The First Battle of the Books

Okay, I have paused to take a breather, having run up and down the steps several times with boxes of books, bags of papers, and a desk. I've reached the end of "The First Battle of the The Books". As I continue down the path toward a simplified lifestyle, in fits and starts, I periodically find myself struggling with my possessions.

For those things that I am fond of, like my books, it can be a real battle. There can be a real back and forth. I am trying to pull my book collection down to the books that I routinely use and read, with minor exceptions for collectors items or items of significant value. A few weeks back, when they put the new carpet in, I moved all of my books from the shelves onto the kitchen table. I was pretty impressed that they all fit on the table. All told, there were about two hundred and forty books.

Well, fits, starts, and weeks later I've cleared the books from the table - some of them made it back to the shelves, perhaps too many. Others make it to Goodwill. Still others ended up in the recycle bin. What remains is back on the shelves, though not in any specific order. "The Second Battle of the Books" is forthcoming. As I re-order the books on the shelves, I am hoping to make another cut - again, I hope to cut it in half.

This is a struggle for me because I can look at almost any book and think "gosh, I need to re-read that" or "I may need to look something up in that one" or "that was a good one, I think I will hang onto it." When, practically speaking - probably less than twenty of them get routine looked at. So, this is just a breather between the First and Second Battle of the Books.