One bookish goal of mine is to have all my books on shelves. Currently I have the 2024 TBR stacked right next to the computer, as a reminder. I also have a matching stack of books on the other side that I'd like to read this year. I have some gifted books stacked beside a bookcase as well. I do feel at least that these are manageable stacks.
I even have a little bit of space on the shelves. That's partly because I don't buy as many books these days. I'm on my second year of "52 new books for the year" and it's working pretty well. It also helps that my neighborhood Barnes & Noble has closed for renovations, which has really cut down my impulse purchases. I am also culling my shelves, in a version of Marie Kondo's famous method. I don't ask if a particular book sparks joy, but I do ask if I think I will re-read it. That is my main criterion for keeping a book, that I want to have it on hand for re-reading. I've taken a good number of books that I decide I won't re-read to donate to the library (I always wonder what they make of the very mixed bags of books I drop off).
One of the authors whose books I was looking at is Elizabeth von Arnim, once I realized that I have never yet picked up one of her books to read again. It was easy to let The Pastor's Wife go, it's such a bleak story, and Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther also went on the donation stack. But when it came to Christopher and Columbus, I hesitated. I remembered something of the story, and that I thought it wasn't one of her stronger books. I was curious enough to read it again, and I have to say I enjoyed it much more this time than when I first read it in 2011. I found it a lot funnier than I remembered. My original post covered the plot. What I particularly enjoyed this time was the setting during the Great War, the travel by liner (across the Atlantic) and by train (across the US), and the whirlwind setting up of a tea shop (one of my favorite tropes - though sadly this one closed soon after opening). My main quibble is that the ending felt very rushed, and I am uncomfortable with the "happy" ending where the 17-year-old twins marry in haste (one to a man twice her age).
So this one will stay on the shelves for now. But there's space for it, with fewer books double-stacked. It feels good to let books go.
It is good to let books go that you know you will never read again. I try to comb through my shelves once a year, pulling off those books I no longer feel a need to keep, and freeing up some room for new books to come in. :D
ReplyDeleteThere are always new books coming in! It's a sporadic thing for me, I'll just get the urge to look through a shelf or two. One of my tasks for this holiday-day off from work is to bag up the books I've set aside to take to the library tomorrow. Ironically, I've gotten three books from their sale shelves already this year, but at least it's far fewer than I have donated!
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