Sunday, May 3, 2009

Moving Books Along to Their Next Homes

cover, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

Being a book lover doesn't mean keeping every book you've ever purchased. I found the following in The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, a book I read on my recent vacation.
As a bookseller and a rep, I've had many more thousands of books in my possession than my shelves at home would indicate. At one time, I tried to keep them all, but that quest soon became impossible; I now only keep the ones I'm sure I'm going to reread, the ones I'm definitely going to read before I die, and the ones I can't bear to part with because of an aesthetic or emotional attachment. If my wife and I hadn't gone short-shelf, keeping only those books we're certain we will reread, there'd be no room for my daughter, to say nothing of her books. ...

For me, one of the great things about selling my books is that I know the ones I've sold can now begin an entire new existence. No longer relegated to my shelf or worse, a box in the garage, these books can go to a new home, possibly staying forever, possibly being traded in once again. ...

Used bookstores represent recycling at its best.

Related Posts:
Clearing Out the Bookshelves
10 Ways to Find New Homes for Your Books

2 comments:

Liz Jenkins said...

Jeri - I love used book stores - you know the books are going somewhere good and that someone else will find them and love them as you did.
One of my favorite ways to get books out of clients (and my own) houses is our local library book sale. They have one about every 6 months but will accept them any time and give you a tax receipt for the donation. This is so good on all levels.
The only downside of both of these options is that it's really hard to leave empty handed!

Jeri Dansky said...

Liz, your local library sure makes it easy - good for them! Mine isn't nearly as accommodating, probably due to lack of space - but other libraries in the area do take books all year round.