Today a regular Bookshop Santa Cruz customer came in and asked the quintessential question for any book lover–what books should you keep in your collection? She wanted to downgrade her library and sell back books to our used department to make room for new books she wanted to read. But what to keep? Should she only keep the books that she thinks she might re-read? Or does she keep a collection of the books that made a real impact on her life (although the book that really had an impact on you when you’re 18 might not be a book that you’d love if you read it again at 45). Do you see your shelves as a physical representation of your identity (I really need to keep one book from my X phase)?
I don’t know about you but when I go into someone’s house for the first time, I always look to their bookshelves to learn more about them. They may list their favorite titles on Facebook, but the ones that they keep physically near to them say something different. I wonder how they chose which books to keep on their shelves and how other people evaluate the books they see on my shelves. I think the way I’ve tried to answer the question of what to keep is by finding a balance between having space for the books that made me who I am and making room for the books that might make me who I’m going to be. What do you think? What do you keep?
Some great responses from Facebook:
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