Monday, Monday.  I know technically the beginning of the week is Sunday but I prefer to think of Monday as the beginning of the week.  It makes Sundays less depressing and helps overcome the Monday blahs with the idea of a blank slate.

Monday also gives us Rebecca‘s Musing Mondays, which is a great way to start the week by getting us to share a bit of bookish insight about ourselves.

Do you keep all the books you ever buy? Just the ones you love? Just collectibles? What do you do with the ones you don’t want to keep?

I do not keep ALL the books I buy.  As lovely as that idea is, I just do not have the room to keep everything I have ever purchased.  However, even if I had unlimited library space, I do not think I would keep every book purchased.  What is the point of keeping a book if I know without a doubt that I am never going to read it again?  Why take up space with a book that I did not enjoy when I could fill that slot with a book that I will read again? 

With limited space comes tough decisions regarding books to keep and books to purge.  All of the books I have kept for my personal library are those that I enjoyed so much that I want the opportunity to re-read them some day.  I read a lot of classics, and those automatically get a pass too.  Frankly, I have enjoyed every classic I have read for one reason or another, so that rule is not a hardship.  Everything else though gets removed from my personal library.  I will give them to friends, if I think that friend will enjoy it.  I will offer them to others on Bookswap, or I will give them to Goodwill.  That way, I know that my books are going to people who want them or would not be able to afford them otherwise.  It makes me feel better about purchasing books, knowing that they will not languish unread, taking up space in my bookshelves.

What about you?  What is your criteria for keeping books or for purging them from your shelves?

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