Between my bookshelf at home, my shelf in my art studio, and the books I have in my dorm, I own about ninety books. I have decided to focus on tackling my bookshelf at home, which holds sixty-six books. I have decided to pick up and consider each one of my books, deciding which ones “spark joy” in me and which are really just clutter. To start this process, I have removed all of the books from my shelves, leaving only knick-knacks and paper clutter behind. I have now split my sixty-six books into twelve categories. These categories are not split evenly rather they are based on time period, purpose, or author. Splitting the books into groups made the process a little less overwhelming. 

I found it funny that even when I was first planning this process, I had books in mind that I would be getting rid of. It makes me wonder why I didn’t get rid of these books that have been bothering me in the first place. The first books I knew I wanted to get rid of come from my collection of books written by authors of the Beat Generation. I got these books when I was taking an English class on the Beat Generation last semester. I wanted to get rid of both of my Jack Kerouac books, as the rampant sexism in these two novels brings me the opposite of a spark of joy. As for the other books, I felt very content to put Burroughs, Ferlinghetti, and di Prima in the “sell” pile as I don’t have any desire to reread any of these books. One book I didn’t feel comfortable getting rid of ws Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. The book doesn’t take up much space, being thin and small. I also can say that the handful of Ginsberg’s poems I read in this book did generate a positive response from me and I would like to one day read the rest. This leaves one book in the keep pile and five books in the toss pile.

Whether or not I would read the book again tended to be the trend on how I would determine what books stayed and went. This was quite difficult as I had to make my future actions and the time I would be able to alot to my books predictable. This was easy for books that I just didn’t enjoy, even with multiple readings, as I knew that they brought no joy or positivity into my life. It was also easy to determine what books stayed, as they were all the books that I have really loved. 

One set of books that I knew I would keep are my collection of Vonnegut books. One is my first copy of Slaughterhouse-Five that I first bought and read when I was eleven years old. Another book is a graphic novel adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five that I bought a few months ago. The set of books is a box set of all of Vonnegut’s stories, compacted into four books, bought for me by my mother. While the box set may make my old copy of Slaughterhouse-Five obsolete, I just can’t force myself to get rid of any of these books, as they are so important to me. I can say that every time I pick up one of my Vonnegut books, I feel a spark of pure joy, so they will remain on my shelves.

Sifting through my collection of classic literature left me rather conflicted, as I found myself wanting to get rid of books that I didn’t enjoy, but felt that I should because of their status as “a classic.” After giving in to my own emotions towards these texts, I found myself getting rid of The Tempest, Gulliver’s Travels, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I didn’t really enjoy reading any of these books so I likely won’t be reading them again. Using this same system I am keeping a lot of my Medieval, Greco-Roman, and modern classical literature that I do see myself reading again. This includes works from Sophocles, Boccaccio, Nietzsche, Sartre, Salinger, and others. I actually find it funny how many of these books I have read upwards of three or four times, specifically titles by Nietzsche.

I have a collection of books that I have bought, but not yet read. All of them were purchased during the break before the start of the semester. I am hoping that during my break before graduate school I can chip away at these particular books, so I will not be getting rid of them. Even though I have read The Odyssey three times now, I am still very excited to read Emily Wilson’s translation, in specific, because I have heard great things about it. I also can’t help but feel that getting rid of books you haven’t even given a chance is like throwing away an opportunity.

In totality I am getting rid of nineteen out of sixty-six books, leaving forty-seven behind. I am honestly shocked that I got myself to get rid of so many books. However, the process was oddly freeing. It is nice to see my bookshelf more closely representing my ideals now that I have removed books that I do not feel a connection to. It is also nice to see free space on the shelves, as before it felt like a battle to squeeze a new book onto a shelf. Though, I must say that actually donating or selling these books may be a harder task than putting them in a pile that says “donate.”