The Imagined Life: Books - No Shelf

I put it off as long as I could, but eventually it had to be done. Sorting through them felt akin to deciding which child was your favorite - oh so wrong and very guilt inducing. My books have always been like friends. No matter what is going on, I can reach for them and find release or escape. Now here I was culling them down to the barest few.

Small living has its definite advantages, there is much to love about the simplicity of it. It shows you what you really need to survive and thrive, apart from what you think you need. But there are drawbacks.

I started with piles:
the absolutely essentials - books I reach for regularly and feel empty without
the giveaways - to be gifted to people I know would enjoy them
to be converted - the ones I enjoy and want to keep, but don't need in physical form, so I'll sell the book and buy the digital copy
(and largest of all) the maybes - those books I can't quite decide on

The initial sort is easy enough, they are just going into piles after all. But after that it gets harder. I spend hours looking at each book, sometimes reading a few pages, for one or two of the books I have to forcefully stop myself from reading the whole thing again before deciding!

Most of the maybes end up in a new pile - to be save elsewhere. These books are ones I can't quite bring myself to part with, but don't strictly need with me all the time. They are meticulously organized, carefully alphabetized (by author, to keep the series together), and neatly packed away. Then they were put into storage, where they could be accessed and pulled from easily if needed. (Don't laugh, its true, sometimes you really NEED a book.)

Once the rest of the piles were dealt with, it was time to address the woefully small essential pile. Oh my few but favorites! My good old standbys. What to do with these books that must accompany me, but will not have a traditional shelf on which to reside? They are also carefully arranged and organized, not alphabetically like the others, but in my own unexplainable system. They get their own special container, with space for a few rotating books which will be read then sorted away.

There always has to be room for a few more.


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The Imagined Life is fiction, a world of my own creation, explored through small, everyday things and experiences.