Laytonwoman3rd tries harder to CULL

For the last couple years I've been keeping track of books "coming and going" on my reading thread in the 75 Book Challenge Group. My goal is to remove more books from the house than I bring into the house. Haven't met it yet, and honestly, it's unlikely ever to happen. But it has made me more aware and determined to deal forcefully with the issue of too many books. I'm much more likely to give away a book after reading it than I used to be. There's a huge stack of new books (Christmas and birthday gifts and purchases with gift money) on the floor in the living room with absolutely no place to go. In 2016 I managed to move 98 books out, but 134 came in. If I had stopped counting at the end of November, the ratio would have looked much better. I always have a box in the garage ready to accept my culls; I donate them to one of several libraries periodically. I share books with other family members, but they are much too good about returning them to me when they've finished!

Right now I'm mulling over what to do about a 1980's vintage set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. I'm not sure anyone is interested in hardbound encyclopedias these days, and we haven't cracked the covers in 20 years or so, but what to do with them??

As I add books to my culling box this year, I'll post the titles here. I'll be glad to mail them off to anyone in the US who might want them. And when I'm ready to take them off to the library sale, I'll note that they are no longer available.



Here's what's in it now:

1. The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
2. Acastos by Iris Murdoch
3. S.: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic
4. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Alison Hoover Bartlett
5. Still Here by Lara Vapnyar (an ARC copy)
6. Maine by Courtney Sullivan
7. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain AUDIO BOOK on CD
8. My Dog Skip by Willie Morris
9. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden
10. Life Goes to the Movies
11. Kindred by Octavia Butler
12. Until I Find You by John Irving

All gone!

I've added a couple more titles to my list in >1 laytonwoman3rd: above.

You won't get a dime for the encyclopedias, probably, but you can take them to 1/2 Price Books. They sell books by the yard for offices/studies/etc...at least, they used to.

I'll be taking the box with the books listed above to the library for donation tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 16). Shoot me a pm, or post here before noon Eastern time, if you'd like to request any of them.

I now have a box full of paperback crime novels (31 in all!) by Jonathan Kellerman, Jeffrey Deaver, Dick Francis, Patricia Cornwell and maybe a couple others, that I know I will not read again, ready to go off to the library donation bin sometime next week. I won't list all the titles, but if anyone is looking for a particular series entry that might be in this bunch, give me a shout, and I'll see if I have it.