baggage

[boxofdelights]

When I moved out of my husband's house I didn't take most of my books with me; my new house was going to need a lot of work to be habitable, so it didn't make sense to fill it up with heavy bookcases.

Most of them are here now, but they are still trickling in, a box at a time, as I make space for them. I didn't sort them and pack them, so it's always a surprise, usually a pleasant one. Today I got a box of relationship books.

I have one bookcase for what I think of as "interpersonal": psychology, parenting, teaching. Miss Manners is there too. The bottom shelf is half-empty, but this box has too many books to fit on it. So I should weed them, right?

I don't want to. Just looking at the covers is making me remember the time when I read all those books, when I was trying to be in a relationship. I don't want to crack those covers and let the memory of misery back out, in this new house that belongs to me alone.

I read the other books in that bookcase at the same time-- trying to be happy, trying to be a good parent, trying to do the work-- but they don't carry the same feelings. I could read through any of them and decide whether I wanted to keep it.

I don't want to consign the whole box to Little Free Libraries unlooked-at. I do want to look through them... later.

Comments

Keepsakes are a legitimate use of space too.

[kathmandu]

Some things we keep for practical reasons, some things we keep as touchstones for memories. And you don't have to keep each subject area of your book collection to a particular size, you just need to fit the entire book collection into the entire book-space available.

Re: Keepsakes are a legitimate use of space too.

[boxofdelights]

That is true. I think the box is taking up more space in my mind than actual physical space.