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October 15th, 2009

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Booking Through Thursday

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

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When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)
And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?

I went through my entire library about two years ago, and purged all of the books I either (a) had read and knew I wouldn’t re-read, or (b) had never read and had no intention of reading (most of which I had no idea how I came by in the first place). I traded them primarily on BookMooch and also a few on PaperbackSwap, being more particular about the books I acquired through the same. It was the first voluntary book purge of my life, and it was painful, but necessary.
Since I joined LibraryThing and have been more deliberate about my reading selections, I’ve considered a second purge; having just moved myself, this is an ideal time. I have to go through my LT catalog and remove those books which were Mare’s or which she elected to keep that were ours, have those migrated to her new account, move the ones I’d like to replace to my Wish List collection, all that jazz. So, it’s going to be a huge project, but a very comforting one, a la Rob’s vinyl reorganization in High Fidelity.

Howsabout you?

Time to dust off the cobwebs…

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

So for those of you who know me in person or on other forums, you’re aware of the series of changes in my personal world that have kept me away from the blog, as well as most social networks. For the rest of you, the short of it is that I chose to end my relationship of three years, had to decide whether to stay in SF or return to the East Coast, and moved across town once I elected to stay here. It has been a really difficult few months, but I’m working to embrace the opportunities and to recenter myself, part of which is posting here regularly again. I’d like to apologize for the absence, and thank anyone who comes back around to witness my rather sheepish return :)

To get back into the swing of things, I’ll be skimming through your posts in my Google reader, sharing a little about my reading since my last update, and most importantly, revising my discussion calendar to bring about the changes I’d discussed shortly before my brilliant disappearing act.

I’ve missed this forum, regardless of how short-lived its first run was, and am really looking forward to throwing myself into it with a renewed spirit and strengthened focus. Thank you all for being a big part of the reason I write here; I can’t wait to reconnect.