Sunday Salon: Spring Cleaning

There’s a little chink appearing in my bookshelves now that I’ve made a concerted effort to read what I already own rather than go buying yet more books. With those plus a few I decided I really wasn’t ever going to finish, I had a neat little pile ready for disposal yesterday. These are what remain after separating out what I think other members of my family might like (I try not to pass books onto friends because I don’t want them to feel embarrassed if they found it wasn’t their cup of tea wheras my family have no such qualms).

But what to do with the remainder?

In the past I would have just carted the books off to the nearest branch library but since their shelf space is limited and the books would just end up in the storage basement, there didn’t seem point to that.

Given the amount of money I’ve spent on them it would be great if I could get some kind of return but the few second hand shops that remain don’t appear to want the books I have or wouldn’t pay more than a £1 for each of them so it’s not really worth it. Neither is selling them on sites like eBay. So I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll have to just give them away.

I’ve flirted with book swapping in previous years but not had much success in finding people who want my books and have something I want. Plus there’s all that faffing about at the Post Office which isn’t as easy now that so many franchises have closed. I don’t really get the book crossing idea even though I know it has many fans. If I leave a book on a plane, isn’t it likely the cleaning staff who are under pressure to get the craft turned around fast, will just scoop it up into their rubbish bags? If I leave it on a seat somewhere will someone think it’s been forgotten and just leave it there Or maybe they’ll think its an unattended item and call the army disposal squad??

So the easiest option I’ve found is just to take it to a local charity shop. At least they’ll get some income if they manage to sell them plus additional tax benefit through the Gift Aid scheme.

What do you do with your unwanted books when you’ve finished with them?