Books

I tend to hang onto books that I've read and liked. The bookshelves in our den are getting crowded, and I'm going to spend this afternoon sorting through the books and figuring out which ones I really want to keep, and which ones I can bear to part with. Do I really need to keep all the Micheners? All the Harry Potters? I have to keep all the Dickens novels because we attend the Dickens Universe at UCSC every summer and I never know when I'll want to reread one. They take up an entire shelf. Other Victorian novels live on the shelf above Dickens. Those are some of my favorites -- Jane Austen, the Brontes -- and they will stay. I have English Lit books from college -- Chaucer, Shakespeare -- with notes in the margins. They will stay. I'm wondering whether I really need to keep Philip Roth. I know he's one of our finest contemporary authors, but I don't personally relate to much of his work except for "American Pastoral", one of my all-time favorites. I guess the rest can go.
And then there are the bird books upstairs. They take up a whole bookcase, and will be dealt with on another day. So, now I'll get to work. I'll let you know how many boxes I fill.