Reducing My Library...Again

We moved here almost eight years ago from Pennsylvania. Before we moved I sorted out about 800 books that I reluctantly decided to part with.

I sold some of my library to a second-hand book dealer. The rest I gave to a used bookstore in Chambersburg near where we lived for credit. Not my credit mind you, but for my daughter who lived nearby.

When I moved here my library had a little over 2,000 books. Most were nonfiction. There was about 50-50 split between hardbacks and paperbacks, with the paperbacks divided about evenly between trade and mass market.

Working as a volunteer at the local library has not been good for my habit. Or maybe it has, depending on how you look at it. The library has a very good monthly book sale and an outstanding on-going book sale. Lexington also has two bookstores, one that sells mostly used books, and the other mostly new.

But the real culprit has been ordering online; Barnes and Noble to be exact. To be honest, B&N hasn’t been guilty, but really the American Express card. It has a program where points are earned for dollars charged. Every 2,500 points earned will get you a $25 gift card for B&N. 

And I won't even discuss the Green Valley Book Fair. It's an operation that opens for two weeks about every 4-6 weeks, selling remainders that are picked up from bookstores up and down the East coast. And it is only about 45 minutes from us on I-81. 

Actually, the AE points can be used at a variety of stores – Amazon, Williams Sonoma just to name a couple – but we chose B&N because then the books were “free” and both of us love books.

Anyhow, my library has grown again. And grown. I now have about twice the library I had when I arrived in Virginia. It’s time to do some whittling. The photo above is just a small portion of the whole.

I know I will never read all of my books. None of my daughters are big time readers, and what they do read is not really seen in my library. Maybe my grandchildren will develop into serious readers.

So I am developing a plan to reduce my library. I will explain it in another post.

(Verdana 12)