I made the plunge a few weeks ago and finally purchased a home of my own. A scary prospect, I know. Although the move is still a month or so away, I decided over the weekend that the time had come for me to start packing. You never can start too early, right?
Given the fact that I am a true book nerd who has what some may view as an unnecessarily large collection of books (although I know that none of my friends here at RTB would ever think that :-)), I knew that packing up my collection was going to take longer than packing up the other areas of my life. So I decided to tackle getting my books packed first. Besides, it wasn’t like it was going to take more than a couple of hours to get everything sorted and into boxes, right?
Would you laugh at me if I said what I planned on taking a couple of hours to get done ended up taking most of my weekend? It was not my fault though. While I had estimated an appropriate amount of time for sorting and packing the books with a little book fondling thrown in (don’t judge!), what I did not take into consideration was the amount of time I would spend flipping through my books before I placed them in the appropriate box.
Packing up my book collection was like taking a stroll down memory lane – a lane that was a condensed version of my reading past. I found copies of some of the first “grown-up” books I read including a battered copy of Stephen King’s The Stand and Catherine Coulter’s False Pretenses (the first book we ever passed around the girls bathroom at lunchtime in junior high while we read the “good parts” aloud). At the back of one bookcase was a selection of books an old boyfriend had given me. The fact that one of these books was a copy of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris should have been an early indicator that our love was not going to last. My most surprising discovery was finding some of the books I purchased the first few months after my father died, books that are much darker than I normally like to read.
As readers, writers, librarians, and bloggers we spend a great deal of time talking about what we are reading or what we’ve just finished reading. We don’t really spend that much time talking about the books we’ve read not days, weeks, or months ago, but years ago. Why is that? Books from our past shape the readers we are today. I know the romances I read ten years ago still impact the romances I pick up to read today. Books from the past have allowed me to refine my tastes and avoid authors, characters, plots, etc. that will do nothing but frustrate me.
What about you? When’s the last time you paged through your reading history? If it’s been awhile I highly recommend it.
I am a huge re-reader, so I visit my reading history rather frequently - Judith McNaught, the early Brockmann books, Jude Deveraux, the historicals of Julie Garwood. Those were the days when romances lured me in and had me engrossed for hours. Not so much anymore. I do notice I was always more a fan of the historical though. I love reminiscing about those books - lots of good memories.
by Stacy ~ February 13th, 2007 at 6:46 am:grin:Oh, Honey, Honey, I knew how this column was going to end by the end of the second paragraph. I have yet to find a fast way for any member of my family or any book reader to sort and pack books fast. It simply cannot be done. If it must be done, hand the task over to someone who couldn’t care less. Bribe him if you must while you conjole yourself at Barnes & Noble.:wink: Of course, then you’ll come home with another armload…:roll:
by Kimber An February 13th, 2007 at 8:02 amWhen we moved here, the first truckload was all books.
by Bernita February 13th, 2007 at 8:11 amI re-read constantly.
I donate everything to the library.
Then when I want to re-read, I borrow them again.
Saves on storage and I can claim the donation for taxes.
Plus leaves me space to buy more books.
I find that I get different things out of books (both fiction and non-fiction) depending on what place in life I’m at. I relate to different characters. So re-reading a book from a decade ago will be a very different experience, almost a completely different book.
by Kimber February 13th, 2007 at 9:32 amFirst, congratulations on your first home! When I bought my first home, I remember the first thing I did was lay down in the middle of the living room floor and just soak up the fact that it was mine. Enjoy.
Now, as to re-reading books. I have a ton of books lying around house. Some I’ve read so many times, I’m surprised I don’t have them memorized. Others are still waiting for their first read. I keep promising myself one of these days, I’m going to sit down and just start reading at Alcott and not stop til I get to Zimmer-Bradley.
I don’t even want to think about what will happen when we move. Ack.
by B.E. Sanderson February 13th, 2007 at 11:38 amStacy, during my last move I made the decision to weed out some of my more battered Jude Deveraux’s, and I have been kicking myself ever since. I still have a few of her books left, but I think I might want to replace what is missing once I am settled in my new home.
Kimber An said: If it must be done, hand the task over to someone who couldn’t care less. Bribe him if you must while you conjole yourself at Barnes & Noble. Of course, then you’ll come home with another armload…
On Friday I hit the bookstore to pick up a few February releases, and I swore that I would not buy another book until after I was settled. Then again, I was only thinking of print books at the time. I guess I could still get a few ebooks.
Bernita, you had a whole truckload of books?!?!? You are truly a woman after my own heart. I’m not goign to feel so guilty about all my boxes now!
Kimber said: I find that I get different things out of books (both fiction and non-fiction) depending on what place in life I’m at. I relate to different characters. So re-reading a book from a decade ago will be a very different experience, almost a completely different book.
That is so true, and a great argument for re-reading. I have friends that are readers but not book buyers because they don’t understand the desire to re-read a book. I’m going to have to remember this argument the next time the topic comes up in discussion.
B.E. Sanderson said: I keep promising myself one of these days, I’m going to sit down and just start reading at Alcott and not stop til I get to Zimmer-Bradley.
This would take so much more willpower than I currently possess. I’d be too tempted to jump ahead!
by Kelly Watson February 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pmThis column made me smile, remembering all of my favorite books (and their covers) without even looking through them. I can’t imagine how long it would take if I had to do that!
by Editor_Twilight Fantasies Publications February 13th, 2007 at 7:48 pmOh, I always lose track of time when I go into my book closet–whether I’m supposed to be straightening up or if I’m just supposed to be finding a book to loan to a friend. I can’t help it…those books draw me in to their sneaky web.
by Cynthia Eden February 13th, 2007 at 9:53 pmHaving just made the plunge into homeownership myself, I had a similar– but very different– experience. For the last year, Cory and I have been living out of boxes. Our apartment, we knew, would be very temporary, so there were many things we never unpacked for a full year– one of those things being most of our books. So, a year ago, I packed up boxes and boxes of books, which sat stacked in a giant pile in our apartment until a month or so ago.
Before the first move, I sorted through many books– sold a few that I knew I’d never read (or even look at) again on Ebay, gave a few to charity, pawned a few off on friends and family. The packing process took *days.*
The books I found hardest to part with (and thus, still have) are all of my books from my childhood– ranging from hardbound “Peanuts” editions to the “Little Women” series, to “A Wrinkle In Time.”
Unpacking the books a year later, I managed to only take a few hours– stopping only to flip through two paperbacks– my two favorite Teen Reads, “The Cat ate My Gymsuit” and “I Was a 98-pound Duckling.” I probably read both of those books a hundred times each, and probably would have read both cover-to-cover again if I’d had the time.
by Sportslady February 17th, 2007 at 9:32 pmIn order to free up some space and raise a little money, I recently went through my book collection and split it into three piles - Won’t Read Again, May Read Again and Will Still Be Re-Reading When I’m Dead. Over several weeks I re-read pile #2 and then moved them into one of the other two remaining categories.
All this took months.
The biggest surprise was re-reading books that I remember thinking were brilliant, okay to find that, on second inspection, they were merely lukewarm. And it got me thinking; what was it about those books that, at that time, touched me so? What had changed in my life that I could no longer relate to them? It surprised me at how my tastes have changed in recent years.
by Vikki February 18th, 2007 at 3:26 pm