My Home Library

All the Keepers!

 My project for the day was to sort through the shelves of books in the yellow bedroom and find books to donate to the Princeton Public Library.  It was not an easy process.  I pulled all the books off the shelves and put them on the bed.  I knew that if I just looked at them on the shelves, they would stay on the shelves.

I took a handful of books at a time into the living room and looked up the titles on Goodreads.  That reminded me if I had already read the book--and rated it.  Several of them were rated five stars so I determined they were keepers.  I might like to read them again.  Several others were shelved as "abandoned" and in some cases I decided it was time to pass them on.

Then there were the great majority of books.  These were books that I had enjoyed and might like to read again or books that I had bought and never got into.  So they went back on the shelves until the next time I decide I need to find more shelf room.

I spend quite a bit of time looking for the next good book to read.  The problem is that when I find one that I really appreciate, it is hard to get into the next book.  And I like to have one book on hand at all times.  I read Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty this week and the loss of her friend at the end left me mourning and unable to pick up another book right away. 

I read too many mysteries.  They are great escape reading but when I get involved in one it is difficult to put it down and do anything else.  And so many of them are sad stories of evil and dysfunction.  At least justice is usually served--not always--but usually there is resolution and someone pays the price for crime.  I have the time to read as much as I want but have felt as if this murder mystery reading is somewhat of an addiction.  So even if I have enjoyed volume one of the Jeri Howard Mystery Anthology and have volumes two through five on my Kindle app waiting for me, I think I will hold off a few days!  

Just a few to donate

 Maybe I will reread some of the good books I just returned to the shelves.  Wendell Berry, Penelope Lively, Patrick Modiano, Carlo Levi, Graham Greene--lots of options.  Maybe I will reread The Great Gatsby for at least the fourth time.  

So there is one small bag of books to donate to the library.  And there are plenty of books to reread or read for the first time and maybe to reject again.