What to do with old books?
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Anonymous
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Just moved into mom and dad's old beach house full of hundreds of books and I've got close to 100 myself and I don't have room! I've boxed (about 5 boxes) the books I don't want around.
Most of their books were NYT #1 in the 50s-80s, which I'm keeping to read myself (I didn't realize mom was such a gothic romance and Victoria Holt fan as well as all Holt's pen names for her Queen's series). But other I do not want. So, do I just toss the rest in a recycle bin? I guess I'm asking so I can toss them without guilt. The local thrift stores do not want them, as does not the local library...I have already tried. some examples, dad's old engineering/science textbooks from the 50s. Really, no one wants them. I worked at a community college my last 10 years before retirement and trust me, universities/colleges don't want them as they likely already have copies that sit unused. Self-Help books from those era's? Grant you, probably not much has changed from Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking", but I don't see anyone wanting it. Political books from those era's...really how many JFK books come out each year! Art Linkletter joke books...really??? Do people even remember him? and then there's, Life and Times of the "Duke", IFYDK,YDK Encyclopedia's from the 70s. 30+ volumes of wasted book shelf space. |
Anonymous
| trash |
Anonymous
| Little Free Library. I see a wild assortment of books in those. |
Anonymous
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It's OK to toss/ recycle. I absolve you.
-- A Librarian. |
Anonymous
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Old text books and encyclopedias? Recycle/trash. Any books in poor physical condition? Recycle/Trash. Any books that are comically out of date ("how to help Reagan fix our country" or "Fodors guide to the USSR 1974")? Recycle trash
Political books, joke books, self help, those are all out of style but potentially readable/enjoyable, especially if they're in good condition. I like to put books I don't want in little free libraries. If there's one/a couple near you, I'd pull out the... 20-50? Max? Best ones and put five a month in each little free library until they were gone. |
Anonymous
| I remember Art Linkletter and the Duke. |
Anonymous
| Donate to Friend of the Library. |
Anonymous
| carpe diem |
Anonymous
I've been putting in a few books weekly as I've been decluttering, and it helps. But it sounds like OP has hundreds of books she needs to offload. |
Anonymous
| trash |
Anonymous
https://arlingtonlibraryfriends.org/about/ |
Anonymous
Have you SEEN how many little libraries there are? |
Anonymous
Meh. Free little library would take NYT best sellers, but not the others. |
Anonymous
Oh sure, but I was thinking OP would prefer to do it all in just a couple of hauls as opposed to driving around to little library locations and dropping off 30 (or whatever they can hold) at a time. From OPs description I'm imaging she has 400 or so books to get rid of. But I could be wrong. |
Anonymous
What do you mean? Nobody is monitoring the books people put in those boxes. |