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The great book cull of 2016

Yesterday, I took three boxes of books and left them in a donation container for a local charity shop. Some of them were going back to where I originally bought them, while others were going into circulation as used books for the first time.

These books were the final batch of books from the great book cull of 2016. Last November I decided it made sense to keep my TBR books in the living room where I would see them every day and could select books to read without having to climb over obstacles, which is what I have to do where I kept them previously: in my office/workroom. The bookshelves in there are all situated behind something: desk, worktable, my paper cutter and various boxes of stuff.

In the process of emptying the living room keeper shelves in preparation for switching them for the TBR books, I came across books that I had placed in the keeper category and then never given a thought to until I took them down from the shelves to move them.

It was tempting to reread them to find out why I decided to keep them in the first place, but in the end I reread exactly one book (which I decided to keep) and culled just over 100 others, mostly mysteries and romances, with a handful of travelogues and old text books thrown in for good measure. I also - reluctantly - got rid of some of my 200+ cookbooks, specifically speciality cookbooks about carbohydrate-rich foods that are better off being owned by people who don't have diabetes.


I have managed my goal of culling 100 books from my shelves, and as a matter of fact I made it to about 150 if I count books that I got rid of little by little throughout the year.

Culling these books was easier than I anticipated. I didn't regret letting any of them go, and I hope they end up in good homes where they will be read, respected and hopefully loved.
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