August 4, 2006

Books, books and more books

I like bookcrossing.com. I’ve been a member since February of 2003 and I have over three hundred books on my bookcrossing bookshelf. Probably about a hundred of those are still in the house. Not a problem. They’ll eventually be given to other BookCrossers or released into the wild. The problem is my other books. Many hundreds of books, maybe more than a thousand. Some of them are in my bookshelves. I’m talking about the regular wood and screws and glue bookshelves now, not my virtual one. There are three seven-footers in the living room. Some of my most precious books are behind glass, on the shelves of the two curio cabinets, which also sit in the living room. The bookshelf in my office is full of work-related stuff, and the more frequently used texts are on top of my desk/hutch thingie. The four-foot shelf in my bedroom is overflowing. Books tumble onto the floor each time I browse through them. When I bend down to pick up a dropped book, I can see the books under my bed. Well, I can’t see them all, because there are stacks in front of stacks beside stacks hiding more stacks. An underbed blanket box sticks out from under the foot of my bed, filled with books, of course. Then there’s the boxes. Three fairly large ones in my office closet. Two more stacked on the floor near my printer. Those have overflowed onto the stacks on the floor next to the boxes. There are more boxes and stacks in my bedroom closet, and I think there may be more in the guest room closet, but I could be wrong about that.

The shelved books, not so much of a problem, except that some will never be revisited and should be somewhere else, cluttering up someone else’s life. The boxes and stacks? Those qualify as clutter. Most were bought at thrift stores and used book places for the specific purpose of registering and releasing. A few were given to me by other kind souls for the same purpose. But there’s that procrastination thing. They’re still here.

My first de-cluttering assignment: start organizing the books. This will take many months. I’m old and my back hurts much of the time. Nevertheless, I start today. I’ll establish a sytem for keepers and releasables. I’ll pick a box or a stack or a shelf and decide whether the books there need to stay in my life or should be let go.

What’s that you say? Don’t have a clue about bookcrossing? Stay tuned! I’ll tell all tomorrow. If you absolutely can’t or won’t wait, go educate yourself today: BookCrossing.com

And if you decide to sign up today, tell ‘em skeeterbess sent you!