If you saw my posts about my garage sale, then you have seen this picture:
These are books I had from about fifth grade to high school. These are only the ones I let myself get rid of. I have plenty more stashed under my bed, in boxes in the basement, and on my bookshelf. I guess two weeks ago when I was discussing my hoarding habits, I was in denial about my book obsession. It makes sense that I love books and would love to surround myself with them. I mean, I’m majoring in English and Education. I want to teach literature, writing, and all other English-related things to students. I love reading and writing. There, it’s justified now, right?
Wrong. So very wrong.
I love buying books and reading most of them once. I am not the kind of person who re-reads a book. I love the idea of it, but there are so many books I have not read yet, so I never let myself take a break from new books to go back to read an old one. Most of the books I buy are not ones I would go back and reread anyway. My parents already own most of the classics, so these are not books I buy. I normally buy books that sound appealing – maybe a good love story here and there, a book about photography, or a helpful “become a better you” book. I read them, and then they sit around forever.
With all of you as witnesses, I am now vowing (in front of God – if God reads blogs) to ban my book buying as much as possible. Of course I need to buy books (at extremely unreasonable prices) for school, and perhaps one book I really love every now and then is not a crime, but no more “oh-this-sounds-like-it-might-be-good” book buying for me!
I’ve decided to make my library card my new best friend. Plus, even though my parent’s house is filled with classes doesn’t mean I’ve read them all. I’ve got plenty of good reading right at my finger tips. I’m going to make my wallet smile by spending no more on books. In the process, I am making room for clean and organized bookshelves as well as freeing myself from the baggage and self-loathing that comes with owning tons of something I don’t need or use. I’m feeling lighter already!
Since I only sold a few books at the garage sale, I will be taking the leftovers to Half Price Books, one of my biggest enemies at the moment due to their outrageously low prices and great selection – that and the fact that San loves to shop there and must always take me along. Any books they will pay me something reasonable for, I will sell. The ones that they won’t pay me for or will only pay me very little for, I will donate to a lower-priced secondhand store. This way, I will feel a little better about all the money gone on these books and be happy that people who cannot afford to shop at Barnes and Noble will have easier access to my old books.
There you have it! Anyone willing to jump on the library-loving bandwagon with me? What do you do with your books?
My name is Sarah, and I am the dreamer behind Dream In Domestic. This blog is a collection
of everything I love: food, decor, crafts, saving money in thrifty ways, God, and the simple things in life. I am a 21 year old college student who is drawn to all things domestic. I hope you stick around and find something you like. Thanks for stopping by!
Oh how I love books. What a coincidence you brought this up today, because last night I started going through and sorting out books that I was going to keep and ones I was going to give away. I also love having books as decor, I just love arranging them and buying old editions and collecting. I have a lot of interior design text books with awful covers, that I covered with cool paper (industry books that I still need). But I also have a lot of books that just sit around and collect dust, and some sitting up in my clutter-phobe dad’s attic.
I’m addicting to buying books and being in book stores, but after I graduating from college last year, the book budget was cut drastically. The library is my new friend, the one near me isn’t great (how I miss the university library), but it’ll do.
gosh books are one of my two weaknesses (the other being fabric).
i have a rule on books which is everytime i fly somewhere i get to buy a book. and no other time. so i only really get about 5-10 books a year that i really want :)
good luck with your quest, i will also try to get more books out of the library
I understand what you mean a lot of your books were from your younger reading days. I love books too and have a library of my own. I don’t think I could part with a lot of them. Classic literature is something I like to have and if someone visits they can pull a book off the shelf and have a good read. I also love biographies and I like to reference them as well as some treasures of really old ie Plato, Plutarchs Lives, Socrates, The Bible, etc. For current literature I agree with you especially if you do not have space or money for books then the library is a fantastic resource that I think a lot of people don’t use as much any more. I encourage the use of libraries!