Helpful Hints for Discarding Too Many Books by Susan Van Kirk

 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

“MacBeth” by William Shakespeare

 

Back when I was young, I used to teach “MacBeth” to high school sophomores, never thinking about the possibility that I would get old someday. But lately, I have found that “old” thought on my mind. Debra Goldstein’s post last week about how her writing career has taken a slower pace reminded me of that since I, too, am of “a certain age.” Things are slowing down a bit, and many cultural reminders of my age attack my brain every day.

 

If this isn’t a depressing way to start a blog post, I don’t know what is. Sorry. Don’t worry. It has a positive ending.

 

On a cheerier note, I spent four days last week cleaning the closet in my home office. I live in a house with no basement or attic, and I have three large closets for all those things I need to pack away. It’s a good thing. Every so often, I am forced to clean those closets and reorganize. Last week was that time.

 

I think many of us have “junk drawers” or closets that are so full we are afraid to open them in case everything falls on us, causing a possible concussion. That was my office closet. (In fact, you’ll see no “before” photos because it’s too terrifying and embarrassing.) And my office closet has a few boxes of family items that belonged to relatives long gone. In a macabre moment in my younger years, I labeled them “Dead People Stuff.” I’m not sure what will happen to those items down the road. My children are not nostalgic. I’d also saved copies of Cliffs Notes I’d written years ago. Then, there are the thousands of photographs, old 45 and 78 records, various tax papers, and my own amazing museum of used cellphones. There’s a box of digital and IT items that will never come back in style, believe me. Life changes so quickly in the tech industry that things are obsolete before we get used to using them.

 

My museum of cell phones and cases

On the other hand, I also have several stacks of books. This is a tough one. What to do with books? Am I ever going to read them again? Probably not. Did I finish reading all of them? Not even close. When I start a book, if it doesn’t interest me, it’s toast. Life is too short at my age to read books I don’t get interested in quickly.

So organized!

 

So, what to do with the myriad books that have piled up just in the last year or two? I can’t give them to

my friends or my editor because they are in the same position. They are trying to offload books too. I decided to keep a few and discard others that I’ll never read again or that I have no nostalgic reason to keep. In the nostalgia group, I will keep copies of The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Walden, all the Sherlock Holmes’ stories, and some British and American writers I love.

 

Back to my question. What to do with the rest of these books?

 

By way of public service, I’ll give you a list in case you are in the same situation.

 

I am going to give some books to the senior center in my hometown twelve miles away. They have their own little library where people can check out books. Part of my book stack will go to the Friends of the Library group here in my town. They’re having a big sale on June 15^th, but you can take books to them anytime. There are also some Little Libraries around town, and a few will go to those. Then there is the public library as well as the high school library. Those are locations where they will sometimes take books that are in excellent shape. Mine are. It depends on their current catalog of books.

 

So organized!

KM Rockwood says you can also consider jails, rehab centers, detention centers, and prisons. They often want fiction or self-help. However, you need to contact them first because they often have rules about what kinds of reading matter they’ll take. KM told me, “As one warden I knew (large medium-security male state prison) said, "Anybody who's reading a book is not, at that time at least, plotting escape, the next riot, or how to disassemble the plumbing… Incarceration is profoundly boring. People who would never dream of cracking a book on the street become avid readers. At least for the time being.”

I also have a few books that I bought for my own children when they were young or for my grandchildren, who are no longer so young. Those can also go to libraries and elementary schools. Some daycare centers can also use those books.

 

When you sit for a moment and think about familiar places where people read books, you’ll realize there are many possibilities. I’d much rather recycle books than simply throw them away.

 

So, happy conclusion. My closets are clean and organized once again, my used books are off to places where they can be reused, and I feel lighter and happier. Not younger, but lighter and happier.

 

Can you think of other places where you can recycle books?