How to Prune Your Book Collection According to Professional Scribes
“So many books, so little time” – maybe the eye-rolling slogan is a little worse than “Keep calm and carry on,” but it’s also literally true. As well as “so many books, so little space.” When you have too many books, how do you decide which ones to get rid of? We asked authors, publishers, and booksellers (all prominent book collectors) how they maintain control of their home libraries.
At Lifehacker, we take spring cleaning very seriously. We are far from missing out on an opportunity to refresh, reorganize and streamline our home life. We’re also very excited to hit the reset button with our technology, take a close look at our finances, and get the better of our day-to-day habits that have gotten a little musty. Welcome to Spring Cleaning Week as we clear away the winter cobwebs and set the stage for the sunny days ahead. Let’s clean up, okay?
Maya Ziv, editor of Penguin Random House, learned that some books are no longer useful:
If I have already read the book, then I will leave those that I know I want to either reread or leave on the shelf for years. But there are books that I moved to several apartments and I can say that I lost interest or went through a phase (for example, paranormal I.A.), and those that I part with.
Jamia Wilson, CEO of Feminist Press (featured in Lifehacker’s How I Work ) recommends donating books to your local small free library :
As part of my spring cleaning, I take an inventory of what books I still need to read, or what I still feel like learning and / or keep coming back to. I keep these books, as well as books that were donated to me or signed by myself, and I give the rest to friends who will find them useful, or to local charities. We also have a public library (open bookshelf) in my area, which I often fill with books when I feel the need to free up space.
Justin Taylor, author of The Cast and The Gospel of Anarchy , distinguishes between good books and rarities:
Two or three times a year my wife and I go through our collection of books together to analyze what is really there and what we think about it. We don’t campaign much for or against anything because we tend to keep a robust and extensive collection (pruning rather than cleaning), so if one person wants to keep something and the other doesn’t, or if both the other of us are mostly neutral, the book remains. We get rid of everything that we don’t like, or that we didn’t ask for, but was sent to us, or that we liked, just – good, but not going to ever read again.
I find it hardest to refer to books that you haven’t read yet, but plan (or worse, hope to) read at some point in the future. This is partly, of course, just wishful self-deception, but not all. For example: for many years I have kept the biography of the mystical Jewish heretic / cult / messiah Sabbatai Sevi Gershom Sholem. This book is not easy to find, I have tried my best to acquire it and will definitely read it – sooner or later – so I feel completely justified in moving it to no less than three apartments on the other side. country to leave my choice open.
On the other hand, I voted to get rid of our copy of In Search of Lost Time, even though sooner or later I will have a similar feeling. The difference is that our copy of this book was cheap in paperback and I don’t know where it came from and which I could easily replace if I ever wanted to. So it went to Powell.
If / when the day comes when I’m finally ready to fight Proust, I’ll go there and they’ll have a bunch of editions and I’ll pick one and that’s it. Maybe they’ll even get a copy of me and I’ll buy it back used.
Some of our sources were reluctant to talk about getting rid of books. (Most of the scribes we know are maximalists.) If you’re looking for confirmation of your huge stacks, here are some from Emma Straub, author of Vacationers and owner of the independent bookshop Books Are Magic :
If by sifting you mean very rarely intervene to avoid a Collyer Brothers- type situation, then yes, every few years I go through my shelves and get rid of galleys and other books that I don’t think I’ll ever open. I really hate getting rid of books, so the answer is almost always to put more shelves. And when necessary, move.
Personally, we (married to a professional publisher who took over about 80 percent of our bookshelf) have found a couple of methods. First, to quickly decide which unread books to throw away: read the first page and another random page. If you find yourself reading more by accident, this is the keeper; if not, give it up.
Or – our second trick – he might end up in the probation pile. You are probably going to donate or sell most of your old books ( but not to the library ), so just keep this stack of gifts in your closet for a week or two. Before you take it out of the house, you will have another chance to flip through the books and put them back on the shelf. (If this is too much freedom, limit yourself to two tricks.)
Overall, however, our sources believe that accounting is good . So let that good feeling – or lack of it – be your guide.