Sanctuary for books.
Sometimes I look around and wonder where on earth all the books in our house came from. I know we live in a big house but even so the number of dusty tomes has reached an alarming level, one that has to be rebalanced before the weight of the books becomes dangerous.
My husband is a passionate book buyer. Soon after moving into the house, we had a conversation about cutting back on the randomness of his book buying. I even suggested that he focus on one subject. He took the suggestion to heart, and from then on the bulk of his purchases were books on East Africa. Eventually and inevitably he obtained duplicates, which in time formed the basis of his stock for his specialized book dealing business. Link to his books. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/peter-j-ayre-somerset/92468/sf
I foolishly imagined this would mean books leaving the property, but new stock had to be found, and the book population grew faster than before.
Meanwhile other people recognised us as book lovers and dumped their once loved books on us, adding to those from his father, his mother and those the children left behind. Some of the boxes of books given to us by friends moving to smaller homes, who wanted their books to go to a “good home”, have never been opened.
The trouble with all these bonus books is that now the good home is stretched to capacity and they need to move on, but where to? So many second hand bookshops have closed, and the charity shops only want modern paperbacks though they are sadly struggling with the flood of Shades of Grey novels that are swamping their valuable shop space.
Being booklovers at heart, the prospect of dumping them at the tip, or using them to fire a furnace is too hateful to contemplate. Maybe I can find some book carvers, who want material to carve to take them off my hands like the ones left in the Edinburgh library. Check the link below.
http://www.scotland.org/features/edinburghs-mysterious-book-sculptures-to-go-on-display
Any suggestions about what to do with my book mountain would be much appreciated.
Some people are just magnets for books. You and Peter are doubly magnetized. And now you are creating your own books! You’re doomed! LOL
wonderful posting, Caro! have you heard of BOOKCROSSING? http://www.bookcrossing.com/
“if you love your books, let them go” – The New York Times
“an unlikely global sociology experiment” – Book Magazine
“a modern-day message in a bottle” – San Francisco Chronicle
as the quotes above suggest, you join an on-line community that RELEASES BOOKS back into the wild! i had heard of this some years ago, people leaving books in public places as a form of sharing/recycling. my sister even committed to one year of reading ONLY books she FOUND! (and some amazing titles appeared…).
good luck lightening your load. xox