Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Weeding the Books: Our Tastes, They Are A-Changin

bookshelf with some empty space

See that empty space in my bookshelf? I've been taking a fresh look at some of my older books - and what a revelation! While the books I'd saved from grade school and college days are still largely old friends, some books I picked up in my 20s and 30s are a different story.

Why did I still have a copy of Go Ask Alice? I did a quick re-read, and wondered why I ever had a copy! I know some people just love Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York - but I couldn't even get past the first 30 pages or so. And Illusions is thankfully a quick read - because it did nothing for me.

Which just shows that our tastes change - one more reason to continually be pruning our possessions, of any sort. Those three books have now left my bookshelves, and I'm sure more will be exiting shortly.

2 comments:

Marcie Lovett said...

So true, Jeri. I encourage people not to buy popular fiction that they can get at the library. Sticking to special books that they will reread limits choices. Once books make it into most houses, they seem to have trouble leaving!

Jeri Dansky said...

Marcie, I agree - for many people, bringing books into the house is easy, but letting them go is difficult. I've been getting more books at the library myself lately; if I then decide the book is so good I want to own it, I can always buy a copy later.