We have three large open bookcases in our family room that were stuffed over capacity with books and knick knacks. I dust them regularly, but it really isn’t enough to get all the crud that settles on top of the pages and under the books. So I decided to take everything off the shelves, clean them thoroughly, donate the books we never plan to use again and reorganize the shelves. This was massive labor. And I just want to say, thank God for dust masks!
Nice BIG pile of books to be donated!
What I didn’t count on, was the wonderful walk down memory lane this process would generate. I took books from my Mom’s house after she passed away three years ago, and most of them once belonged to my Father. (He died in 1975 when I was 14.) It was enlightening to look through the books he cherished, most from the 1960’s. While thumbing through his titles on architecture, psychology and business, I realzed just how inteliggent my Dad was and just how much the world has changed since I was a child. I was excited to find his signature in one of the books as well as a few notes from people who gave him various volumes.I am so grateful that he was a lover of art, because I now have an impressive collection of full color coffee table art books – Renoir, Picasso, Monet, Da Vinci and more. I am curious about the value of the 2 Beatles Illustrated Lyrics books from 1971 that belonged to my Dad as well. He was a huge Beatles fan, and looking at these books reminded me of how he used to play Beatles records in the living room while I twirled around in circles. I was about 4 years old!
One of the books I forgot I had was a collection of hippie-like poems and photos from one of my Dad’s former business partners. I wouldn’t have even remembered he gave it to me if it weren’t for the note he wrote to me inside the front cover. I think I’ll look him up on line and see if he’s still alive.
One of the best finds was a stash of pressed leaves and flowers I discovered in an old encyclopedia at the bottom of a tall stack of piled volumes. These clippings were collected on a walk I took with my daughter down the alleys in our neighborhood one spring when she was about 3 years old. She is now a freshman in college, so I guess no one ever moved or opened those books in the past 15 years!Among the other treasures I discovered inside some of the books were an old grocery list I made for a Thanksgiving dinner about 12 years ago, a beautiful bookmark with flowers and quotes on it, I forgot I ever had, and an old photo of my Grandfather, Joe.
I decided it was time to pass on a bunch of the books we no longer need – trivia books, novels we’ve read, yesterday’s business books and a few books we never finished reading due their boring nature. (Just cuz a book is published, doesn’t mean it is well written!)
But I was unable to part with my college English books – short stories, poems and plays – all with notes written in the margins. My husband and I both kept our massive-sized Complete Works of Shakespeare and have no intention of ever getting rid of them. However, I had to part with a partially shattered art project my daughter made in 3rd grade. It was a plaque with her name on it, made from unfired pottery. 
Now I only hope that whoever inherits my old volumes will enjoy them as much as we have.
“Any Book is a New Book if You Have
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