Books I Gave Away
I may be moving. We’re not sure yet. That is another story for another time – and trust me, regardless of the outcome, the story will be told.
In these uncertain times, I am going through my belongings, and most importantly, my library. I’m consolidating, selling, giving away.
I haven’t cataloged every book donated or tossed. You would think the ex-inventory manager in me would, but honestly I find it a little depressing. But there are a few that have made some pretty huge impacts on my memory.
So here are the things I remember getting rid of (I donated about 100 books to the public library recently, if not more), and why:
Ramses Series by Christian Jacq
I read the first three of this series and then gave up. I owned all five. I loved Christian Jacq’s Queen of Freedom trilogy and immediately purchased two other historical fiction series by this world famous Egyptologist and fiction writer. I got annoyed with the Ramses series because it did not feel based in history at all, which is something that I find incredibly annoying especially for this genre. I’m keeping the Queen of Freedom books because I loved them; and the Stone of Light series because I haven’t read it. Ramses, on the other hand, had to go. A week after dropping them off at the library, I saw them perched all in a row on a shelf. It made me smile.
Walter Mosley Hardbacks
I don’t know how I ended up with these. I do remember them surviving previous purges because I intended to read them eventually. I thought it was nice to have a diverse collection. But the truth is: I like classic literature and I like cozy mysteries. I don’t tend to read a lot of run of the mill genre mystery books and these just never called my name. Not ever. They sat and amidst John Grisham titles from my childhood and collected dust. I’m glad to know they were not perched on the for sale shelf at the library – either they are currently in circulation or they got bought up quickly. That, too, makes me smile.
James Herriot
I think I mentioned this already, but goodness! Me, oh, my! I end up with so many duplicates of this fellow. Every time I pull a book from a corner I swear it’s a James Herriot duplicate of an existing hardback I have tucked somewhere else. They’re everywhere! I think James Herriot books may actually reproduce other James Herriot books – like plastic bags from the grocery store manage to do in your pantry – put one in there and out come five. No smiling here. Just sheer, baffled giggles.
What books do you find yourself purging when the time comes?
Anakalian Whims 
cocoblaq said,
July 6, 2014 at 10:49 pm
That’ll be hard for me. But I’m sure I’ll come up with ideas if I have to.