suddenly, I remembered we have a perfectly good library in town that I could borrow them from! Ta da! LOL

[wendelah1]

Now I only buy books if our library system doesn't own them; if they're in print, I put in a purchase request.