Booking Through Thursday asks — We’re moving in a couple weeks (the first time since I was 9 years old), and I’ve been going through my library of 3000+ books, choosing the books that I could bear to part with and NOT have to pack to move. Which made me wonder…

When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?

Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)

And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?

—–

I recently did a bit of weeding and got rid of 50 or so books. It’s not really a lot when I look at the shelves but it needed to be done. Just as a side note, the thought of throwing out a book is horrific!

When I have to weed, I usually pick books that I know family and friends will like and give the books to them. We also have a small library/community room in our building and I tend to donate a lot to the collection. I feel good about leaving the books there because I know if I want to I can always go back and get a book I was not quite ready to part with. 🙂

Weeding is a new phenomenon for me. Normally, I would just keep everything but the book shelves are becoming treacherous to walk by and I’m beginning to fear one of us might disappear under a pile of books and dust jackets. The weeding really is a necessity even though I hate doing it and put it off whenever I can. So far, I’ve gone through one shelf and only need to tackle three more…

How about you?  Hate it, love it, don’t do it?