At least once a year I try to do a thorough bookshelf cleaning. I take things off the shelves, dust as needed. Remind myself what I have. I try to put stuff away that’s stacked around. I try to find things I am willing to part with. This is getting harder and harder as most of the stuff I have right now is stuff I want to keep.
I belong to the school of: we have enough stuff. If you want to bring something in, you have to take something out. Five bags to Goodwill on Friday! But not books. That was clothes and linens.
I found two books that we had unintentional duplicates of including one where I shelved both copies side by side. We have intentional duplicates too, but I’m not going to explain right now. I did put together a stack to pass along or give to the Friends of the Library.
This is the item in my collection that I’ve had the longest and never read. I went through a phase when I was a youngster where I thought I would collect and read classics. Over the years I have periodically revisited that idea, thinking I should read more classics. I sometimes manage to plow through one but more often I find that I would rather read almost anything else and give up on them. I am a simpleton. I don’t deny it.
The book says it was printed in 1972 and I was hoping it was a collectible and I could get $50 for it so I’d be motivated to get rid of it. But no such luck. I put it back on the shelf because I still might read it someday.