From this week’s antilibraries newsletter, some musings on sorting, triage, books to keep and books to discard and the space in between…
I’ve started going through ~900 books in preparation for a move, and deciding which to keep — old and new, completed or forgotten, ones to keep for reference or for more sentimental reasons.
I’m interested in those categories of books that aren’t clearly must-keep antilibrary treasures, or ones I’ve forgotten and don’t care about at all, but require further thought—
- Books received as gifts but no longer such a good fit for our interests…
- Books on topics I still find fascinating, but where I sense a mismatch in taste or style or resolution or approach, and can’t see myself really reading…
- Books that may prove useful references but also we could probably grab the ebook or look up the material on the internet so is it really worth keeping?…
- Books to skim first and then give away!
- Books that make great decoration, or have functional utility (like the giant Chris Ware book that’s propped up our projector for years)…
- Books that I’ll never read again, but appreciate and have the urge to keep as a sort of talisman or memory marker…
A few questions to consider:
- How do you decide when to read something, or if you’ll ever read it at all?
- How does an antilibrary expand and, perhaps on rarer occasions, contract?
- How do you know when it’s time to get rid of a book?
Please feel free to share any thoughts here!