Confessions of a bibliophile

Categories: blogging, books

Date: 31 May 2010 14:13:21

cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

An old Dave Walker which about sums up my state of mind, (and the state of the study) on this bright and sunny Bank Holiday Monday. Only in my case, it's books which are threatening to take over the place. Don't you just love the way 'My Failings' get given a category all to themselves. Even better, a googlesearch has just revealed that there are other bumbling bibliophiles like myself out there. Yes, there really is a blog out there called 'Overflowing Bookshelf!' I am not alone! Jessica, when I checked out Exhibit A I thought "But that's my bookshelf!" Are you sure you've not snuck incognito into Maison Miffy with an Amazon package? So, my dilemma is twofold: How to (reluctantly) find new homes for some of my collection (my Marketplace shopfront is creaking at the seams), and, in the longer term store and catalogue the remainder. I suspect the first will involve going through my inventory pulling out books which are simply not selling, and upending them into a large bag for the next charity drop that comes up. Alternatively, take them into the charity shops myself. Of course, I then run the risk that those of a more...'theological' bent may get swept up by some well-intentioned soul and 'offered' back to the library at 'Oldchurch.' Who will then have to spend ages laboriously shifting through them before trying to frame a suitable tactful refusal without mortally offending the donor. And let's face it, even Oldchurch won't warm to the sight of my tatty old copy of TPDL, complete with cynical scrawlings in the margins. Alternatively, suggest that 'Newchurch' start a library, then I can lend out those books which I actually value and want to read again. Well..? Bookaid International don't accept secondhand books anymore. Otherwise, the recycling bin is the way to go. Oh dear. :( Cataloging will be more of a long-term project, I think. But useful. For now I've begun a spreadsheet though I'm wondering about whether some of the online systems would cut out some of the hard slog. There's a few pros and cons here. I already have Shelfari, though as I use it principally to display books on my other blog, I'm unsure whether it's possible to have lists that don't show up on it. LibraryThing looks to have more shiny bells and whistles. However, it's only free up to the first 200 books. Hmm. Either way, it'd be good to have some semblance of order, then I might actually get round to reading some of the stuff I'd fogotten I'd got!