I decided to focus on tidying my books. This is not my whole collection, as I live in a dorm, and most of my things are already in smaller quantities than they would be in at home. All my books are kept in a painted milk crate that I use as a bookshelf. As you can see it’s starting to overflow. I have books stacked horizontally on top of other books, and some are sitting on top of the crate rather than inside it.
I have collected a lot of books from library and book sales, and the two bookstores in town. Second hand book shops have become a weakness of mine, and I can not seem to leave one without a new purchase.
I also have a number of sketchpads, but I am just going to focus on the books. The first thing I did was take every book that I had and pile them on the center of my floor.
Then I organized the piles so that I could see them all laid out side by side. I had a total of nineteen books.
There were definitely some books that I wanted to keep immediately. The Book Thief is one of my favorite books, so I definitely felt a spark of joy for that one. Wonderstruck is a book that I have always loved, and it has beautiful illustrations. It made me so excited to find it in the bookstore, and I still feel that excitement when I hold it. I have never read Six of Crows, but it was recommended to me, and it was the last book that I bought in my favorite bookstore before it shut down.
The books that I kept tended to be those that are, or ever were, my favorite books, and books that I had memories attached to. Some of them were part of a series that I had slowly been collecting a set of.
There were some books that I knew that I didn’t want, and I have several that I bought with the intention of giving them away. But there were a few that have been in my reading list for years, and I have never even opened them. I do not even know what The Hazel Wood is about, I just thought it had a pretty cover. While I enjoyed The Hare with Amber Eyes, I put it in this pile because I wanted to give it to my mom. I was always thinking of her while reading it, and it seemed like just the kind of book she would like.
After tidying my books and removing the ones that do not spark joy, I found that my bookshelf was much neater. I no longer have to pack in all of my books, or rest any on top. They all fit side by side. It is much lighter and easier to move around, which will be helpful for moving out of my dorm at the end of the year.
As a young child, I inherited all of the books that my two older siblings grew out of. This led to a bookshelf full of books that I never bought or picked out myself. Whenever I was bored, I would wander over to my bookshelf and find a book that I had never read before, or even realized was there. It was like having my own little bookstore or library, I could always find something new. Of course this did not last forever, and I eventually read and outgrew all of those books. Since I grew up with it, I still want the feeling of being able to find something new in my bookshelf, so I always buy books to save for later. I do not read quite as many books as I used to, so that has started to build up.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
This reminds me of the time my parents and I sorted through ALL of our books and gave them away to charity. It was certainly a time-consuming event but we got rid of almost half of our stuff. I had been keeping a lot of it in the hope that my sister would one day read them, but she was not really interested; I find some similarity in the way you wanted your mother to read one of the books you had.
Hi Sarah! When I was deciding what books to bring with me to my dorm, I only chose six, all of which I had not read yet but was planning to eventually. I think it’s nice that you brought books that you have a sentimental attachment to. It’s comforting to have something familiar when you’re living away from home. I definitely know the feeling of not being able to leave a bookstore without a new addition to a shelf, so I enjoyed how you described your process.
There are two statements you made that I thought were very profound. The first was when you said, “I also have a number of sketchpads, but I am just going to focus on the books.” This cracked me up because my mom once went through her things to see what sparked joy and came to the conclusion that it was going to be nearly impossible to pick which “things” she was going to focus on. The second was when you were talking about The Hare With Amber Eyes. You said that you were giving it to your mom, which was why it was in the “does not spark joy pile”. I found this interesting because you are recommending it to your mother. In my mind this brings up a flaw in Marie Kondo’s system in that something can spark you joy but you still want to give it to someone else. Maybe there is a third pile? Great entry