I Hate This Time of Year

Actually it could be any time of year. That's the problem. That's right, it time once again for book purging.

There's not an official Book Purging Season, like there's football season or deer-hunting season or Spring Cleaning Season (which isn't actually a season, but I hate that one, too.). I wish we did have a National Book Purging Season, but that presupposes that everyone actually owns books, which would be a good thing, and that they would donate their surplus books to worthy organizations (like The Book Thing, also a good thing) that would disperse the books to those who need them.

Anyway, something's got to go.

Case in point: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It's a great book. I got an ex-library copy for 10 cents about a year ago. Again, it's a wonderful book, but I doubt I'll ever read it again, and if I do, the book is everywhere you look. Plus it's a brick. I can probably take it off my shelves and replace it with two, maybe three medium-sized books. Or bench press it.

I know I need to go through my library and give hundreds of books the One-Page Test. If I'm not gripped after one page, out it goes, especially if it's something I can get anywhere, anytime.

The problem comes when facing all the books I have that are somewhat rare. Not $1,000 rare, but things you hardly ever see like Peter Crowther's Songs of Leaving, a short story collection (again, an ex-library copy) that's been sitting on the shelf for years. It's not a book you come across every day.

Neither is The Vampire: His Kith and Kin by Montague Summers or From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredrick Brown. I might never see 'em again! What to do?

I guess I'll get rid of the common stuff first, stuff I can always get from the library or a good used bookstore. Then the One-Page Test. Then?

Plus, they keep coming out with new stuff I've just gotta have. Like this. And this. Okay, throw this one in, too.

See what I mean?

Then you've got this place, which is just pure evil. They know what tempts me and parade it front of me. Evil people, no way around it.

I hate this time of year....