I get autographed books at book events. I read them. I give them away.
I have books from my teens. I read them. I give them away.
I get books for my birthday. I read them. I give them away.
But I have about five hundred books on my shelves. I've read them. And I will give them away.. One day. When I am ready. But not yet.
What kinds of books are the Not-Yet sort?
A collection of books-about-books
Books about writing
Books about happiness
Poetry books
A book my dad's neighbor wrote and gave to my grandma
(who then gave it to my dad, who gave it to me)
A family Bible, smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Norway during the war
(It was completely submerged in water during a tropical storm in 1979).
Books my cousin, Frankie Frankeny, has done the photography for
Magazines in which I've published poems
What books do you keep?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.
I get rid of my books after reading them as well. I've never been a saver when I'm done with something, I give it away. One book exception is my favorite book of the last 10 years: A Little Life; H. Yanagihara, I know I'll read it again as it moved me so much the first time.
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of that book I've had for two years. I must put it at the top of my TBR, if you are recommending it so strongly.
DeleteHow often do you add new books to your shelves? How quickly do you read them?
ReplyDeleteMy TTT.
Now that I'm retired, I read 3-5 books a week. I donate all the children's books to our school district's Book Bus for summer reading, and the adult books go into my Little Library.
DeleteYou've got some books that are definitely worth keeping. I give my books away when I'm done with them.
ReplyDeleteI used to keep everything. Finally, I cleared off eight bookcases of books, and discarded the shelves themselves. Now, I pass everything along after I've read it. Much more manageable.
DeleteI donate books that I don't see myself re-reading. Even if I loved it.
ReplyDeleteMe, too.
DeleteI keep too many books. I'm trying to be better about getting rid of books I know I'm never going to read again or have haphazardly acquired. In college, freebie bins were my weakness.
ReplyDeleteI have done better as I have aged.
DeleteI am going to take your approach and give my books away! Like you, I keep books on writing, keep books of poetry, and keep books autographed by authors I have met or have been to book signings for. I also keep Masters' Theses I have been given and have one Doctoral Dissertation, all of these are signed and dated. I may have a book or two to add to your collection of books about books. Let me look at my TBR shelf and read them "right quick." Ha ha
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I love giving away my books. What am I keeping them for? If the apocalypse comes, maybe?
DeleteYou're so nice to give books away. I do that a lot, too, but I definitely have ones I'll never let go.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT.
I give away my books, too. In fact. I am pretty unsentimental about most books. I always keep poetry books, though, because I reread them so often, not because of sentimentality. My TTT list of the week
ReplyDeleteI'm the same. The older I get, the less sentimental I am about books. I read them, I give them away, usually to a friend or to the library or I take them to my local indie and exchange them for store credit for more books! I do have a few "keep" shelves, but eventually I'll give most of those away, too.
ReplyDeleteBTW: That smuggled-out Bible is amazing! What a treasure.
Happy TTT!
I only have a few books that I'll keep. In fact I can only think of 5. As for the rest I'll give them away as soon as I finish them or sell them to the used bookstore. I read a lot of genre fiction and if I'm not going to reread them they find another home with someone new to enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteWow that Bible that was smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Norway is a treasure!
ReplyDeleteI am so surprised by all the comments about giving away books. When I first read your post I thought you may have been in the minority but I was wrong. I'm just selfish, I guess. ��♂️��
ReplyDeletePaperbacks tend to get given away though hardback stay around a little longer. the kindle is a different story, I have loads on that
ReplyDeleteI have kept many history books since that's what I did my Masters in and what I teach and for novels, I've kept childhood favorites of mine and my daughters. I also have some of my favorite fiction reads. I wouldn't mind giving them away, but then my bookshelves would be empty and that isn't ok. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a book keeper either. Mostly it's a space issue because I live in either a static caravan or a motorhome, but also it's rare that I want to read any book twice. I love using Little Libraries and bookswaps so my books are usually as transient as me!
ReplyDeleteI used to keep EVERYTHING I read, but with all our moves, that got to be quite ridiculous. Now I keep my favorites that I either plan to read again or that I hope to give to my granddaughter when she's finished with all her required reading in high school & college. She and I have similar tastes in books, so I know she'll probably (hopefully) enjoy a lot of what I plan to pass on to her someday.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice set of different books. Due to lack of space (and having moved quite a lot) I tend to give away books these days. Before, I could not give away any books whether I liked them or not. Now, I have come to terms with the fact that it is impossible to keep everything. I usually keep my non fiction books. They are on history, biography and such themes. Fiction books I keep only if they mean something special to me, or I liked them very much. I seldom re-read books, although there are exceptions, but I like to just look in them sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI definitely save the books that have been signed by the authors.