One of the most common and polarizing topics that inevitably comes up when discussing minimalism or simplifying one's space is the topic of books. Specifically, should we hang onto them after we've read them? Should we even buy them or just borrow them exclusively? Should we go 100% digital with our collections?
All these methods work with differing amounts of success for different people, unsurprisingly.
My personal method is cobbled together from all three.
We will start with a little talk about my Kindle.
Between seven to eight years ago, Mike and I were living in Ohio. He had decided to try attending services at a church maybe thirty minutes from our house. I was not in a spiritually minded place at the time and really didn't enjoy going, but went along with it for support and especially because we fell into a very nice after church ritual of lox bagels at Einstein Bagel (which, WHY are there none of these chains around here? Big Apple Bagel is a joke and after getting sick the same day as eating at Good Earth, I am fresh out of bagel options in the Holland area...but I digress) and then hitting up the Boarders Bookstore across the parking lot. It made me so happy and giddy to have these weekly bookstore trips, but we were spending at least $40 a week on books!
So, for Christmas that year, Mike took action and bought me my first Kindle (and Boarders went out of business, so we had a huge spending spree at that sale and then it was bagels only, poor me). I was slightly resistant at first, but warmed up to the device quickly. In fact, I now have a Kindle Paperwhite, and Mike has inherited my original Kindle. I love seeing how it has inspired him to become a more prolific reader (he takes it on all his international trips) and my Kindle has become invaluable to me, especially during the days/nights of seemingly endless breastfeeding. Much easier to hold a Kindle than even a paperback while supporting a baby. I also use the Kindle for night time reading and for travel. I would say 60% of what I read is through my Kindle. Even though the experience is different, it is not to be discounted, especially for a busy young parent.
The Kindle can be expensive though, because unlike buying used books through Amazon, local thrift store, book sale, etc, you usually need to pay around $10 for the average book in the Kindle store. I don't read Kindle singles or many small self-published books....just not my style/I haven't been impressed with the quality of those I've tried, but they are more reasonable priced ($2.99 ish). I do ask for Kindle gift cards for holidays, make small amounts of money that gets put in my Amazon account through Crowdtap, and utilize my library's free ebook sharing site (I have about 20 books on my "wish list" that I download from whenever I want something new). There are other various ways to acquire ebooks for free, but the legality is maybe in a grey area so I won't discuss that. Also, someone with a Kindle can loan you books from theirs, so that's one more option as well.
Moving onward, this is the current state of my bookshelf.
I just did a "deep clean" of the book shelf this Spring and it was looking pretty sparse, but I recently allowed myself to add quite a few books to the current selection by attending the yearly book sale at our library. Over two separate trips, I spent $30 and gained three bags of books. Most of what I choose to add to my collection falls into a few distinct categories: Spiritual/Self-Help, Parenting, Cooking/Food Memoirs. My most-loved cookbooks are on the third shelf in the picture, left hand side. I usually purchase 2 new cookbooks a year (or "new to me") and only after careful consideration--since I love to spend time in the kitchen, these become well-used and loved. Eventually I hope they will have their own home in my kitchen area. On the right side of the same shelf are Mike's piano music books.
Some of the books I own are also titles I have on my Kindle! An example of this is the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I read it on the Kindle soon after it was released, but a like-new copy appeared at the library sale and I snatched it up quickly. This way, I can share it with someone in the future (because it is a great read) or go back and read it slowly with a highlighter in hand. There is just something about highlighting in some of my more beloved books that the Kindle function cannot compare to. I'm sorry if the highlighting thing seems abominable, but I promise I don't fold the corners of the pages in my books!
One of the major reasons I added so many books back to the collection soon after paring it down quite a bit was because of the fact that I am currently raising very small children. It just isn't feasible for me to get us to the library as often as I would like and, honestly, when I do take us all to the library, it is a major endeavor with a two year old who wants to run the whole place and an almost four year old who somehow learned that they sell cookies in the library basement, plus a pregnant mama who has to lug at least one huge bag of books out to the car because she has no restraint in a library... This way, I have many new books on hand that I am interested in and can pick up leisurely from my own personal "mini library." No hassle of inter-library loans to deal with either.
When I am done reading a book, if it isn't one I will be coming back to, my usual course of action is to either donate it to the Little Free Library down our street (which isn't a financial loss of any real concern because of the fact that I acquired 90% of my books used--Oh, local tip: The Salvation Army in Holland has a great book selection & sells them for a quarter apiece) or pass it on to a family member or friend.
The top shelf in the picture is a few more cookbooks that aren't in regular rotation but are still used, reference books, a few precious magazine issues (Taproot and old Mary Jane's Farm from my mom), and children's books my kids are still too young for. Oh, and on the right hand side of the top shelf is where I currently stuff all my old journals...
To give you an idea of a better perspective of this space in my house, here is another photo:
There is a matching built-in shelf on the other side of the fire place, but it hold only one row of Mike's books and half a row of children's chapter books (such as a box set of Roald Dahl). The other shelves hold Mike's video games, our small DVD collection, our "paper collection" area, and office supplies that need to be kept away from small children.
Lastly, kid's books! This is the area I have the most trouble with. I definitely want them to have a wide selection of books available, but I do feel like there is such a thing as too many books (especially because they all get pulled out, stepped on, and scattered around the house too often).
Recently, we consolidated most of the kid's books to a small impromptu "reading nook" in the living room. I do have a system of swapping out some of their books for the different seasons and holidays, but mostly the collection just grows and grows...We do have talks about treating books nicely and I finally have a good system for keeping tabs on library books (which, thank goodness for library books, because another thing about owning kid's books is that I am SO SICK of reading most of them)! I just can't bring myself to sort through their books with the same sense of discrimination that I can with my own personal reading material.
I do get this nice warm feeling when I walk in the room and see them snuggled up with a (let's face it) mess of books all around them and looking at one intently...so the inevitable mess and lack of minimalism in this area is worth it to me personally :)
Thanks for joining me for a look into my not-so-minimal but definitely mindful way of handling our collection of reading materials in our house! I look forward to hearing from you in the comments (and if you are a fellow book enthusiast, please feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads)!
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