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Old 01-30-2019, 01:20 PM
 
Location: 5,400 feet
4,820 posts, read 4,727,762 times
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When we moved cross country in retirement, we moved about 1,500 books (after donating a couple of hundred books to our local library before moving). I know we moved 10 bookcases and that wasn't enough to hold them. After a few years, we took a hard look and said which of these will we ever look at again. We donated more than half of them to our new local library. I've since purchased a Kindle and even more were donated. In retrospect, I should have donated 2-3 times as many before we moved.
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Old 01-30-2019, 01:20 PM
 
Location: state of confusion
1,303 posts, read 843,847 times
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I donated/sold a ton of books prior to my move. I only kept those that I truly loved and wouldn't be likely to find in a library. I have lots of old sci-fi and mystery and libraries seem to have mostly newer stuff. I like the old stuff better! Also got rid of duplicate types of reference books....bird books, etc and any that would not pertain to the new area I was moving to. I'm with you...not into Kindles or reading books online. I would think that a set of encyclopedias from the 1980's is pretty out of date by now, and wouldn't hold on to those...plus they are heavy. Cookbooks, I only took those that I actually used and Joy of Cooking, since it's such a good reference as well as for the recipes. Still, probably moved about 10 or 12 boxes of books.....I had a 7x7 pod, so we're talking serious downsizing here! Books were still a priority.
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Old 01-30-2019, 01:24 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 23 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
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When I moved I gave away all books, except my cookbooks and non fiction/ reference books that might come in handy, like gardening. I also stopped buying books. Now, I use the library for free, and I have freed myself from the burden of dragging around heavy books. Once in awhile I’ll buy a book on Kindle.
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Old 01-30-2019, 01:24 PM
 
Location: equator
11,011 posts, read 6,544,037 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SunGrins View Post
I disposed of any books that pertained to my former home state that were reference books (trees, birds, etc.) and some self-help and fiction books (I'm bayond help, anyway). I'm considering making one of those "little libraries" out by the road where neighbors can borrow or exchange books.

LOL to self-help books! I went through that phase and got so disgusted with it all, I gave them to our local library when we moved overseas where every pound counted. We only took some manuals and spiritual books. I don't even look at those. No cookbooks---everything is online.

Since there's no library, I could not live here without my Kindle. I can access the Dallas Public Library and get the cheapo Amazon books AND read at night without a light on to bother DH.

There's a couple places expats have donated books like you describe: "Little libraries"...
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Old 01-30-2019, 01:33 PM
 
Location: planet earth
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I have had HUGE libraries, that I have whittled down a little bit.

I went through and donated books that I have no strong affinity for - some that I ordered, but never read . . . now I am at the point where I need to do it again, because I remodeled my home and put everything in storage and only brought books I love back in - but there are "useful" books still in storage.

I guess the thinking will be if there is any chance my children will want them when I pass on. I don't think they necessarily will.

So, according to Marie Kondo's theory, if each book does not "spark joy" it should be donated.

I've got some work to do.
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Old 01-30-2019, 01:37 PM
 
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
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When I was moving, one thing that I used to help me decide whether or not to keep a book was how easily I'd be able to replace it if I later decided that giving it away had been a mistake.
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Old 01-30-2019, 01:44 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
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If I moved from where we are now, I would try very hard to keep all my books. I almost never get rid of any books - I traded for example a shop manual to a truck I don't have any more to a local used book shop - and immediately grabbed a memoir by Sakharov - so no net loss of books. The Sakharov book is actually bigger.



Would be reluctant to move to a house much smaller than current 928 ft 3.
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Old 01-30-2019, 02:28 PM
 
2,759 posts, read 2,023,281 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis View Post
What criteria did you use when deciding which books to take with you to you moved to your retirement home, or when you decided that it was time to seriously 'downsize' and/or get rid of excess "stuff"? And are you happy with your decision?

What I have done up to now is to "collect" books for a while and then, about every three years or so, I donate the ones I know I won't read again, but now I am hesitating about the 50 or so books that I haven't read in at least ten years, but that I enjoyed very much the last time I read them. (Most of these I have read at least three times.) My husband has about the same number of books I do, plus we have also collected about 50 or so cookbooks that we now very seldom use, thanks to the Internet. plus we also have a set of encyclopedias published in the early 80's that I think might come in useful if the Internet ever goes down for a long time, so we are looking at possibly moving about 200 books altogether. This is a long distance move, so I don't want to take any books that we probably will never read again.

(But, please, no suggestions about E-books, Kindles, etc. I know that many people love them, and they definitely save space, but I hate them and would never consider buying one for myself. To emphasize, I know they are GREAT for some people, but not for me.)

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I am putting this in the Retirement forum rather than the General Moving forum because 20 years ago, I would have taken all my books without even thinking about it. But now, as a senior, I don't want to have any more "stuff" than I actually want or need.
I can so relate to this. (katharsis, I may start calling you "Sis" for short because of all the things we have in common, lol)

Okay, so: I have always had a separate "library" room with a desk and bookshelves in whatever house I've lived in. When I put my first house on the market in 2002 I had an entire 12-foot wall of floor to ceiling bookshelves, more than 1000 books in all, and all mine. Almost all hardcover. I did cull about 25% of those only because after the first week of boxing them up for the self-move the task became too daunting. At that time I was in my early 50s.

The house I moved to had a 10-foot wall for bookshelves but I don't think I had more than about 600 books on that wall by the time I moved again ten years later. I knew I'd only have about 50 linear feet of bookshelves in the next (my current) house and so I got rid of all the cookbooks except one (cookie recipes) and all of the gardening books that were of the "tour" type. I do regret giving away some of the other reference type books now. I used to have about 40 gardening books and now I only have about half that amount. That said, I have bought four specialist plant books within the past year (clematis, epimediums, peonies, and low-allergen), lol. And I just bought a reprint the other day of one that I'd stupidly given away to the local library which is where all the culls went.

I now concentrate on four specific current historical fiction writers whose work I really love, plus if I think I may like a "new" writer or book I will request it from the public library for a test run. I always know before the end of the first chapter whether it's a book I will want to add to my collection or not. For example I've not been a big fan of C.W. Gortner but his latest one, The Romanov Empress, turned out to be a "order for my library" one.

My motivation for downsizing my book collection was really a combination of having to move them all myself (I had 35 individual boxes when moving from my previous house to this one) and knowing that I have a much smaller room with limited wall space. I have 10 linear feet of still-empty shelf space so that should hold me for the next decade I hope. Also I put Elfa shelving in this room and so I could theoretically eke out another 4 to 6 linear feet of shelves if push ultimately came to shove, by rearranging things.

IMHO do keep the books you enjoy re-reading even if a big time gap in between. I have all of the Jean Plaidy books in hardcover and I re-read them all in chronological order every few years. Just started another cycle last month. I do the same thing with my DVD library. It's about time to start re-watching Rosemary & Thyme, in fact. Haven't done that for about five years.

Last edited by BBCjunkie; 01-30-2019 at 02:36 PM..
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Old 01-30-2019, 02:40 PM
 
2,759 posts, read 2,023,281 times
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Just did a quick book count out of curiosity. I currently have 293 books, not counting the 47 childrens books that were originally my sons but I kept and will be either giving to my baby grandchild eventually to bring home or keeping here while she is still little. Also does not count coloring books (yes I'm addicted to that.)

I have two upcoming books on my To Order From Amazon list when they are published this summer, plus the one gardening book on the way, so that will be 296 books by June. Clearly I have to make a push to break 300 before the end of this year, LOL

Last edited by BBCjunkie; 01-30-2019 at 03:02 PM..
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Old 01-30-2019, 02:51 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
7,785 posts, read 18,748,146 times
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We've done 3 moves over the last 11 years (and we were the movers, doing all the packing, lifting, unpacking etc) and with each move we whittled the collection down. We still have a bookcase in just about every room of the house and we still have hundreds of books, but we don't have thousands anymore.

The final criteria was: Will I read this again or consult it again? Is it in public domain so that I can get it for free on Kindle? Do I like it so much that I will add it to my Kindle library despite it not being free?
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