So, in addition to having a pretty glorious week (did I mention the weather was fab too? The weather was SO fab!) I also got some stuff done for this:
Which were, doing this to my hair (full disclosure: it was like that for about 2 minutes before I discovered it made the front of my hair look weird and took it out, but I still did it and IT COUNTS, especially since my hair is now too short to do anything with) and making these Nutella doughnuts. I know. Nutella doughnuts. I almost want to cry at the thought that anything so beautiful could exist in the world. LOOK HOW DELICIOUS:
I'm pretty proud of myself, and also I was both amazed and impressed at how easy doughnuts are to make! Seriously! (all I would recommend about the recipe I linked to is to only make half, because SO MANY LEFTOVERS. Not that that's really a bad thing, but doughnuts are so not as nice the next day). So I think that technically I have completed the Pin it Do it challenge now (I was aiming to do 2, I think) but I'm gonna keep on going because sense of achievement, YESSSSSS!
Now onto the question of the day/week/MY LIFE. Seriously, how do you get rid of books? I ask this because, this week, I did get rid of say, 20 books, which is good but really not enough. And I say not enough, not because I want to make myself unhappy by ridding myself of books that I might want to read again, but because I can't even get rid of some books that I know I don't want to read again. Like this: A Penguin Classics Edition (you know, the ones with the black spines that are awesome?) of Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding. Or this one: The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh that I had to read for a University module, and was fine but I don't really want to read again. Or even: Bushwhacked- this book that I got a really long time ago that I assume humorously critiques Bush the Second's Presidency, but hey guess what, that was over like 4 years ago!
And I don't know why I can't get rid of them! It's like... I have special specific reasons for wanting to keep each of the books that I know I should probably rid myself of (it's part of a pretty collection, I read it at uni, I haven't read it yet and what if it changes my life?!) and, even now, when I am literally at book saturation point, I still can't get rid of a real number of them so that I can just have room to move around! With the books I've read, I feel like there's a mixture of nostalgia and cataloguing happening- nostalgia in 'oh, I remember reading that, it was nice!' and cataloguing in 'well, I read this book, and this book, and this one' but, then, isn't that what this whole blog is for? I've seen enough Hoarders to know that having special specific reasons for keeping everything is surely not going to lead to anything good, but can I do anything about it? Can I fuck.
So, HELP ME! Do you have any advice on how to get rid of books? Any systems, or words of support? Or do you think that I don't even have a problem, and that hey, there are a lot worse things to hoard than books? Because that's another angle of my thinking, which is fine until there's no space left. And there is no space left. One positive thing is that I dump books really quickly if I'm not enjoying them (see ya never, Tom Sawyer) but even I can't read that fast! And for every book I don't like, there are about 10 that I do. So...
Skarsgard and I don't know what to do. Help?
You abandoned one book on some steps in Covent Garden! I can't remember what it was but it was reallly bad.
ReplyDeleteAn Education! Yeah, I wasn't AT ALL sad to get rid of that. Fucking Barber...
DeleteOF COURSE! I loved that film soooo much. A rare instance of a film being way way way better than a book? (that made me think about how Brokeback Mountain IS the same as the story and for a second I thought skarsgard was one of them!)
DeleteI think so! I guess that one chapter about it in the book was OK though, but then she blamed her entire personality on that one incident, so... Stupid woman!!
DeleteBrokeback Mountain the movie is better than the story though. More fleshy. And hot. SKARSGARD SHOULD DO A REMAKE! I volunteer to play his wife.
Gahhh, it's always so hard! When I moved, I got rid of at least four boxes of books. My only advice is to keep the ones that REALLY mean something to you. Like REALLY REALLY REALLY mean something. I was afraid to get rid of anything, because what if I want to read it again! I decided that wasn't a good enough reason to keep a book, since that's what libraries are for! It's not like I'm never going to be able to get my hands on it again!
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, it's hard. I now just have two shelves of books...it looks so measly!
This... is very good advice. Very very good. I mean, I'm not sure if I can be quite *that* brutal with the culling, but I can definitely be like 'Dude! It's not like you can never read it again!' I've definitely been thinking this, and like, ALSO I could just buy a new one if I really couldn't live without it, you know? ARGH, such a hoarder!
Delete2 shelves is preeeetty measly! But if I was moving really far, I'm not sure how many books I'd want to lug either! (Yeah I do... not many!)
I only just saw Batman on Friday! I got pretty over excited. As to getting rid of books I can't help because my technique is to get rid of other stuff and buy another bookcase to fill the space! But I did give away books for world book night by leaving them one by one on the bus. I have once found a book on a bus and that was pretty awesome. Plus you get to feel like a literary spy/ninja.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of other stuff is an amazing strategy! But at this point I can't even really do that. Well, I can maybe empty a couple of boxes of magazines (I'm a pathetic magazine keeper too) so that might be my next step.
DeleteLove the leaving books on buses thing! I left a book in Covent Garden once, but only because I lent it to my friend and she gave it back to me, and I really didn't want to carry it round London all day, so left on some steps it was! It was a sucky book though, so I feel pretty sorry for whoever picks it up!
I can offer you no help with the books, because my shelves are FILLED with books that I've read and didn't like, started but didn't finish, or haven't read and probably will never read! So yeah, no help on that front!
ReplyDeleteBUT, holy crap those doughnuts look amazing! I'm making them this weekend and doing my hair like that tomorrow!!
Oh Kayleigh... Let's live together and be happy and die by drowning in books. It's the kind of life we both deserve!
DeleteYES DOUGHNUTS! They're actually pretty easy to make, which is always a bonus!
Yay you for being awesome at the pinning challenge!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I have any advice for book purging, because I'm terrible at it. The only thing I can suggest is to look really hard at your unread books - Do you still really really really wanna read it? Did it get good reviews? Is it a classic? When I'm purging my books, I get rid of a lot of my unread books, but if I'm feeling unsure about it, I write it down on my "to re-buy later maybe" list (or a "buy a prettier copy" list). I figure if I get the urge to read that book 2 years later, I'll just go buy it then. Until then it has to go.
Good luck!
Thank youuu!
DeleteSarah, I got rid of some books! Your advice was really helpful actually, so thank you- I looked at the books I hadn't read and just thought, look, realistically am I ever going to want to read this? And if the answer was no, I let it go! I mean, if the answer was maybe, or probably not, then I kept it, but I made a start and that's the important thing! :)
Hooray for happy week! And for trying out those pinterest things, although I'm sorely disappointed we don't get a picture of your hair!
ReplyDeleteI am the worst person to make suggestions about book purging because my response is KEEP THEM ALL!! What if you want to read (or re-read) it later? And now you don't have it? So I'm sort of doing the opposite of helping right now. You could watch that Hoarders about the couple that hoarded books. Maybe that can help you decide what to get rid of?
I know, I'm sorry! I can't find my camera cable, which is really annoying... hopefully I didn't throw it away in some kind of purging frenzy!
DeleteAnnnnd that was no help AT ALL! Although my response to 'what if you want to read it later' is, well, I can get it from the library or re-buy it- it's not like it's gone FOREVER if I don't own it anymore! I think I need to ask myself 'what's going to happen if I don't have it?' and if the answer is, well, nothing really, then it can go. Well, theoretically, anyway...
If I didn't rate it at least 4 stars, I get rid of it. And the 4 star ones still get an interrogation. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI must be 100% sure that I will read a book again for it to live on my shelves. Otherwise, I try to give it to someone I think will love it more than I will or donate it.
ReplyDeleteAfter you purge some books, do a fun rearrangement of the shelves. It will make you feel better!
Ok--I've just pinned those donuts because they look AHMAZING. But I'll need to wait until there are other people I can make them for because I'm sure I'd devour the entire lot.
ReplyDeleteI have no advice for getting rid of books. I'm actually a bit better about getting rid of books I haven't read than ones I have read. With the ones I have read I always have some sort of memory tied to it. And even the books I didn't like I think "maybe someone else will want to borrow it and like it better" or "maybe next time I read it I'll like it more." Sick. Sick sick sick. ;)