I have an argument with myself every few months: should I throw away my books or keep them? Throwing them away makes me feel a bit guilty. Keeping them makes my life feel cluttered. I'm not talking about all of my books but just those (the majority, actually) that I haven't looked at in years. Sure, every time I ask someone about this, the old "donate them to the library" idea surfaces. But the libraries don't want them. They have too many books already. What do you do?

donate them to bargain books.
or mail them to me. :)

I know the "mail them to me" comment was a joke, but in all seriousness, mailing books is prohibitively expensive--even at book rates. Books are heavy, of course. I doubt that even you, as receiver of these books, would want to pay the postage.

Sell them on Ebay or Amazon.  Rather than throw them away, you could put them in a recycle bin, or get a machine to make them into briquettes for next year's winter fuel.  Give them to charity shops.  

Anyway, books look handsome on shelves; without them your dated wallpaper behind will be on show

Been there, done that. Not worth the effort--and most books simply do not sell on ebay.

I just did a search on the net for opinions and ran across this lovely piece, in which several well-known people give their opinions:

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books-you-can-live-without/

I was particularly struck by what Billy Collins wrote:

"Frankly, I am well into the second phase of life when one begins to enjoy getting rid of all the stuff one enjoyed accumulating in phase one. And who needs such elaborate announcements of one’s literary credentials?"

And I was interested that Francine Prose suggests asking yourself this question, which I too asked myself in weeding out volumes: "If I live to be 100, will I read this book again?"

I agree classics and popular fiction, gardening and cookery books won't sell - so many people listing them - but books on specialised subjects: scientific, engineering, topography/local history etc etc may well sell and sometimes for very good prices. Any out-of-print books you may have or first editions are worth considering too

Right. I have set aside specialized books on photography because I know they will sell. But I have done this in the past and have been shocked at how little they sell for. In the end, when counting postage, I was essentially giving them away by mail. I do not expect to do better this time. If the value of my time is taken into consideration, I would be personally better off just tossing them.

You should charge more for postage - to allow for ebay/paypal fees, wrapping and handling

I agree with Silent, rather than tossing them which implies them being taken away as trash and dumped in landfill, let them be re-read!

I confess to being a book hoarder. I have two libraries, one downstairs - numbering 1000 + - and one upstairs (the attic) I know there are several hundreds up there also.  I mean who could get rid of the set of once a month science fictions books from their childhood, where I first read Foundation?  And somewhere up there is a first edition paperback of Stranger in a Strange Land - not to mention The Hobbit, the Lord of the rings and the Silmarillion.

Trouble is, I wanted one of those books a few days ago. A book by Leo Stein (Gertrude's bro) and I knew I'd never find it so (I confess again) I bought someone else's used copy from Amazon for .98 plus shipping.

It's a circular track that is hard to leave.

Lavonne, you really must get your library sorted into alphabetical order by author in fiction and subject in non-fiction or some such lol  8)

You know, one sad day I actually sorted all my LPs (33rpm records) into alpahabetical order by singer/group and since then with the arrival of CDs/mp3, I never play them!  That's another connundrum- get rid of old records or keep?  The difficulty of saying goodbye to that Bob Dylan long-player bought for £1 at a flea market or that Rolling Stones classic with all those scratches that trigger memories lol

LOL - I got rid of the stereo but kept the LP's .

I did once, about a year ago, force myself to get rid of about 200 books.  (Third confession of the day) I couldn't do it until I had written the titles and authors into a little notebook.  Then I happily toted the books off the the Goodwill.

Trouble is, I can't find the notebook so I can't get rid of any more books. At least, that is what I tell myself.

I solved my book glut -- just agreed to open my house to 12 more bookcases that my parents are getting rid of!

Lucky duck!

If your local library has a Friends of the Library chapter, they will take your books and re-sell them to benefit the library.  

I'm with Tom on this one.  I just make more room. 

The only ones I throw away are the ones totally uninteresting to me and I wonder where they came from in the first place.  And I just throw them away like I do any other trash.   Ummm...huh...maybe that's a bad thing...at least that's what it feels like typing it.

cheryl

Give em to Charity, Cheryl!