I'm Getting Rid of 200+ Books

On building a home library

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

I've spent the past week working on a big book declutter in which I’m parting with over 200 books. I love reading books, but I also love buying and collecting books. The thing about collecting books is that they take up a lot of space. I have three full-sized bookcases, three shorter bookcases, and two three-tiered carts to hold my beloved literary treasures. When those got full, I resorted to piles. I had two tall piles of books I'd read, another pile of newer books I wasn't sure where to put, and a pile of "do I still want these" books that just sat there, silently taunting me. There were books behind other books on my bookcases, books in my closet, books in some drawers, and more cookbooks than I needed in my kitchen. My hobby had become a full-blown situation.

I'm grateful to have a lot of books, but I couldn't truly value and appreciate the ones I owned because there were too many. My overflowing library meant I had to summon some bravery and do some discarding.

One of my favorite things to do at my library job is weeding, which is the library term for discarding books. I know some people hate weeding, but I'm a ruthless weeder. If a book isn't in good shape or hasn't been read in years, it must go. Weeding is just as necessary as purchasing new books because it refreshes and updates a library. The good books tend to get buried if there are too many unread or outdated books in the collection. I wondered why I was so good at getting rid of library books at school but so bad about getting rid of books in my house.

It comes down to money and ownership. It's much easier to weed a book that I didn't pay for, but I have to remind myself that my money has already been spent on the books I own. I won't get it back by holding onto a hardcover I bought for full price but have yet to read. A book isn't worth keeping because I scored a good deal on it at a library book sale back in 2015.

Thinking about money led me to think about consumerism as a whole. I know I can be too materialistic. I like stuff a lot. Shopping is one of my favorite activities. Many things about minimalism appeal to me, but my natural inclination is maximalism. That isn't always good for my bank account, the environment, or my home. I want my house to be tidy, beautiful, and full of things I need and use. I can't achieve those goals if I have piles of books everywhere, however unfortunate that may be.

That reckoning led me on my great decluttering journey. As I went through my books, I did two things:

• I asked myself, "Is this a book I want to own?"

• I cataloged my books in LibraryThing, a free website where you can catalog as many books as you want

Photo by All Bong on Unsplash

People have asked me how many books I own, and I've answered around 1000. It turns out I owned twice that amount. That would be fine if I had the room for all the books and a strong desire to read them, but that wasn't the case. As I thought about if I really wanted to own a book, I considered the following things:

• Am I eager to read this?

• Is this book by an author I love?

• Is this book part of a special collection?

• Did someone gift or recommend this book to me?

I recently looked at my fiction bookshelves and realized there were many titles that I knew nothing about. I bought the books, but I didn't remember anything about the plot, author, or why I bought them. In some cases, the books came from subscription boxes like Book of the Month, which didn’t end up being a good fit for me. I want my shelves to hold titles I can't wait to read, not to be storage for books that mean nothing to me. Asking the above questions helped me determine what books were worth keeping and which ones needed to go.

The other thing that's helped me in my decluttering journey is cataloging my books. Adding books to my LibraryThing account has helped me remember what I have and why I have them. I can add tags to each title to see how many nonfiction or translated books I have. Last week, I bought a book I already owned. That's happened several times before, which is another reason I wanted to catalog my books. Now, I can use the LibraryThing app to see if I own something if I'm unsure. Technology!

Photo by John Salvino on Unsplash

Thinking about the books I want to own and cataloging my books has been helpful, but I knew I needed a plan going forward. Every library has a collection policy. When I worked in a public library, we were a popular collection branch, which meant we focused on high-interest titles, weeded constantly, and held no archives. A college library's collection policy will look different from an elementary school's. A collection policy guides librarians when deciding what books to purchase to stock the library. I decided I needed a collection policy of my own.

Coming up with one was more challenging than I expected. Reading, shopping for books, and curating a home library are individual hobbies, all of which I enjoy. I had to create a collection policy that honored those hobbies but also set limits. I wanted to balance enjoyment with financial and environmental responsibilities. I wanted some fresh perspectives, so earlier this week, I posted a Note asking people why they buy a book vs. borrowing it and if it bothers them to have a lot of unread books at home. Here are the replies:

• “For me, an instant buy is an author I already read a book from and loved it. And then every time I love a book borrowed from the library, I end up buying it anyway😅”—Romana P.

• “If a book looks interesting to me because it has a beautiful cover (with no blurbs, please) or interesting premise, I will probably want to buy it. I’m buying more second-hand these days as I’m lucky to have two great charity bookshops nearby where quite often I find brand new copies at a fraction of the price. I have more unread books than read, but my philosophy is that I’m curating my own personal library and I have accepted this is more about topics and stories that reflect my interests rather than my actual reading as there is no way I can humanly get to all these books in my lifetime.”—Cristina Carmona Aliaga

• “I buy new when I know I will want to read it again. Or, rarely, if it's the only way to get my hands on something obscure. I buy used when I can afford it (usually holiday gift to myself). A new haul can make me feel like a dragon with its hoard!”—Kathe Nichols

• “ I always buy because I want to have my own copy. It bothers me that I have a lot of unread books on my shelves. It’s one of my reading slump triggers.”—Jam Canezal

• “1. It’s cheap (I love finding a good book for cheap) and I am excited by finding it in the wild, or it’s a book I have read and I want to mark up. Or I haven’t read it but I assume I will want to mark up. Or, more recently, it was published by an indie or university press. So many reasons! 2. Delight. Many of the books on my shelves are unread because a) I accumulate books too fast and b) I get rid of a fair amount of books after I read them if they don’t feel special. I’m in that Umberto Eco camp regarding unread books.”—Nathaniel Roy

• “1. It’s nerdy science written by a female scientist/naturalist who can make stories out of the hard stuff (Jahren, Kimmerer, Williams). 2. 7 unread books feels like money in the bank. More than that means I need to find homes for them.🌱🌿”—Katharine Beckett Winship

• “I usually buy books I love and would read again or that I want to pass along to my kids someday. It doesn’t bother me to have a lot of unread books. Most of my unread stack are gifted books!”—Kuleigh Baker

• “My unread pile doesn’t go on my shelves, it’s a pile in my nightstand cubby. And I tend to buy nearly every book I read…”—Jessica Grosman

• “I love pretty covers, so that’s one. I have to like seeing it on my shelf. Exclusive special/limited editions I just buy if it’s a known enough book that I will likely end up liking/loving. If I don’t, I can always sell/donate them. It makes me happy that I can just reach for a book I already have instead of waiting in queue or waiting for it to ship, because mood & timing is everything. But also, a part of me feels guilt when I have to start rearranging to make my books fit on the shelf, because a new book has arrived.”—Peachy

• “i like to own books i’ve already read (usually through the library) and loved, so i’ll buy my own copy eventually. almost all the other books i buy are used and inexpensive and have been on my tbr for a while!”—Celia Wiseman-Peterson

It was so fun to hear people’s thoughts on this. I related to many of them, and I’m sure you do, too, if you’re reading a literary newsletter. After mulling it over, here’s the collection policy I decided on.

For my home library:

• I will buy books because I'm excited about the author or content, not just because they're cheap or I feel obligated to read them.

• I will buy books I want to write in and refer back to someday.

• I will continually weed my collection to keep it exciting and relevant to my interests and needs.

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

I realized three things about myself as I reflected on this project.

I bought books for my fantasy self.

We all have a fantasy self. That's the person we want to be or hope we are. My fantasy self is a scholar who reads literary criticism and 600-page biographies about Emily Dickinson for fun. Dear reader, I do not want to read a 600-page Emily Dickinson biography for fun. I want my home library to reflect who I am right now, not someone I wish I were.

I'm a sucker for a "good deal."

I've purchased many books at library book sales, thrift stores, and used bookstores. I love a bargain. I rarely pay full price for a book, but getting a book cheaply doesn't mean I need it. I'm not saving any money by buying a book I don't truly want to own.

I was guided by obligation or buzz.

Thanks to my job, I keep up with new books, read a lot of reviews, and get recommendations from Substack and other social media sites. I can easily get swept up by the latest buzzy title or think I need to read that book that'll probably be on the year-end best-of lists. That’s okay, but I want to be better about not picking up books because everybody else is, and instead, I want to focus on titles that are right for me.

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

Even though my project was overwhelming at times, I was surprised by how much fun it was to be reunited with books I’d forgotten about. It was also nice to get rid of titles that no longer appealed to me. I’m thankful that I appreciate my home library in a new way and more grateful than ever to have access to so much wonderful literature.

I’m donating a decent chunk of the titles I’m parting with, but I have some for sale, too. I love using PangoBooks, so if you’re interested in some cheap books, check out my shop.

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I would love to read your feedback! Do you like owning a lot of books? What makes you buy a book? Tell me absolutely everything because I’m nosy about people’s bookish habits.