The Hardest Goodbye...by Sheila Claydon

 

Find my books here

I'm finally culling my books. Years and years of books. Books stacked and sometimes double stacked in bookcases and on shelves in the sitting room, the study, two of the bedrooms, even the utility. It's not that I haven't sorted through them before. Over the years I've culled them several times, but to little avail because those empty shelves  act like a magnet, filling up with more books in the blink of an eye. 

They are not all my books either. Some have been left behind by long dead parents, some by adult children, some by friends. Then there are the ones kept for visiting children, from baby's first board books to books for young teens and every age in between. But what to do with them?  Once upon a time local charity shops welcomed books. Now, since the advent of the electronic reading device and online books, not so much. I'm as much a culprit as any because I regularly download audio books from the local library to make house chores more interesting, as well as ebooks for when I'm relaxing. I still read paper books though, which is why those shelves keep filling up despite my best intentions. 

Now, however, I have found a solution. A community library. 

 

Across the UK many of our public libraries have closed because of lack of funds. Fortunately my village escaped the cut but a neighbouring one didn't and now houses have been built on the site of what was once a much used facility. Something wonderful has arisen out of its destruction, however. A determined community group that has raised funding, found affordable premises, and set up a community library run by volunteers. It has become so successful that it has now spread across two venues with something for everyone. Storytime for children, creative writing classes, IT classes, coffee mornings, quiz nights, a home service for people who cannot travel to the library themselves...it has become a real community hub and just the sort of place that needs my books. 

Now incentivised, I am beginning to pack them up. The children's books are easy as all the children in the family are far too old for them, so after removing a handful of favourites to pass on to my daughter for any future great-grandchildren, they are packed into two large boxes ready for collection. 

Sorting the adult books is not so easy. Oh there are some that we know we'll never read again...crime novels, science fiction, some romances, although none of the Jane Austen. There are the books that we thought we would enjoy until we started reading them, the pocket dictionaries in a variety of languages, autobiographies where the writer thought they were more interesting than they actually were. It doesn't take long to pack these away. But what about the others? The titles that remind me that I've been intending to read them again for years, the few that I haven't ever gotten around to reading, the ones that I probably won't ever read again but which gave me such pleasure when I did that saying goodbye to them would be like saying goodbye to an old friend.

Then there are the travel books, and the books on art. Books on writing too. And books that were presents. How could I possibly give those away? And what about the cookery books, and the gardening books? There's a book about herbs too, and another one about spices and how to use them. Then there are the classics...Dickens, Shakespeare, Twain, Austen...I can't get rid of those either. Sorting out a single shelf takes a whole morning. Shall I pass on the Steinbecks, what about Salinger, and what about those whole rows of Joanne Harris and Joanna Trollop. Will I really want to read them again when there are so many other books out there to choose from? Decisions have to be made, but it's far from easy because so many of these books are warm memories. And to my mind, a house is not a house without books, so I will have to keep some on my shelves. All I need to do is decide which ones I cherish as old friends, and which ones I can wave fondly on their way.

As I tackle yet another shelf, the community library keeps me going though because it really does need my books more than I do. And I might even add some of my BWL books to the boxes too! What a wonderful place to find new readers.