alicebentley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alicebentley) wrote2023-12-31 08:34 am
alicebentley) wrote2023-12-31 08:34 am
Entry tags:
Rehoming books
Twenty years ago, when we moved from Chicago to Vashon, we had too little time, and enough money, that instead of weeding our collection of books (and the remnants of the bookstore) we shipped everything here.
I estimate it was about 15,000 volumes.
In 2012 we were going through a rough patch, and just the thought of having to move with So Much Stuff was panic-inducing. So I started making runs to used book stores, getting tables at conventions where I priced everything to move move move ($1 each was common), and had probably dropped to about 4,000 or so books before I ran out of energy (and panic).
Nowadays we are much more likely to buy our new books as ebooks - and while there's a core of several hundred books I will likely always keep, I am ready to find new homes for much of what's here.
So I applied for a dealer table at Norwescon. It would be my first local outing since the pandemic started, but one gets fairly good distancing by staying behind a table, and I love the bookseller experience of connecting people with books.
But they turned me down.
Faced with listing them one by one on some For Sale site (bleh) I whined about this on FB, where some folks said they would be interested in seeing a list, and one local bookseller said he'd come take a look.
I'll get around to doing it, but that table would have been nice.
I estimate it was about 15,000 volumes.
In 2012 we were going through a rough patch, and just the thought of having to move with So Much Stuff was panic-inducing. So I started making runs to used book stores, getting tables at conventions where I priced everything to move move move ($1 each was common), and had probably dropped to about 4,000 or so books before I ran out of energy (and panic).
Nowadays we are much more likely to buy our new books as ebooks - and while there's a core of several hundred books I will likely always keep, I am ready to find new homes for much of what's here.
So I applied for a dealer table at Norwescon. It would be my first local outing since the pandemic started, but one gets fairly good distancing by staying behind a table, and I love the bookseller experience of connecting people with books.
But they turned me down.
Faced with listing them one by one on some For Sale site (bleh) I whined about this on FB, where some folks said they would be interested in seeing a list, and one local bookseller said he'd come take a look.
I'll get around to doing it, but that table would have been nice.
no subject
I can make a great case for keeping each and every one of the too many books we have. One tactic that helped me a lot was when we were moving one large set of bookcases from one room to another, and once I had them properly fastened to the wall I went through the stacks moving in The Most Important Books first. That way I wasn't having to say - you, you're going. I was saying - you, you're staying.
no subject
K. [BT, DT]
no subject
If we ever want to paint the library or get rid of the truly awful carpet, we would have to pack up all the books (ARGH) and move the shelves out. Putting things back would then be the right time to keep only some things. Well, we'll see.
I feel vengeful about a handful of books, but to most, you're right, I don't want to say, "You're going."
P.