Day 26-Books Are The Hardest Thing

Books and I we go WAAAAAAAAAY back.

I wasn’t called Bookworm growing up for nothing. I took books on vacation. I would just stay in the car and read when everyone else got out to see the sights. I took books to camp even though it was forbidden. I read under the covers at night with my flashlight, fully convinced that Papa and Mimi didn’t know. I read through the heat of summer. I read in spare moments at school. I read in the car.

You get the point.

And when I had a bit of money I bought books.

I have always had a collection of books. I cannot imagine life without books, both traditional and ebook. It is a reoccurring nightmare for me to be some place and not have anything to read.

But books take up space. At least the traditional paper kind do. Lots of space. Shelves and shelves worth of space. In our last house all my books were stored in a dark and dank room in the basement or in boxes under the bed. If I wanted one of them I had to literally take a flashlight down to that dimly lit room and look for it. So I made sure that when we built Chez Knit I had PLENTY of space for books.

See, loads of places for books.

Add to the fact that we have space for books is the fact that I live near libraries. Libraries that have book sales. AND one of those libraries also has shelves where they put out free books that they aren’t going to try and sell. And then there was a Borders close by Chez Knit, at least until they closed. And then there were the books that Papa or DaPoo or Linda or Abuela would give us.

We had lots of books.

I have been steadily cleaning out books over the last 18 months or so. Oh it is hard. So hard to do. I will look at a book and think about the good times that we have had together and think….

No, I am not going to donate THIS book. I might read it again. In fact I KNOW I will read it again. I am certain of this.

No, I am not going to read it again. Lets be honest about this. And if I feel the urge I bet I can get it from the library.

Here is a pile of books that are going to the local library. I have The Red Badge of Courage, The Last Days of Pompeii and The Cloister and the Hearth in digital form now. Oh how I love The Gutenberg Project. I have read American Lion. I have Shelby Foote’s Civil War master work from which The Stars In Their Courses is taken. And I have electronic copy of Death Comes For the Archbishop which is my favorite Willa Cather.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a bunch of shelves full of books that I am working my way through. And there are a number of boxes in the basement that still need to be gone through so you may see more books as the days go by.

But this is my start.

But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard.

Have a great weekend everyone. Clean something out. You will feel better for it. Email me and tell me what you did. I love to hear what people are cleaning out.

And don’t get discouraged!!! Just concentrate on one little thing at a time. It all gets done eventually.