We’re culling the books these days. I keep thinking of King Solomon.
He’s the one who opined long ago, “of the making of books there is no end.”
Of the owning of books, there is no end, either, or at least it seems that way to me.
After emptying the living room to paint, we’re now refilling the bookshelves. That means we’re going through the books at our house.
We threw away the outdated 24-volume Encyclopedia Britannica (1962). We passed along outgrown art I don’t like, and shook our heads over the outlandish (“Who bought this book?”).
It’s exhausting. I now have one empty box, one full box, and piles of books to be reexamined.
27 boxes to go.
What books should I cull?
Some of these books simply stump me. What do I do with 35 years of Bible study materials?
I’ve got notebooks filled with lessons I’ve written and taught, spiral-bound studies filled with ideas. That includes lecture notes from Precepts, Lifelight, BSF, countless IVP studies, and Romans in several different formats.
I wrote my name on the inside front page of all these studies and included the location and date.
To browse the pages returns me to my past. I remember the plumeria scent from the Hawai’i studies and the efficient organization from the Monterey classes.
And here’s a dated study in a dull gold notebook: The Philosophy of Christian Womanhood.
The first month we were married, I joined this study in Orlando, Florida as a newlywed. There, I received lessons on topics such as “The Male Ego,” “The Man’s Role,” and “When Things Go Wrong.”
And, of course, “The Christian Woman Herself.”
I don’t need these ideas anymore.
Why not give them to the church library?
I’m passing along most of the Christian books to a church library.
With all the moving we did over the years, I seldom passed on books that were important to me. I worried I’d never find them again. But we’ve been here 10 years now.
My thoughts on some subjects have changed over the years. I’m going to throw away all the Frankie Schaeffer books since he’s disowned them himself.
I’m going to pass along the dictionaries. It’s been years since I checked a physical dictionary. It’s much easier to highlight, right-click, and have the definition appear.
I’m not sure about the Strong’s Concordance. I have everything online these days, but Bible Gateway doesn’t handle word usage as well as I like.
One shelf is easy to keep: comfort novels and books I’ve loved. I’ve got Mary Stewart, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Robert K. Massie, Elisabeth Ogilvie, Eva Ibbotson, Olga Ilyin, and Mary Elgin.
Some of these books are tattered and torn from rereading. Several spiral-bound copies are out of print.
I’m pleased to have one shelf devoted to books written by friends. There they are: Gayle Roper, Sarah Sundin, Jill Eileen Smith, Lynn Vincent, Jane Gangi, Richard Peck.
And now we’re laughing, we should reserve a spot for my own books!
“Keep working on filling that shelf,” my husband said this evening.
Culling the books but keeping some “just in case.”
It’s hard to let go, though, of books I love but which I have no use for now. I’m looking at the Solzhenitsyn volumes and wondering if I’ll ever read them.
Shouldn’t I pass them along, then, to someone who will?
But, I think, someday I may break a leg and need to spend weeks lying down. Shouldn’t I hang on to books to read just in case I can’t find anything else?
Many of the books are stacked in the “let’s think about this one” pile. They may end up back on the shelves.
Sometimes it’s just too hard to say goodbye to an old friend.
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Michelle, I know exactly how you feel because I’ve been there and done that. I know I have boxes of books that I have not unpacked for over ten years. When we moved to Iowa from Virginia, I had very little room to unpack books. So they went to a storage unit. Recently we moved to a larger house and already I have “almost” run out of room. Fortunately, my basement has shelves that were already built so my winter project is to unpack the rest of the books. There is just something about having lots and lots of books around even if I never read them. I call them my “just in case” books. Which brings me to comment on e-readers. I don’t understand. How can someone read without physically having holding a book? That’s just my opinion and my preferences. Maybe that’s why I buy so many print books. Fear of them disappearing? Never happen! Thanks for writing about my feelings.
Hi Michelle, I sure can identify with this post. I’m still lugging around all my old Bible study books for the very reasons you mentioned. And I still mourn the fact that I DID get rid of books that I’ve wished I’d kept. BTW, you might think twice about giving them to your church library. They have limited space, too. Our old church went through and, mercilessly IMHO, culled out hundreds of books. Even at church, our “babies” aren’t safe!!!