I'm going through my book closet again. Last time through, I got rid of the easy stuff -- books we had never used, things that just didn't suit our family, books that I knew I wasn't going to read and that weren't of interest to anyone else.
This time I thought of a way to work on my personal bookshelf -- the one with all the educational and devotional stuff, parenting and mother's issues. It works with the upcoming fall and winter season, too, when I slow down and spend more time reading.
So what I'm going to do is: Read through one book at a time on my personal shelf. After I read it I'll decide if I really need that book on my shelf anymore. Almost all of them, I have already read, sometimes more than once. But if I've already read it, and don't really need to read it again, shouldn't I pass it back into circulation? Someone else could have a turn.
If I can't bring myself to reread it, it probably doesn't belong on the shelf. That's number one. If I can't read it, and it's of no interest to family members, out it goes.
Number two: If I read it this winter and don't think I really need to keep it around for 5 or so years, I'll pass it on.
Number three. There are a few treasures that I probably couldn't pass on because I know I will someday need them, or they are very hard to find, or I want my daughter to have the option to have them when and if she starts her own homemaking. Those ones I will keep, but I'll probably try to read them first to see if they really need to be in our home.
Finally: I'm going to TRY to write some notes or journal a bit about the books as I read them, but I can't totally commit to that because it's harder than just reading them.
A couple of side benefits for this project (besides clearing my shelves a little):
- Revisiting some books that got past the first and second cut. In other words, books I cared enough about to keep when I went through boxes and boxes last spring. This will bring back memories, and I love thinking about past memories during the fall and winter. Don't you?
- Two words: stationary biking! I found my personal exercise secret (especially when I can't hike outdoors in our forest for whatever reason). I can bike AND read. The trick is not to bike too vigorously, because then I can't focus and I get too tired out. But it works GREAT for basic aerobic fitness of the over-45-sedentary type ;-). Yes, this will rule out sitting by the fire but then I can't do that ALL day.
Well I'm just going to throw another idea into the arena;) what if you want to keep some of these books for your daughter?
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