I just got done packing up the books in my bookcase, because I need to move my bookcase, because I am finally getting new carpet, because I needed new carpeting, because I have two little boys, and that’s why I can never have nice things.
The task of disassembling and then reassembling the “walk-in filing cabinet” that is my office was daunting. Then I started looking at it as an opportunity. An opportunity to declutter. Anyone who knows me, knows I am partial to nicknacks. My friend has described my decorating style as “old lady,” which is apt when you start counting the doilies.
I am also biased towards to books. There’s my favorite authors - Wharton, Steinbeck, Palahniuk - who’s books get reread and boast underlines and notes in the margins. There’s the books I only read once, but liked enough to keep. There’s the books I only read once but can’t seem to resale because the author signed it. There’s the books gifted to me, which I haven’t read yet. And, let’s be honest, there’s the books I never intend to read, like the complete works of William Wordsworth. It has been on my shelf since my formative years as an attempt at intellectualism.
But most of the bookshelf real estate hogs are the reference books and anthologies. Anyone with a liberal education may remember Norton Anthologies. Do college students still have to buy those books? If you took a course on English lit, or feminist lit, or post-emancipation African American lit .... your professor put a Norton Anthology on the reading list. Then selected specific poems, shorts stories or plays as part of the syllabus.
In my educational travels, I managed to collect a few of these. I never sold them because I was told it was important to keep them as a reference. If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader. Books are part of your craft, you don’t sell your foundation back to the bookstore for pennies on the dollar.
My professors’ words keep ringing in my ear as I held up the anthologies and debated between the keep and donate pile. Timothy was on a step stool, getting annoyed I was taking too long to make a decision and ask for the next book. Maybe I should keep them for him …. Maybe one day he would appreciate these anthologies when he is older....
What am I talking about! He has the internet!
Sure there was an Information Super Highway when I was in college, but it was mostly there for IRC and figuring out the lyrics to Cure songs. The interwebs has come a long way baby. Sure there’s a lot of junk and memes, but hidden in there are obscure poems from Langston Hughes, short stories by Kate Chopin, even Lord Byron.
The anthologies are going in the donate pile, with the hopes they will inspire and entertain the next reader. When my bookshelf gets put back together, it will have more real estate for new books and the future clay pot my kids will undoubtedly present me for Mother’s Day.
Because at the root of letting go, is the opportunity to make space for the future you.
The task of disassembling and then reassembling the “walk-in filing cabinet” that is my office was daunting. Then I started looking at it as an opportunity. An opportunity to declutter. Anyone who knows me, knows I am partial to nicknacks. My friend has described my decorating style as “old lady,” which is apt when you start counting the doilies.
I am also biased towards to books. There’s my favorite authors - Wharton, Steinbeck, Palahniuk - who’s books get reread and boast underlines and notes in the margins. There’s the books I only read once, but liked enough to keep. There’s the books I only read once but can’t seem to resale because the author signed it. There’s the books gifted to me, which I haven’t read yet. And, let’s be honest, there’s the books I never intend to read, like the complete works of William Wordsworth. It has been on my shelf since my formative years as an attempt at intellectualism.
But most of the bookshelf real estate hogs are the reference books and anthologies. Anyone with a liberal education may remember Norton Anthologies. Do college students still have to buy those books? If you took a course on English lit, or feminist lit, or post-emancipation African American lit .... your professor put a Norton Anthology on the reading list. Then selected specific poems, shorts stories or plays as part of the syllabus.
In my educational travels, I managed to collect a few of these. I never sold them because I was told it was important to keep them as a reference. If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader. Books are part of your craft, you don’t sell your foundation back to the bookstore for pennies on the dollar.
My professors’ words keep ringing in my ear as I held up the anthologies and debated between the keep and donate pile. Timothy was on a step stool, getting annoyed I was taking too long to make a decision and ask for the next book. Maybe I should keep them for him …. Maybe one day he would appreciate these anthologies when he is older....
What am I talking about! He has the internet!
Sure there was an Information Super Highway when I was in college, but it was mostly there for IRC and figuring out the lyrics to Cure songs. The interwebs has come a long way baby. Sure there’s a lot of junk and memes, but hidden in there are obscure poems from Langston Hughes, short stories by Kate Chopin, even Lord Byron.
The anthologies are going in the donate pile, with the hopes they will inspire and entertain the next reader. When my bookshelf gets put back together, it will have more real estate for new books and the future clay pot my kids will undoubtedly present me for Mother’s Day.
Because at the root of letting go, is the opportunity to make space for the future you.