That was a fun article.
I follow some of the advice. I throw out reference books that are dated. I ditch books on hobbies I no longer engage in. I send to the op shop novels that I know I will never read again (good bye Jeffery Archer, and serves you right for being so rude to me!) I then go through the pile and seriously consider if I might ever want that book again before finally getting rid of it. So far, I have culled lots of books and never regretted one.

I tend to save all my books and then recently decided that they need to be thinned out.
I have sold tons on Amazon.com and finally realized that unless I actually want to reread them or give them to someone else, there are few that I actually NEED to keep.
Yet there they all are, lined up in a cozy array.
It's a book thing !

The thought of culling books gives me hives. It would be like thinning out my network of friends. I cannot imagine it. And yet I don't want to end up on one of those hoarder shows.

My favorite comment from the article is, "Books are notes from the field, bound and domesticated, life brought into narrow focus. Get rid of a book? No way. Every one is a brick keeping the building standing. Books are my life. I leave and come back, and the books I find there tell me IâÂÂm home."

I find it very hard to get rid of a book unless I simply hated it, and I don't buy those anymore. I do have an old Atlas I suppose I could get rid of. It's like selling my children.

I have three criteria that work well for me.

1. Would I ever want to read it again? If yes, I keep it. You cannot trust libraries to hold on to older fiction.

2. Does the book contain information I might find useful, not duplicated in another source I possess? For my own hobbies (sewing, fashion history, textiles, heirloom gardening, roses, art-and-crafts movement), I have a better collection than my public library. I have discarded a number of entry-level books in those topics because I've simply outgrown them. I do sometimes keep a few older, out of date reference books because they may approach a problem in a way a more modern work does not, or because I have some interest in the history of the way we once thought about some issue.

3. Does the book have a sentimental meaning for me? My mother's old sewing book, a gift from someone I loved, favorite books from childhood, a book that inspired an important change of direction, all these are added value for me.

With these criteria I go through and cull my books from time to time. Once in a while I discard a book I later regret, but it doesn't happen very often. When it does, it is usually because an interest that that I thought had faded later revives.

Rosefolly

Culling books is a difficult thing to do, but I do it anyway every now and then.

I spent several years buying books on speculation. I'd see a book, decide I might want to read it one day, buy it and take it home. This is how I accumulated a TBR stack of 900 books that fills 2 bookcases. I periodically cull books from that collection, using the following criteria:
Do I still want to read it?
If No, then it goes in the cull box.
If Yes, then I ask myself: Am I likely to want to keep it after I read it?
If Yes, then it goes back on the shelf.
If No then I ask: Can I get it from the library?
If No, then it goes back on the shelf.
If Yes, I cull it and put it on my TBR list.

As to my permanent collection, I cull outdated reference books and manuals, any paperback as soon as I acquire a hardcover version, books I know I'll never reread, and any book when I can not see any valid reason for keeping it. I want to do a cull of my cookbooks soon and am working up the courage to tackle them.

Books I will never cull include the ones I regularly reread, books with sentimental value and most of my craft manuals.

I virtually never get rid of a book. They sit on their shelves gathering dust and occasionally I take one down and put it back. I have owned them for years, many have come down to me from my Mother's collection and are just part of my life. I would so hate to live in a house with no, or very few books and wonder at those super-tidy homes where the shelves just contain a few knick-knacks.
I have a 'friend' who considers that books make a room look untidy, much in the same way as others don't like anyone sitting on the furniture, or the old Victorian idea of all ten members of the family having to live crammed into the kitchen while the 'best' parlour sits empty except for Christmas and funerals.
So be warned, if you ever come to visit you will have a accept me and ALL my books.

I try occasionally, but it's always very half-hearted. Every so often, I say to myself "I'll just find ten to get rid of and take them to the charity shop". But I never finish the job.

There is one exceptional circumstance - if I really dislike a book, I'll get rid of it. So, for example, The Slap is in the charity shop pile - I resent even having given that book house room. But that's rare.

But I admit it's irrational. For example, I have FOUR copies of The Wind in the Willows. All quite nice copies, but none of them in any way meaningful - I've just managed to end up with four copies over the years. But I can't bring myself to get rid of any of them.

We have three copies of The Lord of the Rings - the copy my wife bought at uni, the copy I bought at uni, and the nice single-volume boxed copy my grandmother bought me for my birthday when I was twenty (I think). How can I get rid of any of those?

What puzzles me more, given that I don't cull books (especially books I really love) - what happens to them? I recently decided to start reading Rebecca to the family - Lisa is now twelve, and would find it hard going to read, but I think she will enjoy having it read to her. Went to the shelf and - a dozen books by Du Maurier, but no sign of Rebecca. Had to buy a new copy. Sigh. Similarly, I recently wanted to check something in Pride and Prejudice - no sign of it on the shelf - had to buy that too.

(I suspect they have been "borrowed" by the older daughters long ago...)

Every one is a brick keeping the building standing.

I like that. The only think that worries me is that it might be literally true...!

Sadly, my books have been culled for me as I have 'boomeranged' back and forth from the UK to Australia and either lost them or had to leave them due to shipping costs.
My problem is more 'shall I replace' or even in the case of OOPs 'can I replace'. The answer is usually 'No' as I have little room and if, for example I bought a Georgette Heyer collection again (and some of the early books would be OOP) they would be suffocating in the linen cupboard. I should know them by heart anyway!
I have thrown out an entire Encyclopedia and I should get rid of the pet reference books and most of the cookery books as I no longer have pets or cook much but sentiment for old times is too strong. Some were gifts with inscriptions from the donors. That would be like slamming a door on them!
I think I shall have to get a taller bookcase, that is the answer :-)

Netla - in response to culling cookbooks: I have recently committed the unpardonable sin of removing the recipes I actually use from the cookbooks, and placing them in plastic sleeves in a binder when there are less than 5 I use in a book. My mother's criteria for a cookbook being useful and worthwhile is that one used at least 5 recipes from it more than once. OK, so I have really only done it to one cookbook, but I'm working on it. After 40 years of marriage, many are falling apart on their own anyway, but are irreplaceable. In so many of the standards, there are additions, deletions and changes.

I have also recently culled both quilting books and saved articles from my beginning stages. I can now add borders and bindings without referring to cheat sheets, and it's time to shred those papers. Also, in ten years, my taste in quilts has changed drastically, so half.com has several books listed from my early years. I am fading out of gardening, but I have a hard time culling those. Many were gifts, and some just hard to part with, because it means parting with the dreams of the beautiful cottage garden.

One of the best lines from the article is "I canâÂÂt bring myself to get rid of even a book I dislike, perhaps because I read âÂÂFahrenheit 451â at an impressionable age." I intend to use that frequently and have already told my husband that it is a noble concept.

I have one small bookshelf in the dining room and my TBR pile is not allowed to go above 4 books at any time. If you walked into my house, you would have no idea of my addiction to reading.
I cull the other way. Don't buy it to start with. Because I know I can't throw it away. I do not buy more than 10 or 12 books a year. The other couple hundred books I read each year come from the library. Yes, I still have the books I bought in the 1970's but everything other than my one little shelf is boxed and taken upstairs to the attic or another hiding place. I admit, it's a sickness. If I was talking about alcohol or drugs, I'd be in rehab.

This is interesting because I have been meaning to do it. I have empty boxes to put culled books into.
But I never get around to it.
I think it partly has to do with the fact that I have lots of places to store books.
And I don't need to move anytime soon (knock on wood).
As an aside, this "culling" also needs to be done with my record album collection, which might be, just maybe, more out of control.
Doubtless I could lose 1000 books and 500 record albums, but what's the rush! I mean, I've got some neat stuff. Honest!
I post pictures to the gardening forums, but I never see pictures in this forum. Maybe we could detail our "sickness" with pictures and elect a King or Queen.

Deep Roots, I think I could be at least a princess.

Do you think reading rehab might be a quiet place where one could . . . READ?

And more bookcases are always the right answer.

I, too, dislike houses that don't have bookshelves filled with books, no matter how beautifully furnished. What do those people do when they want to read? Houses without books seem like model rooms in furniture stores. Surely no one actually lives there!

Rosefolly

My husband came from a house with no books. Thankfully he is a reader (thanks to being in my company from age 15 on), albeit a fairly slow one as he has little spare time.
My MIL said to me the other day in an accusatory tone 'Of course, I don't READ!"
"More fool you" I wanted to say.

Well, here is my report on the culling of the shelves:

Two big canvas bags filled with 54 books. You read that right, my friends. FIFTY-FOUR.

I am now wondering with remorse which irreplacable books I rashly have put into the FoL bin, but perhaps if I don't think about it, I won't remember which ones they were...

But I was happy with that result. So was DH. And yet, there still isn't that much room on the shelves...

There were some good advice and tips for culling book shelves. I told my husband some of them but he's as sentimental as I am and a propos old and inaccurate travel guides said that we had to keep them as souvenirs. Today he found two copies of an old Caltrain timetable and asked me if he could perhaps throw away one of them? I said that if we should ever divorce I wouldn't fight for it.

We are at a critical stage now and absolutely must get rid of hundreds of books. Our book room is full to bursting point and the five new basement book cases, too, and soon my husband will take home some of the books from his office now that he's retired. We've already put several cartons in the basement till we know what to do with them. They are sorted into books that may perhaps fetch something if we can find a buyer but the majority is more or less thrash. Still, it hurts to burn them. The secondhand shops in the village won't take more books, their shelves are full of book club books which is the kind of books that sell best here. There are proper antiquarian booksellers in the nearest city but they are much more picky.

We don't plan to die soon but I don't want our children to have to deal with thousands of books nobody wants. When my husband was quite young his widow mother was married for a few years to a philosophy professor . When he died many years later his sister called my husband to ask him if he wanted some of her brother's books? The call came 30 years after the break-up of the marriage so my husband had trouble remembering who the sister was. She must have been really desperate to get rid of the books.

Around here public libraries take donations, not to put on their own shelves, but to sell to raise funds to buy the books they actually want. Is there anything like that in your area?

Perhaps some could be donated to a charity for sale? Some things probably won't interest any one -- old text books come to mind -- but many old novels could have a second life in the right reader's hands.

I'll ask at our public library but I've little hope. So many of our books are in English and the market for them is limited here. Charity shops in Uppsala, a university town, will perhaps take some foreign language books. Many Swedes speak English, most people under 60 can manage a simple conversation, but reading English is another matter.

Marianne, I'd forgotten about the language issue. That will make it more difficult for you. Perhaps a charity shop in a university town?

My husband and I sorted out about 700 books in the last few days, threw away a third, donated a third to charity and sold the rest today for a little over 100 dollars and got a used poetry book into the bargain. We are very pleased although we forgot twenty books in the car that we meant to sell. We shall wait a few weeks before we go back to the second-hand bookseller with them and other books. Don't want him to shun the sight of us.

Congrats Mariannese - Good job! It's tough getting rid of the books but every now and then, you need to...

Kudos!

Congratulations. Doesn't it feel wonderful? We want the stuff we want, but don't want to be burdened with additional clutter.

Rosefolly

A local furniture store has a closing sale as their lease is up. I decided to check out the heavily discounted book cases. They were all too big for my room. (But I did buy a lovely knotty-pine chest to use as a window seat.) Perhaps I should cull videotapes to make room for my books instead!

I vote (do I get a vote?) to cull the videotapes, particularly the ones that are easily obtained on DVD from the usual sources. The books will never be an obsolete format ;)

Siobhan, I am firmly of the opinion that one should own all the books one loves if at all possible, and own them in print form, and preferably in hardcover, ideally clothbound with acid-free paper. Of course I dearly love several hundred books. But many books I have read, even read with pleasure, I know I will not want to read again. Those are the ones I pass along to others.

I agree with you about formats becoming obsolete. Even though I am anxiously awaiting delivery of my new Kindle, I will still be buying and archiving print books. I could lose my Kindle, or it could be damaged or stolen, or perhaps ten or twenty years from now the format will change, and all the books I have stored on it will no longer be available to me. Electronic formats are unsurpassed for distribution, but not very good at all for preservation.

As for videotapes, I re-watch favorite movies, and so have re-purchased my very favorites in DVD. I don't want to do that again in BluRay, or what ever comes next after BluRay, or whatever comes next after that.

Rosefolly

So much for my bright idea of culling videotapes. I was browsing in the DVD shop and the staff had put out brand new tapes of "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice" (with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy) for a donation to go into their charity box! How could I resist? Space for 4 paperbacks gone! I wallowed in Jane Austin's world all weekend. I like the way tapes can be stopped and picked up again more easily than DVDs if they have to be removed. On my present machine, that is.