Friday 9 October 2020

Books:- Coming, Going and Reading

Once Upon a Time, just 5 years ago we had nearly 1,500 books between us. Then we moved - Twice - and  many books went out of the house - to charity shops, to car boot sales and to Ziffit - the company that buys books and then re-sells on Amazon under the name of World Of Books.
 
 We downsized from a whole row of bookshelves down the hallway at the smallholding to here where we had 2 tall, 2 short and two wide sets of shelves plus a few cookery books in the kitchen. 
 
I've carried on moving books out ever since Colin died, I don't want to move hundreds whenever it's time for the next move. So far one wide set has become shelves for toys, 1 short has become my bedside table, the other short has children's books in the small spare bedroom, the other wide shelves still house all the books I want within easy reach in the living room and the two tall are still on the landing almost, but not quite full, of books.
 
Lots of the books I use when blogging and other reference books, plus books I need to read and library books - all withing arms reach in the living room
 
On Sunday............when the weather was wet and nasty.......... I went through the upstairs books yet again looking for more to send off to Ziffit or bag up for the charity shop. Books I definitely wouldn't read again or books that I'd probably never read - ever - even if we were locked down for a year! Ziffit took them for £11.42
 
Now I've hit a wall. I really, REALLY don't know what other books to be rid of. In reality looking at the shelves.........of those I've read how many will I read again? but on the other hand it would be really silly not to keep some of the books I've yet to read and know I will read .............given time.

Collections are a problem. For instance...........I have all of the Miss Read books, a whole shelf full of lovely Persephone books, nearly all of the Barsetshire series by Angela Thirkell and quite a lot of diaries and memoirs  in my WWII Home Front Collection. Many of the Miss Read and the Angela Thirkell books are old and unwanted on Ziffit..........will I want to re-read them all?
 
Anyway, I'll put off anymore decisions for a while.
 
And in the meantime I've already read  4 library books from  those I picked up at the end of September.
Mick Finlay - Arrowood............London in 1895 is a hard place to live for the poor and while the rich rely on Sherlock Holmes to sort the crimes that the police are too hard pressed to solve,  the poor turn to Arrowood - private investigator. This is a new to me author but a good story although rough and gory at times. It's the first of 3 in the series the library have in stock.
 
Jan Morris - Thinking Again.....................Heading towards her century this book is a diary of her life as it is now in North Wales with memories of her 50 years of past travels and travel writing.  She is an excellent writer and I enjoyed this small book.  It reminded me very much of the books written by Ronald Blythe which is ironic as he is a Christian Lay Preacher and she is non-believer but they are both about the same age and both love where they live. She has written two books about Wales that I want to read - annoyingly the library has neither.
 
And then a book I knew I would love and race through..............Elly Griffiths -The Lantern Men. Another in the brilliant series featuring  Dr Ruth Galloway, a Forensic Archaeologist and set mainly in Norfolk. Things have moved on by 2 years since the last book and Ruth is now lecturing at a University in Cambridge. However she returns to Norfolk to help solve a murder on the request of a man imprisoned for 4 murders and of course meets up with DCI Harry Nelson.
One evening and one afternoon and it was finished. The 13th in this series is due out in February and I must remember to keep checking the library website ready to add myself to the reservation list.

And just finished Saplings by Noel Streatfield. This is a Persephone reprint of one of her books for adults but is about a family of four children and the changes forced upon the family due to WWII. It isn't a happy book, the death of the childrens father and their mothers inability to cope means they are sent to boarding school and spend some holidays with relatives who are busy with their own problems. Each of the four children react in different ways and I was left wondering - what next?
 
So that's the Books Going and the Books Reading but what about the Books Coming? My permission to buy myself one book a month will bring me a secondhand copy of the recent book by Kate Humble - A Year of Living Simply. Hope it's a good read - from the description it should be right up my street.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

40 comments:

  1. I'm in the same position. I had the complete Ian Rankin Rebus collection, over two dozen books. At the beginning of lockdown I passed them onto church members who were shielding. I believe the books are still doing the rounds! Thanks for the Kate Young recommendation - you'll have noticed that I've reviewed it this morning.

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    1. I flicked through it but didn't read - the recipes didn't grab me

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  2. Well done for shifting so many books. Out of interest, when I went to Ziffit, I put in one of my most expensive books, which cost £70 and still sells for around that on-line, being a limited print run, and it offered me just £6! For heaven's sake!

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    1. Yes, the book I posted about yesterday is on Amazon for £57 as a Used book, and Ziffit offered me just £3. It's only good for books that you just want to see gone and are not too fussed about making a huge amount of money on.

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    2. I'm just moving them out and don't have anything worth much anyway so getting them gone is the main thing

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  3. What about the library. I gave all my art books to them but maybe they don’t do that anymore.

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    1. I doubt the library want anything I've got - they resell donations anyway

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  4. Most of my books are reference books, I still have a lot of books from my childhood that I know I will never read again but I cannot part with them. We had a wonderful library at the old house I lived in and I used it every week now of course I am unable to read normal books (print is to small and because of the stroke.)
    It looks as thou it's going to be a nice day here so enjoyed your day Sue.
    Hazel c uk 🌈🌈🌈

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    1. Some gardening done, some baking done. I'm ready to watch the mens tennis this afternoon

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  5. I buy a lot from World of Books, I like the idea of books having a 2nd and then third life when I pass them on to the charity shop. We also have thousands of books, but I try not to think about it!

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    1. Until I gave myself permission to enjoy a new book now and again virtually all my books were secondhand - or perhaps even 3rd hand. With no second hand book sales this year very few have been added

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  6. Most of my books are reference going back to when I was doing general knowledge crosswords in order to win a large cash prize. Never did, but I still have those books. There's also a few genealogy books and books passed down from parents and grandparents.

    When I am decluttering and in two minds about something, I will always leave it until I am absolutely sure I want it to go.

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    1. What a shame you never won a big prize! Nowadays you can find out the answer to any question online so general knowledge crosswords for prizes must have died out

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  7. You seem to sell a lot of books to Ziffit. I have done in the past but I entered a list the other day and abandoned it. I'm not accepting 20p for a book in perfect condition, which cost at least £10.00. I'd rather give the books straight to a charity shop.

    The rule with throwing out (my rule, anyway), is: how hard to get again? On that principle I'd say you will want to read Angela Thirkell again some day and wouldn't find it easy to get cheap copies. Libraries don't have them.

    I love Elly Griffiths, too!

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    1. Ziffit is so easy - don't even have to print out a label now and free collection and money into bank within the week. I don't mind how little I get now as I just want them out

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  8. I got just over £50 for my last lot of books on Ziffit, and with free collection it's worth doing while the car boot sales are on hold and the charity shops ae not accepting donations. Any books that they offer me less than 50p for are put back on the shelf to either try again with or await donation to a charity shop.

    They are quite good at DVD prices for some of the boxed sets too and I might have a scan through the few CDs that I have, but I won't hold my breath for more than pennies, they don't even sell at car boot sales for 20p.

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    1. Well done on that last box sold - my books are not worth much - nothing special among them and nothing that cost me much originally anyway.

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  9. I hate to move a book on to a new owner, but there comes a time when I think we must. I've looked into Ziffit and know I won't get what they're worth but needs must.
    During one international move, the inept packers put all our books into a single international packing crate which has a maximum load of 3,800 lbs. When they went to lift it off the flatbed truck in the warehouse, the bottom of the crate dropped out, it was way over 4,000 lbs! Thankfully, nothing was damaged other than the crate.

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    1. Books are certainly heavy to shift - another reason I want to get rid of most before it's time for my next move

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  10. I miss my books, I had to leave them all behind when we moved back to the UK from France. Nowadays I tend to read books on my Kindle but I am very tempted to get a bookcase and start collecting again.

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  11. Always on the look out for a good detective series. I must note that one you just finished so quickly. Here's a recommendation: Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. Set in Dublin duding 1918 flu epidemic, maternity ward cases but who have the flu. Think of "Call the Midwife". Anyway a very good read that I picked up one afternoon and read it until I finished way past bedtime. I had it on reserve for a very long time before I got it.

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    1. Sounds a bit close to real life as we are at the moment!

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  12. I enjoyed the Ruth Galloway series by Griffiths, also! I have The Lantern Men on hold at my library and there are quite a few ahead of me so I must be patient. I am not a book collector as I have always been an active library patron. I am lucky to have a good library in town and I even worked there for awhile a few years back. Good luck with your books!

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    1. It was my 10 years working in libraries that turned me into a book collector!

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  13. I've been trying to weed out books as well. It's hard, isn't it? I've read most of the Miss Read books several times but from the library. I'm rereading Patrick Taylor's "Irish Country Doctor" series now and passing them on as I finish as don't think I'd read for a third time. If I get rid of too many books I can always read the 1970's World Book Encyclopedia that nobody would want and I can't bring myself to take to the landfill. :) I am keeping all of Louise Penny's books, love those. Get Elly Griffiths books at the library. Living in the US I sometimes am unable to get books mentioned in blogs by you gals in England. A few I have ordered on Amazon and not been disappointed. I'm always happy to see a blog about books/reading.

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    1. Was the World Book Encyclopedia the same as a Readers Encyclopedia - listing books and giving storylines under title. author and character?
      I still have a copy - and it really could go - except it was once useful for Crossword puzzles.

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    2. The World Book encyclopedia is a set of books, about one for every letter of the alphabet and every topic from A-Z, including bios of famous/infamous people. Used for research by students (and adults for that matter) in pre-Internet days. Some of the information would be outdated but a lot would still be interesting. Just not something one would pick up normally and read through.

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  14. That's still quite a lot of books, Sue! I remember seeing the pictures of your previous loooong bookshelves and wondering whether you'd ever get round to reading them all, or even if you could find it if you wanted a particular book!

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    1. I searched for the photos of the shelves-down-the -hall at the smallholding but couldn't find them.I'll look again sometimes but I always know where to find a book - years of practice and years of working in libraries!

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  15. I understand your situation perfectly! I too collect many sets/series by various authors and I love them all. I have just received the last catalogue from Persephone books and I'm trying to decide what to order - they are all so tempting.
    I've read one or two of the Elly Griffiths books but would like to go back and start from the beginning.
    At the moment I have a pile of library books to get through although I may get another reprieve as we are shutting down again due to a rise in infection rates. I'm about half way through "The Lost for Words Bookshop" - a book that a few people have recommended and I am enjoying it.

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    1. The Elly Griffiths really are best in order as the relationships develop.
      I love the whole ethos of Persephone but usually wait until they are a bit cheaper secondhand

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  16. I'd take the Miss Read you don't want, in a heartbeat! Too bad there's that little thing called the Atlantic Ocean between us. ;)

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    1. I first read them back in the 70's when working in the library and read each as it was published then found all I own now in charity shops

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  17. I'm in a similar position and your "must keep" selection sounds just like mine - Miss Read, Angela Thirkell (I have them all) and a lot of WW2 diaries. I love them because you can pick up any book and open it at random and read and enjoy it.
    If you really want to dispose of them I would try eBay for the Angela Thirkells as they are mostly out of print and can fetch decent prices.

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  18. I stumbled across your blog from clicking on comments in another blog and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
    I adore Miss Read . If you decide to part with any , please let me know. I’d love to offer to buy some to fill in my collection.
    Have a lovely day
    Helen
    grammea22@gmail.cim

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