My wife Sarah and I are likely moving in a few months. As a result, we are in a hardcore “kick out the junk” phase, and that means finally dealing with the sheer number of books in our attic. So. Many. Books. My back is less than happy about all the carrying and sorting we did today!
The thing about books is that they are really hard to give up. Not just emotionally, but literally. No one wants our books. I called three libraries, and the best answer I received was that the library could take books written less than two years ago, but they capped it at two garbage bags full. The Vietnam Veterans will take books, but only at specific drop offs-they won’t pick them up from us. Finally, Goodwill and Salvation Army will accept books, but not textbooks.
I have a carful of books, and between Goodwill and the Vietnam Vets I should be able to insure they hopefully find their way to good homes. What I can’t decide is whether this means anything for the future of paper books. There’s only one national bookstore chain left, libraries are losing funding left and right, and people are upgrading to eBooks … and there’s apparently low enough demand for used books that no one will take them. Oh, and two lifelong book hoarders cut 100+ titles down to four “must keeps”…I think this means the eBooks have won!