This past weekend, I decided to clear out my bookshelf. There was not enough room for my most recently purchased poetry book. The lack of space frightened me. There should always be enough room for another new favorite. While staring at the spines of thick and thin novels and anthologies, I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the books I have been holding on to for years are still meant to be sitting on my bookshelf.
Why does the book I adored when I was thirteen years old still need to be held onto? A tween novel might have stayed on my Ikea bookshelf for so long because of a valuable life lesson or to help with getting through a rough time with laughter or tears. Some though I held on to simply because I remember at the time I didn’t dislike the story.
There was, however, a time when I liked almost every book I read. The contents of my bookshelf are a connection to my past self who rated every book a 10/10. She was the girl who would write her home phone on the inside cover, in case the book was lost. The girl who hugged her books tight to her chest and took them everywhere till they inevitably got wet, or muddy, or crinkled. I think some of these books stayed with me for so long not because of their contents but because of their ability to be recommended as a great time.
Recommending a book is a gentle procedure, but when looking for a book to recommend I always beeline for the top tier of books that ensnared me. Most of these books can be found in the first of the next three categories:
1. Books I love so much that I want to reread and share them with everyone (bunched together)
2. Books I have read and enjoyed well enough for one reason or another (categorized by genre).
3. Books that still are waiting to be read (this fluctuates by the month)
Something had to be done. The second category was choking out the first. It's my personal belief that an individual library should be filled with only the crem de la crem! For there is only one true user of that personal library. Why should there be books rated as sub-par? When searching for a fantastic book to lend to another reader the question should not be, “Which of these suck the least?” but rather, “How can I possibly choose which one they will love the most?”
Each novel is a priceless gem. That is why it is hard to let any book go. Even though I can recognize how much time and effort went into the lines of text that span from cover to cover, there is a time when the book I purchased for 50 cents from the library book sale has to go on to the next bookshelf. It was cathartic to remove the novels that I couldn’t even remember the endings to. It was a relief to toss aside books I never really, truly, liked very much in the first place.
It was lovely to know that the next book I finish and adore will have a spot amongst the existing favorites. As with any good story there are lessons to learn, in this case from the purging of texts. The realization that I owe nothing to growing stack of books that are looking for a new home. The understanding that if a novel no longer makes me jump with excitement, it doesn’t have to stay next to the novels that do. The acceptance that tastes change and so do the contents of a bookshelf.
