On July 9, 2019 I embarked on a project of decluttering my personal library. Although I had found space on my shelves for every book that had been stacked in piles on my floor, I realized that my weeding project was ongoing, as I had no desire to keep many of these books once I had read them. In order to create more valuable bookshelf space, I decided that for one year I would endeavour to use my foresight to assess which books I would be most likely to part with after reading them. When that year lapsed I wrote about my progress yet never gave up on the project. I have discovered that books I might never have considered weeding two years ago are, upon reading them, not worth keeping after all.
Two years ago I certainly did not have the shelf space for all the books I bought last year while on holiday in Ontario, or the Tristan da Cunha books or the film books. Only by reading and weeding have I managed to keep my library in check. I look at the shelves now and still see titles that I can imagine I won’t be keeping after I read them, so I can visualize more free space. I have to prepare myself for my next European book haul, especially if it’s to places I haven’t visited before. Mark’s and my trip to Manchester, UK, the Isle of Man and Sami Sweden was postponed last summer, as all international travel was put on hold. Can you imagine my delight at entering a Manx bookstore? Or learning about Swedish Sami languages and traditions? I’m going to need room to shelve all those new books whenever I get them.
I don’t know if I will ever reach the point where I look at all of my bookcases and assess that every book on them is a keeper. However I never would have imagined two years ago that I would have considered parting with my two recent Isherwood reads, or even with some of my autographed fiction and nonfiction.